Starting the day on an egg could keep your blood pressure under control, research suggests. Scientists have shown that eggs produce proteins with a function similar to that of powerful blood pressure-lowering drugs.

    The research, from the University of Alberta in Canada, showed that when eggs come in contact with stomach enzymes (酶) they produce a protein that acts in the same way as Ace inhibitors, but more work is needed to show the effects outside a lab and in the human body.

    Earlier this month, British researchers declared that, contrary to popular beliefs, it is healthy to go to work on an egg. They concluded that the type of cholesterol (胆固醇) found in eggs has little effect on increasing heart disease risks.

    Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin, from the University of Surrey, said, "The wrong beliefs linking egg eating to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected. The amount of fat in our diet has an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of cholesterol found in eggs. The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat. They can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of nature's most nutritious foods."

    The British Heart Foundation dropped its three-egg-a-week limit in 2005. However, almost half of Britons believe the limit still applies.

    It seems that technology could be changing the places where we live. A project conducted by Johann Siau, a senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire's School of Engineering and Technology, has built on the university's InterHome project aimed to create a home that supervises people living at home who are weak or elderly.

    “We've developed a wristband type of device（装罝）,” said Johann Siau, “which allows us to monitor the condition of an elderly person, or whoever is wearing the device. It allows us to collect data of a person to see if the person has fallen or is away from where they are supposed to be. It connects an elderly person with an assisted living type of device with the InterHome.” The assisted living project is part of the university's wider InterHome project, which is the development of a smart house. The house stores the usage patterns of the person living there and can adapt to make it use as little energy as possible. Connecting the two together and building the service element（元素）allow us to introduce the assisted living idea to care for the elderly. It's very important that these technologies are there to help and support rather than to replace any of the existing services.

    The InterHome is not just a prototype（样品）or a vehicle for research. It's a study tool to help students from different scientific backgrounds learn about and develop technology. The InterHome combines the latest broadband technology, mobile data and communication. Researchers and students make sure that all the technology works together. Students get experience by developing new hardware and software themselves. It requires a variety of skills from students—electronic engineers, computer students, design students and so on. “The present plan we are working on is a smart home project in Watford with some commercial companies, ” said Johann Siau. “We are looking at how a smarter home can provide extra value services.”

    A recent study presents the possibility of “carbon farming” as a less risky alternative to other carbon capture and storage technologies. It suggests that a significant percentage of atmospheric CO₂ could potentially be removed by planting millions of acres of a shrub known as the Barbados nut（麻疯树）, in dry, coastal areas. But other experts doubted whether the Barbados nut would be able to grow well in sandy desert soils and absorb the quantity of carbon their models predict.

    The researchers behind the study say Barbados nut plantations（种植园）could help to reduce the local effects of global warming in desert areas, causing a decrease in average temperature and an increase in rainfall. If a large enough portion of the Earth were blanketed with carbon farms, these local effects could become global, capturing between 17 and 25 metric tons of CO₂ per hectare each year over a 20-year period.

    Carbon farms would not compete with food production if they were concentrated in dry coastal areas. In their analysis, oceanside desalination（海水淡化）plants provide a low-emission irrigation method. The study states that the Barbados nut is uniquely suited to growing in regions unsuitable for other crops .The plant, which produces a non-edible seed that can be used to create biodiesel（生物柴油）, is comfortable growing at temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It can also stand up to high levels of pollution in the soil, making waste water another potential source for irrigation.

    The cost of carbon farming is comparable to the costs associated with other carbon capture and storage technologies, the study claims. Wulfmeyer stressed that carbon farming could have “fantastic value for the local people” if international carbon markets pick up, promoting rural development and opening up the possibility of additional agriculture as the soil quality improves around the plantation.

    In an email, Van Noordwijk, a chief science advisor, questioned the growth rate and the atmospheric carbon capture rate assumed by the study's authors, calling the estimated carbon price of the plantations a “considerable underestimate”. “We are talking about a plant with a shrubby growth habit and a long track record of misleading farmers with production potentials that are not being realized,” he said, and “Even with abundant water, the nutrient storage in sandy desert soil is low. He added, “The estimated carbon price of this option already indicates that there are far better opportunities for reducing ongoing emissions from peatland（泥炭地）use and deforestation.”

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    Put an ice cube(小冰块) from your fridge into a glass of water. You have a piece of string(线) 10 centimeters long. The problem is to take out that piece of ice with the help of the string. But you must not touch the ice with your fingers (手指).

    You may ask your friends to try to do that when you are having dinner together. There is a saltcellar on the table. You must use salt when you carry out this experiment.

    First you put the string across the piece of ice. Then put some salt on the ice. Salt makes ice melt(融化). The ice round the string will begin to melt. But when it melts, it will lose heat. The cold ice cube will make the salt water freeze(冻结) again.

    After a minute or two you may raise(提起) the piece of string and with it you will raise your piece of ice!

    This experiment can be very useful to you. If, for example, there is ice near the door of your house, you must use very much salt to melt all the ice. If you don't put enough salt, the water will freeze again.

Iˈve always loved the ocean. In the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (seven) grade, I started volunteering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. I was upset to learn that many sea animals eat plastic garbage, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (think)it is food. 

I decided to do something {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (educate) people about this problem. I held presentations at schools to teach kids about plastic waste. I wanted to reach businesses too. I decided that if I learned of a company{#blank#}4{#/blank#} used a lot of plastic, Iˈd send it an email urging it to cut back. 

One day, I saw a commercial for a health-care company. People in the ad were using plastic straws （吸管）. I found the contact information of the company{#blank#}5{#/blank#} emailed its president. I told him how {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (harm) plastic could be to the environment and asked him to consider using more eco-friendly options. I was so{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (excite) when he wrote back to me. He said he would make sure that the company cut its use of plastic straws in half. 

I kept going. Whenever I heard of businesses using plastic, Iˈd send an email. One of the biggest companies I wrote to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) Alaska Airlines Paris. A company{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (represent) wrote back and told me the airline was switching over{#blank#}10{#/blank#}plastic to paper cups on all of its 1, 200 daily flights.