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    You've got plenty of emails from your mom, and maybe even a few from dear old grandma. But have you ever received a message from a river?

    Now, Ireland's River Lee is sending out much information, thanks to wireless(无线的) technology. In a program called the DEPLOY project, scientists have put some sensors(传感器) in rivers that can find pollution levels.

    Instead of asking scientists to collect water samples several times a day, the government can now examine pollution levels in the water, and find out if there is anything polluted entering the river. This makes it much easier for scientists to protect the environment, since problems can be discovered before a serious pollution accident really happens.

    People in the area can also receive free reports from the river, so that they can find out whether the water is safe for swimming or boating on a certain day. And people can also know if the water is clear enough for them to drink and use.

    The DEPLOY project has not only started in Ireland, also the same programs have started in thousands of places around the U.S. Now you live in a world in which you could receive information with your mobile phone about environment. The technology should help to make us know more about the pollution that surrounds us—which just might get us all a little more involved with trying to clean up our world.

    Lockheed Martin, American space system company (空间系统公司) has found a really cool way to inspire the young minds of today to the research fields in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

    It may look like a normal yellow bus, but all the magic happens once you get inside. Meet the “Mars (火星) Experience Bus,” part of Lockheed Martin's new “Generation Beyond” national education program to get the kids joining in studying what goes on outside of our home planet. The bus offers a virtual reality (VR, 虚拟现实) experience making the teenagers feel like they are driving on Mars.

    The VR experience was developed by taking advantage of software (软件) created for today's best video games, so you can imagine the picture shown is top level. The kids do seem really excited to see the bus take a virtual trip on the red planet and search unknown places. It's certainly a great way of learning about the universe by virtual reality working on a common bus.

    The Lockheed Martin's bus will start a tour in the United States to allow kids from different parts of the country to take a ride in it. The Generation Beyond project also includes an iPhone app for iOS providing real-time information about weather reports for Mars, and there's also a free deep space course for middle school teachers and students.

    Why don't birds get lost on their long flights (飞行) from one place to another? Scientists have studied this puzzle for a long time. Now they're starting to fill in the blanks(空白).

    Not long ago, experiments showed that birds use the sun to guide them during daylight hours. How do birds fly at night? Tests with artificial stars, which are made by people, have proved that certain night-flying birds are able to follow the stars in their long-distance flights.

    They found a bird that spent its lifetime in a cage and never flew under a natural sky. But it was born with the ability to use the stars to look for the direction. This bird's cage was placed under the sky filled with artificial stars. Any change in the position of the artificial stars caused a change in the direction of the bird's flight. From the experiment, they found that the bird tried to fly in the same direction as those artificial stars moving under the natural sky.

    But the stars are of course birds' main ways of navigation (航行), when the stars are hidden by clouds, they can still find their way by such landmarks (路标) as river courses, mountain ranges (山脉), coast lines and so on. Because of this ability, people use the dove (鸽子) to send messages in some fields. For example, the doves were used to send messages in both World War I and World War II. During that time, thousands of doves were used to carry important messages in order to save the lives of many thousands of people. So it is also the symbol of peace.

    But when it's too dark to see these things, the doves are not able to find their way. They only circle helplessly and get lost.

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    What do Napoleon, Clinton and Wang Nan have in common? They are all left-handed.

Today about 15% of the people are left-handed. But why are people left-handed? The answer is the way the brain (大脑) works. The brain has two halves—the right half and the left half. The right half controls (控制) the left side of the body, and the left half controls the right side of the body. So right-handed people have a strong left brain, and the left –handed people have a strong right brain.

    The two halves of the brain are about the same size. But each side controls different things. The left side controls language, Math and logic (逻辑). When you remember new words, or when you put things in order, you use your left side.

    The right side of the brain controls color and music. It is also good at recognizing (认出)faces. This does not mean that all artists are left-handed and all accountants (会计师) are right-handed. Some right-handers have a strong right brain, and some left-handers have a strong left brain.