In 1996, John Tierney suggested in the New York Times Magazine article that “recycling is garbage.” He wrote, “The money spent on recycling programs should have been spent on real social and environmental problems. Recycling programs not only increase energy use and pollution, but also cost more money than the disposal (处理) of plain old garbage. Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America.”

Environmental groups were quick to express their disagreement. They wrote reports on how recycling programs in cities can reduce pollution and cost less than regular garbage pickup and disposal. Michael Shapiro, an official of the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), said that “recycling can be good value for money, although there's still room for improvements.”

But in 2002, New York City, a pioneer of recycling, found that its recycling program was losing money, so it stopped glass and plastic recycling. Other major cities watched closely to see how New York was dealing with its remaining program (the city never stopped paper recycling). But then it closed its last landfill (垃圾填埋地), and private companies out of New York raised prices due to the increased workload of carrying away and disposing New York's garbage. As a result, glass and plastic recycling became profitable for the city again, and New York brought the program back. According to Cecil Adams of The Chicago Reader, the lessons learned by New York are relevant everywhere. He believes that, if managed correctly, recycling programs should cost cities less than garbage disposal.

    Even though the benefits of recycling over disposal are many, keep in mind that it better serves the environment to “reduce and reuse” before recycling is even considered as a choice.

    Australia's koalas could die out within 30 years unless immediate action is taken to stop the losing in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to reduce the number of wild koalas sharply.

    The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years. The number of koalas was once estimated to be more than 100,000, but now is as few as 43,000.

    The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers. In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.

    The foundation said besides problems caused by cutting down forests, hotter and drier conditions because of global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their main food, eucalyptus (桉树) leaves, leading to poor nutrition for them. Koalas, which live in the forests in Australia's east and south, are very picky about what types of the leaves they eat.

    Foundation chief Deborah Tabart said: “The koalas are missing everywhere we look. It's really no tree, no me. If you keep cutting down trees you don't have any koalas.”She is hoping the new figures will persuade the government's Threatened Species Steering Committee (TSSC) to list the koala as threatened. But committee chairman Bob Beeton said a decision was not likely recently and the koala's status as one of the country's favorite animals would not be a factor. “There's a number of species which are attractive and people have special feelings towards them. We don't consider that,” Mr Beeton said.

    Which boy hasn't dreamed of being a cool secret agent? The wonderful fighting abilities and the world-saving adventures are much more colourful than most people's everyday lives. Well, Cody Banks is just like any other boy, except that he is not just dreaming. He has a big secret his friends never know about. He was trained to be a spy by a special CIA programme, which was made to look like a summer camp. He learned high-speed driving, hand-to-hand fighting and the use of high-tech tools.

    After proving he could become a young hero by saving a baby from a runaway car, Banks gets his first real task. He must make friends with a popular girl at school, Natalie Connors. Then, he must spy on her father, a scientist who has developed a dangerous technology. Banks must stop a group of bad people from forcing Natalie's father into using the technology to endanger the world.

    The CIA may have taught him first-class self-defence moves, but they didn't show him how to talk to girls. Banks has zero ability when it comes to dealing with girls. How can he get around his problem and get an invitation to the girl's upcoming birthday party? Will he finally become Natalie's boyfriend and find out whatever he can about her father's work?

    Agent Cody Banks has everything that young people are interested in: big explosions, breath-taking performances and funny girl-dating experiences. It was listed No.2 in the American box office last week.

    “This story is interesting and fun for the whole family to enjoy, and especially cool for young boys,” said Paul Perkins, a film reviewer in the US.

    Many people, both men and women in the world love drinking. The popular wisdom for years has been that drinking in moderation (适度) —that's one “standard” drink a day for women and two for men—is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular (心血管的) disease. But recent studies are casting some doubt on that long-held learning. Science now says it depends on your age and drinking habits.

    A 2017 study of nearly 2 million British with no cardiovascular risk found that there was still a modest benefit in moderate drinking, especially for women over 55 who drank five drinks a week. Why that age? Alcohol can influence the substance in the blood in positive ways, experts say, and that's about the age when heart problems begin to occur.

    Also, a 2018 study found that drinking more than 100 grams of alcohol per week—equal to roughly seven standard drinks in the United States or five to six glasses of wine in the UK—surely increases your risk of death from all causes and in turn lowers your life expectancy. Links were found with different forms of cardiovascular disease, with people who drank more than 100 grams per week having a higher risk of stroke, heart failure.

    Another 2018 study found that consistently drinking moderately, within the recommended amount of alcohol, had a protective effect on the heart over time. Unstable drinking habits were associated with a higher risk of heart disease, which the authors reflected might indicate broader lifestyle changes, such as poor health or stress. Former drinkers were also at greater risk.

    Overall, however, the latest thinking is that any heart benefit may be outweighed by other health risks, such as high blood pressure, certain cancers and liver damage.

    Women who drink are at a higher risk for breast cancer; alcohol contributes about 6% of the overall risk, possibly because it raises certain dangerous hormones in the blood. Drinking can also increase the chance you might develop liver, mouth and oral cancers. One potential reason： Alcohol weakens our immune systems, making us more likely to inflame (发炎)—a driving force behind cancer.

    Kids and science seem to be made for each other!

    The basic science is a combination of thought and experiment called the scientific method. It's where you start with an idea, create a way to prove or disprove your idea, and show what you learned based on facts. Learning to follow this process helps you think logically (逻辑地) and carefully. These important thinking skills can be used in many areas of study. To give a child practice with these thinking skills is like giving vitamins (维生素) to a developing mind.

    One of the greatest things we can teach our children is to love learning. Learning science is a great way to do so. Children are easy to be interested in science. Because much of science is hands­on, it attracts most children. Nothing makes a child sit up and take notice like the "WOW!" of a great science showing.

    Science opens doors to many subjects at school. Building love for science can be helpful in other areas of study. For example, one cannot love science for very long without becoming good at its language — math! So science encourages children to study math. An interest in science is an interest in how things were once understood compared to how they are understood now. Thus studying science lends itself easily to studying history. And after you do an experiment, you need to write a lab report. Therefore, writing becomes an important part of science.

    Science is the basic thing for much of our life. The science of farming shows how our food is produced; biomedical science keeps us healthy; even our beds these days are designed according to scientific facts. We almost eat, sleep and breathe with the help of science! When we prepare the next generation (一代) of voters, creators, and policy makers, it is important to make sure they are not only comfortable but also good at science.

    Earlier this month, two rock climbers achieved what many thought impossible: They climbed up the 3,000-foot-high Dawn Wall in Yosemite National Park without specialized equipment. Climbing without this equipment is called "free-climbing." Until now, no one had free-climbed to the top of the rock face, which is a part of the mountain EI Capitan.

    EI Capitan, which means "the captain" or "the chief" in Spanish, has always presented a challenge to climbers. But the Dawn Wall, on the mountain^'s southeast face, is a particularly difficult route to the summit (顶峰). It is a rock formation that is both steep and relatively smooth. This makes free-climbing the rock face seem almost impossible.

    About seven years ago, professional climber Tommy Caldwell spotted a possible route up the wall. It took years of planning and preparation, but this month, Caldwell, 36, and his friend Kevin Jorgeson, 30, finally make the climb.

    Free climbers do use ropes and other basic safety equipment to catch them if they fall — and Caldwell and Jorgeson fell often. Before starting their climb, they broke down their route into 32 sections. Each section was based on a rope length called a "pitch." The rope was secured into the rock face to catch the climbers if they fell.

    Caldwell and Jorgeson's goal was to climb the Dawn Wall without returning to the ground. If they fell, they had to start that pitch all over again. The two men started climbing on December 27. They slept in hanging tents, and a team of friends brought them food each day.

    The men had spent years rehearsing (排练) the movements it would take to get through each pitch. They made it through the first half of the climb relatively easily. But halfway up, Jorgeson ran into trouble. In one difficult spot, he fell each time he attempted to climb. After 10 days of trying, Jorgeson finally made it to the next pitch.

    Getting through that troublesome pitch gave both climbers renewed energy. They finished the rest of the climb five days later, on January 14.