Many scientists find that colors can change people's feelings. It's very interesting. Some colors can make people feel relaxed, and some colors can make people feel nervous. Now, this kind of knowledge is being used in many places. For example, school walls are always painted green because green makes students feel relaxed. It is also good for the students' eyes. Some books are also green or light blue for the same reason. Restaurant owners not only have to know how to make food, but also have to know how to make money. Here are some things they've learned from scientific studies. The color red makes people hungry. Many fast food restaurants have red furniture or walls. Soft colors like pink and light blue make people feel relaxed, so they spend more time eating. Loud music may be nice at first, but it soon makes people want to leave. Hard seats also make customers want to eat quickly and leave. Many restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, use this knowledge to make customers eat faster.

    Sometimes it seems that time is flying. Perhaps it doesn't need to feel this way. Our experience of time can be possibly changed. By understanding the psychological (心理学的) processes behind our different experiences of time, we might be able to slow down time a little.

    One basic law of psychological time is that time seems to slow down when we're exposed (接触) to new environments and experiences. The law is caused by the relationship between our experience of time and the amount of information our minds process. The more information our minds take in, the slower time seems to pass.

    It follows, then, that we have different experiences of time in different situations. In some situations, our life is full of new experiences. Our minds process a lot of information and time seems to slow down. In other situations, we have fewer new experiences and the world around us becomes more and more familiar (熟悉的). We become insensitive to our experience, which means we process less information, and time seems to speed up.

    How can we slow down time? Here are two suggestions.

    Firstly, since we know that familiarity makes time pass faster, we can expose ourselves to as many new experiences as possible. We can give ourselves new challenges, meet new people, and expose our minds to new information, hobbies and skills. This will increase the amount of information our minds process and expand (增加) our experience of time.

    Secondly, and perhaps most effectively, we can give our whole attention to an experience-to what we are seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling or hearing. This means living through our senses rather than through our thoughts. For example, on the way home, focus your attention outside of yourself, instead of thinking about the problems you have to deal with. Look at the sky, or at the buildings you pass, traveling among them. This open attitude to your experiences helps take in more information and also has a time-expanding effect.

    To a certain degree, we can understand and control our experience of time passing. It's possible for us to slow down time by expanding our experience of time.

    George: What are you doing?

    User: Saying hello to you.

    George: Are you a monkey?

    User: Do you think monkeys can type?

    George: Sure.

    User: Are you a monkey?

    George: Do you think monkeys can type?

    User: You told me they could.

    This is a conversation between a human "user" and a computer. The computer was made to be as human as possible. It was taught to talk to humans. It has also learnt from what people have said to it. This has helped it become more human.

    What makes George talk is called Jabberwacky. It won the Loebner Prize not long ago. The prize is a contest to find the most realistic artificial intelligence (现实的人工智能). In 2006, scientists talked to the computer. They typed questions to it, and it answered.

    Jabberwacky first appeared in 1982. It has been gelling better every year since then. The list of things that the computer says to a human is getting bigger and bigger. It means the computer has more things to say when you talk to it.

    It is hoped that a computer like this will do our jobs in call centres. When Jabberwacky is more realistic, this will be possible.

Gardening is a popular activity all around the world. But what about people who do not have the space to garden? Not to worry! Today, we will give you information about growing beautiful window boxes. 

Location and safety

Window boxes are not just for the outside edge of the window, they can also sit on other places such as, walls, porches, or front steps. This window box can be on the front steps to a home and the owners can entered their window boxes. 

But safety first: People do get killed by falling window boxes. Make sure your window boxes are safe so they will not come down in a storm. If you feel your window box could be unsafe, you can have an indoor window box.

Light and water

Before you choose plants, check your window box location for light and rain. Window boxes dry out faster than in-ground plants, so they need more water. And if a window box is close to a wall or other structure, it may not get enough rainwater. 

Even if all your windows get little sun, do not give up. You can get a great look using plants that love the shade. Many shade-loving plants like spiderworts and verbenas，have leaves in beautiful colors and interesting shapes. 

The "wow" factor

What gives some window boxes their "wow" factor while others are just so-so? Create a theme! This is a central idea for the plants. For example, you may have a window box that is all cactuses or all edible plants. Or you could select only purple violets or green basil, then you'll have a color-themed window box. 

Besides having a theme, upkeep is also important. You should cut off anything dead, water your window boxes often and change things a lot. 

As humans, we use the senses of sight, touch, and hearing to communicate. We send messages with body language, we greet friends with touch, and we use words to show our feelings and ideas. Animals don't communicate in as many ways as humans --for example, they don't have language like we do —but many animals do also use the senses of sight, touch, and hearing. A good example of this is elephant communication.

Like humans, elephants understand each other by looking at each other's body language. To send a message, they use their whole body, or just their heads, eyes, mouth, ears, trunk (象鼻), tail, or feet. For example, elephants spread (展开) their ears to show anger. And while humans shake their heads to disagree, elephants to do this to show they are happy.

As with humans, touch is also very important between elephants. Just like a human mother holds her baby, a mother elephant regularly touches her young baby with her trunk. Elephants also show they are friendly when they touch other elephants. And when they want to have fun, they hold each other by the trunk and pull. Even if they can't laugh like a human, elephants have a great sense of humor.

Elephants have very large ears, which means they can hear other elephants from as far as 2.5miles away. Like humans, they can also copy sounds and make their own sounds that seem to communicate basic human words and phrases like, "Hello." "I love you." and "Let's go."

So while it's true that humans are amazing at communication, elephants also communicate in ways that we can't and that's probably true for other animals, too. The next time your pet dog or cat looks at you, touches you, or makes a noise, it's probably trying to tell you something very important!