Cycling or even walking in city areas can be a little dangerous, thanks to the fact that one is sharing the road with vehicles that are increasingly getting larger and heavier. A recent study proves that of the 1.27million people that die in road traffic crashes each year, about half are walkers, motorcyclists and cyclists. Now there may be a solution that could provide at least some help to protect this helpless group—an airbag!

    If you are worried that this safety measure will involve you taking around a heavy package or worse still, wrapping yourself inside an ugly plastic bag, the bag is fitted not on the human, but on the outside of the vehicle. And, while there are several versions of the idea in the works, the one most recently unveiled by Dutch car company TNO, seems to be the most advanced and ready to go into production.

    In the works since 2011, the airbag covers only the lower part of the windshield. This will provide the much needed buffer(缓冲)between the person's head and the pane of glass he/she would otherwise meet.

The chain of events leading to an airbag cause are quite simple—A camera fitted beneath the rear-view mirror monitors the vehicle's closeness to a walker or cyclist. Any contact with either one of them sets off the sensors in the car's bumper and quickly blows up the airbag. In addition to that the sensors also set off the car's automatic brake, reducing the chances if an even worse injury.

    In tests conducted using a model, the success of not getting injured after being hit by a car travelling at about 40km/h was about 50-50! While not perfect, it will still result in reducing the number of deaths by a huge amount.

    With TNO ready to license its technology to car makers and many more companies trying to develop similar concepts, we would not be surprised if outer airbags become a standard feature in every car pretty soon.

Visiting Joshua Tree National Park, California

    Joshua Tree National Park is nearly 800,000 acres (英亩) large and surrounds parts of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts in South-central California. Although deserted at first sight, the park is full of wildlife and provides a variety of entertainment activities from hiking to climbing. Within a three-hour drive, Joshua Tree National Park takes at least a full day to visit.

Things to do

    Hiking opportunities within the park include several choices, from 12 self-guided nature routines to all-day back-country hikes.

    Joshua Tree NP has nine camping grounds, and back-country camping is also allowed.

    Rock climbing is a popular activity in the park, which has 10 mountains greater than 5, 000 feet in height.

When to visit

    Joshua Tree NP is open 365 days a year, although the best time to visit is October through April, when temperature is milder. The peak season is when the wild flowers bloom, and the summer months are the least crowded.

What to bring

    In addition to your camera and telescope, be sure to carry lots of water. Park and guiding maps can be picked up at any of the three visitor centers.

Fees

    Parking fees: You can buy a seven-day vehicle permit (周票) for $ 15, a single entry permit for $ 5, or Joshua Tree National Park annual (每年的) pass for $ 60.

    Camping fees: They vary by camping ground

    What do butterflies have in common with the human spirit? Meet Maggie, a middle-aged wife and mother who was about to find out.

    Maggie wasn't rich like a millionaire or poor in a manner of being homeless. She was living an average comfortable life. It was made even better when a baby girl came her way. She and her husband made sure their daughter had her needs met and they were still able to take a yearly vacation by the beach.

    Maggie was a partner in her husband's business. They both had a different set of duties and everything was in balance. One day a severe blow came to her husband's business, and over a three-year period the business dropped out of sight. Her husband had to totally reinvent himself and was eager to start a new business. She was happy for him and supported him fully, but still the money was not coming in.

    Maggie began to feel guilty that she wasn't contributing with any kind of income. She began job-hunting and found filling out applications somewhat difficult, especially the part asking for job references. She was self-employed with her husband for almost 20 years, which seemed to mean nothing as she was never called for an interview.

    When she was job-hunting her mom became more ill than she had been and ended up in the hospital for a week. Once Maggie's mom returned home she became her mom's helper one day a week. She did everything that her mother was not able to do any more. Of course her mom would pay her for her lime and labor but she still felt she needed to find another source of income.

    One of the first applications she had filled out finally came through. She passed the interview and was told she was exactly what they were looking for. Although it was only part-time it was exactly what she wanted. It was important for her to be home when her daughter arrived home from school.

    Within a few weeks, though, she received an e-mail saying that the company had changed the job into a full-time position so that she was not qualified. Maggie felt betrayed and felt she had been lied to. That evening she was alone at home. She welcomed the aloneness and wanted to put herself in the bathtub to kill the lonely time.

    As she knew she would, Maggie began to cry, softly at first just from the sharp pain of being rejected. Three long years of struggle had finally overwhelmed her.

    When she was able to cry no more, she became worn out and gave up. It was at that moment that a silent idea came to her: why not offer elderly people home care assistance? Using another talent for computers she printed off some flyers and cards and distributed them to her church, grocery stores and even placed a small ad in the newspaper. Within a week she had procured two new customers. Now, even though she's not a CEO of a major company she feels happy and productive again.

    Before a butterfly can come out of its chrysalis (茧) it has to go through a lot of struggling. Each time it pushes out to escape, acids are being removed from its wings. If someone were to come along and break the chrysalis open for it then the butterfly would die from those acids. Actually the struggle is necessary for the butterfly to survive. Then in the stillness, when the struggle is over, the butterfly can come out and share its beauty with the world.

    We as humans are not any different.

    Animal lovers have long suspected that playing with pups was good for the soul, and now science has confirmed it – for students in particular.

    The results of a new study done by researchers at the University of British Columbia concluded that the college students who spent time at drop-in dog therapy sessions experienced an increase in feelings of wellness and a reduction in overall stress. The study, as reported by Science Daily, indicates that playing with pups is not only popular with the students, it's also beneficial to their health. This finding was seen across gender（性别）.

    The study, which published on March 12 in the journal Stress and Health, involved 246 students who were surveyed before and after they dropped by dog therapy sessions. The young participants were given free access to pet, hug with and talk to seven to 12 therapy dogs. Additionally, they filled out questionnaires right before and right after hanging with the dogs, as well as 10 hours later.

    According to researchers, these young adults reported a notable increase in happiness, a significant reduction in stress and a flood of energy right after their sessions with the pups. Although the reported feelings of happiness and satisfaction weren't long-lasting, researchers say other effects have clear, positive advantages.

    “These sessions clearly provide benefits for students in the short-term, so we think universities should try to schedule them during particularly stressful times, such as around exam periods,” Assistant Professor of Psychology at UBC and the study's senior author, Frances Chen told Science Daily. “Even having therapy dogs around while students are working on their out-of-class assignments could be helpful.”

    Last summer, bird-watchers confirmed the discovery of a new species of bird in Cambodia was not an event of particular biological significance, but it was striking for one reason in part. This species of bird was discovered not in an unspoiled rain forest but within the limits Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh – a city the size of Philadelphia.

What the researchers found was surprising in cities. The medium-sized city in the state about 110 species of birds, over 95 percent of which would have been growing there urbanization. Ecologically speaking, cities are different, concrete buildings. Rather, each unique bio-profile – a kind of ecological fingerprint – that is against the idea of an environment dead zone.

    Of course, it's also true that in the world of birds and plants, as in human society, there is such a thing as worldwide—the city-inhabitants who feel equally at home in San Francisco, Milan and Beijing. Four birds occur in more than 80 percent of the cities studied, and 11 plants occurred in more than 90 percent of the cities. On the plant side, those are seemingly spread by European settlement. In the air, it's the usual suspects: the rock pigeon and many other birds. “They have become completely adapted to urban life,”Katti says. “That's not much of surprise. But they don't actually dominate as much as we think they do.” Those species—occurring in the cities across the globe—represent only a small part of a city's natural varieties.

    Not all cities are equal protectors of native animals and plants, though. One of the biggest predictors for a city's biodiversity is its urban design. Territory as varied as backyards and street trees can lay important roles in greening a city. In fact, the amount of green space is a stronger predictor of the density of biodiversity than a city's size. A metropolis with a sizable network of parks can contain more species per square mile than a much smaller city.

    In a world where architecture, food, language, fashion and commerce are increasingly globalized, a city's native animals and plants can be a kind of identity. There may be neighborhoods in London and Paris that resemble Singapore or Hong Kong. Cities are becoming similar, but their natural environments stand completely apart.

    I must have always known reading was very important because the first memories I have as a child deal with books. There was not one night that I don't remember mom reading me a storybook by my bedside. I was extremely inspired by the wonderful way the words sounded.

    I always wanted to know what my mom was reading. Hearing mom say, "I can't believe what's printed in the newspaper this morning," made me want to grab it out of her hands and read it myself. I wanted to be like my mom and know all of the things she knew. So I carried around a book, and each night, just to be like her, I would pretend to be reading.

    This is how everyone learned to read. We would start off with sentences, then paragraphs, and then stories. It seemed an unending journey, but even as a six-year-old girl I realized that knowing how to read could open many doors. When mom said, "The C-A-N-D-Y is hidden on the top shelf," I knew where the candy was. My progress in reading raised my curiosity, and I wanted to know everything. I often found myself telling my mom to drive more slowly, so that I could read all of the road signs we passed.

    Most of my reading through primary, middle and high school was factual reading. I read for knowledge, and to make A's on my tests. Sometimes, I would read a novel that was assigned, but I didn't enjoy this type of reading. I liked facts, things that are concrete. I thought anything abstract left too much room for argument.

    Now that I'm growing and the world I once knew as being so simple is becoming more complex, I find myself needing a way to escape. By opening a novel, I can leave behind my burdens and enter into a wonderful and mysterious world where I am now a new character. In these worlds I can become anyone. I don't have to write down what happened or what technique the author was using when he or she wrote this. I just read to relax.

    We're taught to read because it's necessary for much of human understanding. Reading is an important part of my life. Reading satisfies my desire to keep learning. And I've found that the possibilities that lie within books are limitless.