There are many fun, free activities that you can do as a family. All that is required is a bit of imagination and some time set aside for fun. And the best part is that these are the kind of memories a child will remember for a lifetime.

Family game night

    Find out any of the games that are already around the house. Kids often get computer games for Christmas or birthdays, and would love to have a chance to play with their family. Or, make up some games of your own. “Charades” is a fun game to play that will challenge a child to use his/her imagination. Divide the family into teams and let each team come up with words that the other has to act out.

Family art time

    Pick some time for the family to sit down and come up with their own masterpiece. It doesn't need to be just a drawing -- take some old magazines sitting around the house, let the kids cut out pictures and paste them into their own montage. Or, use items from nature. Let them use leaves, pine cones, twigs and whatever else they can find to create something from their imaginations.

Family Picnic

    Taking the family for a picnic is a great way for some fun that doesn't cost any money. If the weather is nice, take them to a park or playground and let the kids have a day of playing. Or, if it is the middle of winter and a foot of snow is on the ground, set up a picnic in the living room.

Family Field Trip

    A family field trip doesn't have to cost a dime. Ask a nearby farm if it would be alright to bring your kids out for a tour and to see some of the animals. Or take them to a park and make a scavenger hunt where they need to find certain items from nature. Ask a local business if you could bring the family for a tour to see how things work -- you might be surprised at the number of people who would be thrilled to share what they do with others, and it could be an interesting lesson for the kids.

The weather is getting hotter and you'll be getting thirstier playing basketball or riding home from school. A cold drink may be just the thing. But be careful what you pour down your throat. Something that looks cool may not be good for your health.

    There are plenty of so-called energy drinks on the market. Most of them have an attractive colour and cool name. Their nutrition list also contains various things from vitamins to ginseng. Sounds great!

    But after a careful check you may find that most energy drinks contain high levels of caffeine. These drinks are typically aimed at young people, students, busy people and sports players.

    Makers sometimes say their drinks make you better at sports and can keep you awake. But be careful not to drink too much.

    Caffeine raises your heartbeat. Because of this, the International Olympic Committee has limited their use. The amount of caffeine in most energy drinks is at least as high as in a strong cup of coffee or strong tea.

    Research by Australian scientists has found that many teenagers are affected by caffeine. The results of their survey show that 27 percent of boys aged 8-12 take in more caffeine than their parents.

    There are potential health risks linked to energy drinks. Just one can of energy drink can make you nervous, have difficulty sleeping and can even cause heart attacks.

    Teenagers should be discouraged from consuming drinks with a lot of caffeine in them, an expert from the Australia Nutrition Foundation said.

    What makes a building ugly? Everyone's got their own opinion, so it's hard to say. Now, let's take a look at some of the world's worst buildings.

    The Torre Velasca

    The Tone Velasca in Milan is in the centre of Milan (Italy). The tower, which went up in the 1950s, is about 100 metres tall. Its design is actually a modern representation of a traditional Lombard castle, where the lower parts were narrower (狭窄的）than the upper parts.

    The Mirador Building

    The Mirador Building in Madrid (Spain) was created by Dutch studio MVRDV and the Spanish architect Blanca Lleo. The building, which is a block of flats, opened in 2005. There is a large rectangular (矩形的）hole in the upper part of it, which is used by the neighbourhood as a meeting area and playground.

    The Prague TV Tower

    The Prague TV Tower is in Prague (the capital of the Czech Republic). It stands 216 metres high and looks a bit like a tall, thin space ship. Prague is famous for its architectural beauty,so when the tower was put up in 1985 by architect Vaclav Aulicky and engineer Jiri Kozak, many felt it didn't fit in.

    The Longaberger Basket Company

    The Longaberger Basket Company building is in Newark, Ohio (USA). The office block was opened in 1997 and looks like a very large basket. It，s got seven floors and two handles at the top. The handles weigh about 150 tons. It may not be the ugliest building in the world but it's certainly one of the most unusual.

    Until recently, scientists had mapped only about 20 percent of the sea floor. But our knowledge of the deep seas is changing because of information from satellites. Scientists have produced a new map that provides a detailed picture of the oceans. The map is expected to help oceanographers (海洋学家), industry and governments.

    The new map is twice as detailed as the map made 20 years ago. David Sandwell is a geophysics professor at the University of California. He and other scientists worked on the mapping project. He says they turned to space to look deeper into the ocean.

    The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency's Cryo-2 satellite. It was placed in Earth's orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency's Jason-1. It is studying the surface of the oceans. Scientists combined the satellite data with images gathered by sonar (声波定位仪) equipment on ships. Sonar works by sending sound waves through the water. When the sound waves hit an object, its presence is confirmed.

    The new map shows the sea floor as it has never been seen before. It shows thousands of underwater mountains and places where continents pulled apart. It shows where earthquakes were active many years ago. They all are buried deep underneath the ocean floor.

    David Sandwell says the map is a powerful tool for fisheries, those interested in protecting the environment and for oil exploration.

    “The petrol exploration industry is interested in how to reconnect the continents, bring them back together tectonically so you can map the basins （盆地）on one continental edge—say, Africa—and use that to establish where the similar basin would be on the other continental edge in South America.”

    If scientists know that information, they may be able to find oil fields. The new data also will help scientists improve their estimates of ocean depths. This information can help ships travel safely and improve military operations and scientific projects worldwide.

    Mr. Sandwell thinks scientists will make many more discoveries as they examine the new map and the information it provides.

    Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri (MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

    "To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density (密度)", said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. ''The radioisotope (放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries."

    Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro systems (MNEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.

    "People hear the word 'nuclear' and think of something very dangerous." he said. "However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems."

    His new idea is not only in the battery's size, but also in its semiconductor (半导体). Kwon's battery uses a liquid semi conduct or rather than a solid semiconductor.

    "The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure (晶体结构) of the solid semiconductor." Kwon said, "By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem."

    Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery's power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.

    Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a conscious(自觉的) effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.

    Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.

    Memory "tricks" work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.

    We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people's forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never get tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when "tricks" of our memory can cause us great trouble.