One advantage of the Internet is shopping conveniently online for clothes; one disadvantage of the Internet is also shopping conveniently online for clothes.

    "Nothing fits," said Lam Yuk Wong, a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Rice University. "Everyone says this. They order clothes and they don't fit. People get very unhappy."

    Wong and her design partner, Xuaner "Cecilia" Zhang, are Team White Mirror, creators of what they call a "virtual (虚拟)fitting room". Their goal is simple and consumer-friendly: to let online clothing shoppers have a perfect fit and a perfect look when shopping every time. Both women are from China, Wong from Hong Kong and Zhang from Beijing. They both order most of their clothing online. They got the idea from their own experience as consumers and from listening to the complaints of friends and relatives. "They say, 'The color is wrong' or 'I got the right size but it still does not fit.' We want to make it like you're in the store trying on the clothes," Zhang said.

    Using a Kinect developed by Microsoft for use with its Xbox 360 video game player, Zhang scans Wong and turns her image into, in effect, a virtual model, keeping Wong's dimensions (尺寸), and even her skin and hair color. "We put the clothes on the shopper's 3-D body models and show how they look when they are dressed," Wong said. So far, Wong and Zhang have adapted the software to show dresses and shirts, and they are now working on shorts.

    Asked if she thought men as well as women might be interested in using their virtual fitting room, Wong said, "I think their wives will care about this, so it will also be important to men."

    Podcasts (播客)

    The B S. Report

    Designed for the sports fan with a sense of humor, the B.S. Report is hosted by the sportswriter Bill Simmons. Simmons show is in very loose and free form and it's not uncommon for him to go almost a whole show without even mentioning sports.

    Wait, Wait…… Don't Tell Me

    One of the most popular Programs on National Public Radio, Wait. Wait... Don't Tell Me is now available as a podcast. The show is a news program in the form of a game show. Each week a group of humorists and writers join host Peter Sagal in Chicago, where they are quizzed on the weeks most important and funny news stories. Listeners also get to call in to play different news-related games for a prize

    The Moth

    The Moth is a weekly podcast run by a nonprofit art organization. The show is made up of recordings of “true stories told before a live audience without notes”. Each week, the group releases short 10-20 minute tales told by people from all walks of life. Past Presenters have included writers, comedians, scientists, and even New York City police officers.

    Film spotting

    Film spotting is a weekly podcast and is a must-listen for any movie fan. The show is focused on movie reviews, but hosts Adam Kempenaar and Matty Robinson do more than just tell their listeners which new movie is worth seeing. They also discuss and examine the film as an art form. The how doesn't just focus on current movies, either, as the hosts frequently discuss old films as part of theme marathons.

    Many Chinese people have awakened their interest in classical Chinese poetry recently thanks to a popular TV show that aims to “appreciate classical Chinese poetry, explore cultural genes and enjoy the beauty of life” by combining traditional literary form with light-hearted TV quizzes.

    The ten-episode “Chinese Poetry Competition”, since its broadcast, has been praised for injecting vitality(活力) into TV programs with fantastic performances of contestants, impressive comments from judges as well as its innovative interactive mode. In the show, poems can be adapted into songs or depicted(描绘) through artistic pictures. Any contestant who can memorize the largest number of poems may not necessarily be the final winner, while fast reaction and usage of poems matter a lot more in the competition.

    Wu Yishu, a 16-year-old student from the High School Attached to Fudan University in Shanghai, is the champion of this season. Her rich knowledge of classical poetry impressed everyone and she rose to become famous online. In an earlier episode, Wu wowed the audience when performing in a section. She amazingly recited lines from the Classic of Poetry(《诗经》), the earliest collection of poems in China.

    “Learning poems isn't about winning or losing. The power of poetry lies in shaping one's view of life and developing one's inner world,” said Li Bo, an expert guest at the Chinese Poetry Competition's second season.

    When it comes to teaching people about poetry, Li Dingguang, the show's academic advisor, suggested that teachers should explain more about the beauty of the poetry from both the aesthetic(审美的) and emotional sides, and guide students to lose themselves in the poems' rhythmic and rhyming(押韵的) lines.

    “Although the proportion（比例) of ancient Chinese poems in the textbooks of primary and secondary schools has increased, many students still learn them for exams,” Li Dingguang said.“ Therefore, it's important to help students truly appreciate the artistry and fun of poetry.”

    A recent study followed nearly 1,500 old people for 10 years. It found that those who had a large network of friends lived longer than those with fewer friends by more than 20%.This study isn't the only one that shows friendships can be good for our health.

    Lots of research has shown social support and good health are connected. One recent study focuses on people with ovarian cancer. It says those with lots of social support had much lower levels of a protein connected to more dangerous cancers. This made their treatments (治疗) work better. In another study, women with breast cancer in a support group lived twice as long as those not in a support group. They also had much less pain.

    Sheldon Cohen, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, says strong social support helps people deal with stress. "There may be more benefits as well," Cohen says. "Friends encourage you to look after yourself better. And people with more friends have higher self­confidence, so they feel they have more control over their lives."

    Other studies show people with fewer friends are likely to die sooner after having a heart attack, compared with people having a strong social network. Having lots of friends may even lower your chance of catching a cold. "People with social support have fewer immune (免疫的) problems and lower levels of stress," says Tasha Howe, who works at Humboldt State University. "We are social animals, and we were born to be in groups," Howe says. "We have always needed others to survive better. It's in our genes." People with a big social group are likely to be more at peace, which leads to better health, Howe says.

    We are deep into January, and winter is in full swing. The days are short, grey, and cold, and many of us are fighting the annoying u Winter Blues". Yes, lack of sunlight can cause a type of depression called seasonal affective disorder (or SAD). Sunlight causes an increase in serotonin­a "happy hormone" ­in your body, and with a long winter ahead of us we must look for other choices to improve our moods.

    One of the best ways to fight off SAD is with light treatment. This treatment is safe, accessible, and easy and there is a wide range of different light lamps available on the market. After about 3 weeks of using the lamp for about 30 minutes a day, users report that their symptoms greatly improve. Most of these lamps are small and simple, and can easily slip into your home's decoration­just switch it on and carry on with your normal day.

    When buying your light treatment device(设备), keep a few things in mind. Make sure that the light you are buying gives off at least 10, 000 lux of light. Less than that and the light might not be effective. There are many reviews online, and it will be easy to find the best lamp for you.

    Try to find one whose bulb is easy to find and replace. You don't want to be stuck trying to figure out how to put the lamp back together.

    Finally, do your full research. There are so many different types and styles of lamp. Do you miss exercising outside? There is even one that you can put to your treadmill（跑步机）in order to copy running outdoors.

    There are larger lamps which are considered to be the most effective. There are small, nice lamps that don't take up too much space. There are modern designs such as vintage­style light­bulbs. There are even happy lamp alarm clocks, which are like sunrise, giving their users a gentle, natural wake­up.

    So, no need to go on a trip to Jamaica to get some sun and shake out the winter blues­instead, invest in a happy light which will keep your home sunny and happy all winter long!

    Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that perfect portable bike would be "like a magic carpet... You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: "But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel."

It was a rare — indeed unique — occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame that was divided into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case.

    Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of dividing a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated(充气的) tyre.

    So, in a 21st-century environment, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons , has developed a wheel that can be folded into something like a slender ellipse(椭圆). From beginning to end, the tyre remains inflated.

    Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I have no idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It's as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than £1,000 that can be knocked down so small that can be carried on a plane ——minus wheels, of course ——as hand baggage.

    Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress.