Reach for the stars at the Euro Space Center. Find out everything you need to know about space — from the origins (起源) of the universe to the future space exploration plans. Light, sound and special effects help to bring your space journey to life. Throughout your tour, our specially trained guides will answer your questions and provide you with any information you require.

    Begin your tour with our exhibition about the planets, then move on to the Space Laboratory and see some of the experiments carried out in space. Visit our international space station, where you can climb into our full-scale Space Shuttle model and experience life on board as an astronaut.

    You will know all about space by now and to help you further, our Space Center astronaut will tell you about how young people train as astronauts in our own training school. Finally, you can watch our amazing Space Show in our IMAX cinema, which will help you understand everything you have learned during your visit better.

    Outside we have an outdoor exhibition including a giant solar system, full-size rocket models and outdoor games. Don't worry if it rains — much of this is under cover.

    After that, why not visit our restaurant Resto Space for food and drink on a space theme? And don't forget our Space Shop, offering you a lot of gifts to take home.

    The Euro Space Center is open every day during school holidays, and also during other times except Mondays. Opening times are 10:00-5:00. For entrance fees, call our booking service on + 32-61-650133. Or you can email us for up-to-date entry information at info@eurospacecenter.be.

    One day, Mr. Smith went to a dinner party. He was wearing very old clothes. He came into the room.But people in the room didn't look at him. They didn't ask him to sit at the table. He wasn't happy. But he said nothing.Mr. Smith went home quickly and put on his best clothes. He went back to the party. Everyone in the room stood up and looked at him. They gave him good food to eat.Mr. Smith took off his coat, and put it on the food and said, "Eat, coat!" The other people were surprised and asked, "What are you doing? Why do you do that?" Mr. Smith answered, "I am asking my coat to eat food. When I wore old clothes, you didn't look at me. You didn't ask me to sit down. Now I am wearing these nice clothes. And you give me good food. Now I see, you give the food to my coat, not to me."

    I believe in the power of holding on. What do I mean by holding on? Hugging, or holding on, is the power we possess when we put our arms around someone. It can change relationships, makes a patient a person, an acquaintance a friend.

    My grandmother taught me about holding on, whenever she gathered me in her strong, loving Irish arms. She always hugged even when her back became curved .My mother hugs my children the same way—heart open and arms wide, breathing them into her soul.

    Once I became aware of its power, I started experimenting: I held my mother-in-law a moment too long then moved onto my sisters-in-law, aunts, nieces, nephews, and cousins. I tried it with a friend who had made my life rich with laughter, but I was too embarrassed to tell her, and acquaintances that I wanted to be friends with. Some were bothered, others accepting, but all had one thing in common—the next time I hugged them, they hugged me back.

    For me, holding on has become more than a physical interaction; it has become a way of thinking. My answer to life's dilemmas and tough choices, it's a mixture of acceptance, forgiveness, and patience—not always easy or understood but it guides me to be quiet and listen, look for the good, have a sense of humor and laugh, stop worrying and be patient because if I let it, something will change.

    I've often wondered how different my life would have been if I hadn't learned the power of holding on. If during that time in my life, when I was crumbling into myself, my mother had stopped holding on to me, I might have missed something so vital to my existence. I believe that a hug is like a battery charger—a good one can keep me going for a long time.

    The Mokoko tribe (部落) lived on the wrong side of the island of two faces. The two sides, separated by a great cliff (悬崖), were like night and day. The good side was watered by rivers and was filled with trees and abundant food, while on the wrong side there was hardly any water or plants, and wild beasts crowded together. The Mokoko had the misfortune of having always lived there, with no way to cross to the other side. Their life was hard and they lived in permanent terror of the beasts.

    Along the edge of the cliff separating the two sides, a skinny but strong tree grew, with which they could build two poles. There was no doubt that the tribe would choose the great chief and doctor to use the poles. But when the two of them were given their chance to make the jump, they didn't dare to. They thought that the pole could break or it would not be long enough. They put so much energy into these thoughts that they gave in.

    But into that tribe were born Nam and Ariki, a pair of young hearts. One day, they decided to take up the poles. Nobody stopped them, but everyone did try to discourage them, trying to present how dangerous the jumping was, using a thousand explanations.

    "And what if what they say is true?" wondered the young Naru.

    "Don't worry. I am a bit scared too, but it doesn't look so difficult," replied Ariki, ever determined.

    "But if it goes wrong, it will be a terrible end," continued Naru, undecided.

    "Perhaps the jump will go badly. But staying forever on this side of the island surely won't work out well either."

    "You're right. Let's do it tomorrow."

    And on the next day, Naru and Ariki jumped to the good side of the island. When taking up the poles, while feeling their desire, the fear hardly allowed them to breathe. And while flying through the air, helpless and without support, they felt that something must have gone wrong and death awaited them. But when they landed on the other side, they thought the jump really hadn't been so bad after all.

Earth's geologic ages—time periods defined by evidence in rock layers—typically last more than three million years. We're barely 11,500 years into the current age, the Holocene. But a new paper argues that we've already entered a new one—the Anthropocene, or “new man”, age.

    The name isn't brand-new. Nobel Prize winner Paul Crutzen, a co-author of the paper, coined it in 2002 to reflect the changes since the industrial revolution. The paper, however, is part of new push to formalize the Anthropocene age.

    Recent human impacts have been so great that they'll result in an obvious boundary (界限 ) in Earth's rock layer, the author's say. “We are so skilled at using energy and exploiting the environment that we are now a defining force in the geological process on the surface of the Earth,” said co-author Jan Zala, a geologist with the University of Leicester in the UK. Even so, it could take years or even decades for the International Union of Geological Science to formalize the new age.

If the concept of the Anthropocene age is to be formalized, scientists will first have to identify and define a boundary line ,or marker, that's set in stone. “The key thing is thinking about how—thousands of years in the future—geologist might come back and actually recognize in the deposit in the UK.” It's not as straightforward as you might think. The market has to be very precise, and it has to be recognized in many different parts of the world,” said Haywood, who wasn't involved in the new study.

One candidate for the market is the distinctive radioactive signature left by atom bomb tests, which began in 1945. “The fallout (沉降 ) is basically across the world,” Haywood said. In a similar way, scientists used traces of the element iridium (铱) left by shooting star strikes to help define the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods—the time of the great dinosaur extinctions.

    The push for a formal declaration of the Anthropocene age is about more than just scientific curiosity. The move the scientists write in the last issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology, “might be used as encouragement to slow carbon emissions and biodiversity(生物多样性)loss” or “ as evidence on protection measures” Just as Haywood said, by underlining how much we're changing the environment, the formalization would be "a very powerful statement”.

    It is rightly said one can share any secret with a true friend. He may know your deepest fears and weaknesses and yet will never take advantage of you. However, keeping a friend's secrets to yourself and not telling the world is what makes the bond grow strong and last forever. You need to develop trust and mutual (互相的) understanding before you start sharing secrets with each other. With friends, secret talks never seem to end and it can get really amusing to know what has been going on in your friend's mind.

    There is a certain time in life especially from the teenage years when one starts having a personal periphery (界限) in life and parents are excluded (排斥) from it. It is because there are certain things that they can't understand and we can't discuss with them. That is when friends become the best secret sharers. They are the ones to whom one reveals one's feelings and best kept secrets.

    It is a general belief that only girls share secrets. But boys have their own secrets that they discuss with only closest friends. The secret talks can range (变化) from relationships, talks about fights with parents, secret activities and anything that is not supposed to be known to others! If you think secrets are limited to only teenagers, get your facts right! Secrets can be shared at any age and there is no hard and fast rule that secrets are shared only among youngsters.

    Sharing secrets with a friend is not just fun, but it also helps to develop a lasting trust in one another. Sometimes, sharing secrets will tell you more about the person. You will come to know whether your friend is reliable and trustworthy and whether it is worth sharing your secrets with them. You can call it a test of friendship.