Researchers in the psychology department at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered a major difference in the way men and women respond to stress.This difference may explain why men are more likely to suffer from stress related disorders.

    Until now，psychological research has maintained that both men and women have the same “fightorflight” reaction to stress.In other words，individuals either react with aggressive behavior，such as verbal or physical conflict (“fight”)，or they react by withdrawing from the stressful situation (“flight”)．However，the UCLA research team found that men and women have quite different biological and behavioral responses to stress.While men often react to stress in the fightorflight response，women often have another kind of reaction which could be called “tend and befriend.” That is，they often react to stressful conditions by protecting and nurturing their young (“tend”)，and by looking for social contact and support from others—especially other females (“befriend”)．

    Scientists have long known that in the fightorflight reaction to stress，an important role is played by certain hormones(激素) released by the body.The UCLA research team suggests that the female tendorbefriend response is also based on a hormone.This hormone，called oxytocin，has been studied in the context of childbirth，but now it is being studied for its role in the response of both men and women to stress.The principal investigator，Dr.Shelley E．Taylor，explained that “animals and people with high levels of oxytocin are calmer，more relaxed，more social，and less anxious.” While men also secrete(分泌) oxytocin，its effects are reduced by male hormones.

    In terms of everyday behavior，the UCLA study found that women are far more likely than men to seek social contact when they are feeling stressed.They may phone relatives or friends，or ask directions if they are lost.

    The study also showed how fathers and mothers responded differently when they came home to their family after a stressful day at work.The typical father wanted to be left alone to enjoy some peace and quiet.For a typical mother，coping with a bad day at work meant focusing her attention on her children and their needs.

    The differences in responding to stress may explain the fact that women have lower frequency of stressrelated disorders such as high blood pressure or aggressive behavior.The tendandbefriend regulatory(调节的) system may protect women against stress，and this may explain why women on average live longer than men.

    One of the greatest contributions to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every  English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文) showing how it was used.

    This was a huge task, so Murray had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.

    Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next 17 years, he became one of the staff's most valued contributors.

    But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked  in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum (精神病院) for the Criminally Insane.

    Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.

    In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.

    Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.

    Traffic jam and cities, it seems go hand in hand. Everyone complains about being stuck in traffic, but, like the weather, no one seems to do anything about it. In particular, traffic engineers, transportation planners, and public officials responsible for transportation systems in large cities are frequently criticized for failing to solve traffic jam.

    But is traffic jam a sign of failure? Long lines at restaurants or theater's box offices are seen as signs of success. Should transportation systems be viewed any differently? I think we should recognize that traffic jam is an unpreventable by-product of successful cities and view the “traffic problem” in a different light.

    Traffic jam occurs where there are lots of people but limited spaces. Culturally and economically successful cities have the worst traffic problems, while decaying cities don't have much traffic. New York and Los Angeles are America's most crowded cities. But if you want access to major brokerage houses（经济行）, you will find them easier to reach in crowded New York than in any other large cities. And if your company needs access to post-production film editors or satellite-guidance engineers, you will reach them more quickly through the crowded freeways of LA than through less crowded roads elsewhere.

    Despite traffic jam, a larger number and wider variety of social communications and economic dealings can be made perfect in large, crowded cities than elsewhere. Seen in this light, traffic jam is an unfortunate result of success, not a cause of economic decline and urban decay.

    So while we can consider traffic jam as increasing costs on the areas of big cities, the costs of inaccessibility in uncrowded places are almost certainly greater.

    There is no doubt that traffic jam brings the terrible economic and environmental damage in places like Bangkok, Jakarta, and Lagos. But mobility（移动性）is far higher and traffic jam levels are far lower here in the US, even in our most crowded cities. That's why, for now, we don't see people and capital streaming out of San Francisco and Chicago, heading for other cities in California, and Illinois.

    A good relationship between students and teachers makes the classroom a very inviting place. When you like your teachers, it's easier to pay attention to their explanations and improve your marks. When you consider your teachers as friends, you'll certainly have more respect for them. When your teachers consider you to be a friend, they'll feel more open in class and that will probably influence the classroom in a positive way. Now here are some tips to develop a friendly relationship with your teachers:

    Ask questions. If you have any questions about that subject, ask them. Show them that you're interested in their subjects. That will make them notice you. But never ask questions that you already know the answers to. If your teachers realize that you are not asking real questions, they might think that you're not actually trying to learn, but only trying to make an impression.

    Talk about non-school subjects. When you see one of your teachers in the hall, greet him/her and ask if he/she is going to that concert or if he/she has seen that movie. That way you'll show that you consider him/her as a reined. Some teachers don't like to have friendly relationships with students, but most of them are happy to chat with their students. After a while, they may start to talk with you about non-school subjects in the classroom.

    The rest is totally up to you; it is very easy to develop a friendly relationship with any of your teachers. If you want to be friends with your teachers, just treat them as friends, but don't forget that no matter how good friends you are, they will still be your teachers and deserve your respect.

    A new study, a project of the researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, finds the fitness tracker probably does not help with weight loss.

    The devices are designed to record your physical activity. They are usually worn around the wrist, where they measure a person's heart rate. The research team looked at two groups of individuals. The first wore a fitness tracker and took part in health counseling (咨询) with experts to consider the best weight-loss plan. The researchers compared this group with people who only got health counseling.

    The study found that those only speaking with the health experts lost nearly 6 kilograms, but those using a fitness tracker lost only 3.5 kilograms. John Jakicic, the lead researcher, questioned the use of electronic devices for weight control in place of "effective behavioral counseling for physical activity and diet."

    The study involved 470 subjects aged between 18 and 35. Some of them were overweight, while others were considered obese (肥胖的). Over three fourths of the subjects were women. All the subjects were told to increase physical activity and start on a low-calorie diet. They had their weight measured once every six months. After six months, researchers divided the group into two parts: one continued with monthly counseling, while members of the other group were given a fitness tracker. Eighteen months later, both groups "showed significant improvements in fitness, physical activity, and diet," with no major difference between groups. However, when it came to losing weight, the people who only spoke with experts lost nearly twice as much weight.

    Jakicic said, "the study's findings are important because effective long-term treatments are needed to address America's obesity." More information is needed, he added, to learn how to best use these devices to change "physical activity and diet behaviors" in adults who want to lose weight.

 "A moth (飞蛾) to a flame" is often used to indicate an inescapable attraction, yet it is a strange example of animal behavior that continues to confuse people today. Scientists have raised a number of theories over the years to explain why. One holds that insects flying at night are following their nature to fly toward the brightest spot in their field of vision, which they mistake for the sky. Another suggests that insects are trying to warm themselves with the heat produced by the light. The most popular theory, though, is that insects are confusing lights with the moon or other celestial bodies (天体) that they normally use to navigate (导航).

To find out the real reason, the team carried out a first set of experiments in an insect flight area. The researchers used eight high-speed infrared (红外线) cameras equipped with motion-capture technologies to track 30 insects from three moth and two dragonfly species. They also flew lab-raised insects from six different insect orders that were too small for motion-capture technology, including fruit flies and honeybees, to make sure different insects all showed similar responses to light. Working with co-author Pablo Allen of the Council on International Educational Exchange in Monteverde, Costa Rica, the researchers put heavy cameras, lights and tripods in two field sites to gather behavioral data from insects in the wild.

The team was able to confirm that insects were not beelining to the light but rather circling it as they tilted (倾斜) in an attempt to turn their backs toward it. This behavior, known as a "dorsal light response", normally helps insects to remain in an unchanging path of flight that is properly lined to the horizon (地平线). Artificial light that arrives from a point source causes them to fly in unpredictable patterns as they try to turn their backs to what they are mistaking for the sky.

Now research might have finally solved the mystery mentioned first: artificial light confuses insects' ability to turn themselves to the horizon, confusing their sense of what is up and down and causing them to fly in circles.