Working with a group of baboons (狒狒）in the Namibian desert, Dr. Alecia Carter of the Department of Zoology，Cambridge University set baboons learning tasks involving a novel food and a familiar food hidden in a box. Some baboons were given the chance to watch another baboon who already knew how to solve the task, while others had to learn for themselves. To work out how brave or anxious the baboons were, Dr. Carter presented them either with a novel food or a threat in the form of a model of a poisonous snake.

    She found that personality had a major impact on learning. The braver baboons learnt, but the shy ones did not learn the task although they watched the baboon perform the task of finding the novel food just as long as the brave ones did. In effect, despite being made aware of what to do, they were still too shy to do what the experienced baboon did.

    The same held true for anxious baboons compared with calm ones. The anxious individuals learnt the task by observing others while those who were relaxed did not, even though they spent more time watching.

    This mismatch between collecting social information and using it shows that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something that has previously been ignored in studies on how animals learn to do things. The findings are significant because they suggest that animals may perform poorly in cognitive (认 知的）tasks not because they aren't clever enough to solve them，but because they are too shy or nervous to use the social information.

The findings may impact how we understand the formation of culture in societies through social learning. If some individuals are unable to get information from others because they don't associate with the knowledgeable individuals，or they are too shy to use the information once they have it，information may not travel between all group members, preventing the formation of a culture based on social learning.

    The main hall of a 135-year old temple in Shanghai will be moved 30 meters to its north in order to create more space for visitors. Thousands of people gather and see the moving of the temple that started on Saturday.

    The Mahavira Hall, of Shanghai's Jade Buddha Temple, was built in 1882. The temple in downtown Shanghai attracts more than two million visitors a year. Daily visitors can reach as high as 100,000.

    A major renovation project started in 2014. The moving of the temple started on Saturday and is set to be finished in two weeks. The main hall of the temple will be relocated 30.66 meters northward within the temple and elevated 1.05 meters.

    Master Jue Xing, abbot of the Jade Buddha Temple and vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, said moving the hall will create more space between buildings and reduce the risks of a stampede as the temple is usually tightly packed.

    Buddhist statues and relics in the hall will also be moved together with the hall, he said.

    Workers pumped cement into the foundation of the hall because the old building's foundation was rather soft, he said.

    Statues and other relics in the building were stabilized and protected with frames to avoid damage, he said.

    The moving will be carried out with the help of relic preservation experts from the Shanghai Museum, he said.

    Shanghai has had several successful projects to move old buildings, including a school in 2009 and a concert hall in 2002. On Aug. 31^st, Shanghai Concert Hall began to move 66.46 meters northward after the last concert was held in the previous location and reopened to audience two years later. The moving was recognized as a wonder of construction protection and inspired the experts of the moving of the the Mahavira Hall.

    Leaving Hanoi on a fiercely hot summer day,after an hour by air,Luang Prabang gradually appears below our airplane wings.From a few hundred meters above,my first impression of this UNESCO-listed heritage（遗产）is an area of green land and mountains,surrounded by snaking rivers.

    Encircled by mountains,the former royal capital of Luang Prabang is more than just the country's picture-perfect showpiece.

    Travelers will be attracted to Luang Prabang by the city's timeless peacefulness with its shiny Buddhist temples, French colonial architecture and friendly people.

    Tourists visiting Luang Prabang shouldn't miss the chance to see one of the most sacred（神圣的）Lao traditions, tak bat,or the Buddhist almsgiving ritual（仪式）,which dates back to the 14th century.

    As the sun rises in Luang Prabang,hundreds of Buddhist monks depart from their temples to gather their daily offerings,which most commonly are rice,fresh fruit and traditional sweet snacks.The daily alms gathering begins on the main street before spreading to all the side streets.

    Our group of six got out of our comfy beds at 5 am to join other local residents and tourists to offer alms to the monks.We kneeled by the roadside in front of the 3 Nagas Hotel on the main street with big baskets of steamed sticky rice,waiting quietly until monks of all ages passed by to accept our gifts.

    The daily ritual gives you a wonderful opportunity to experience an ancient Lao tradition.However,there are some strict rules if you wish to join the event.

    Firstly,shoulders,chests and legs must be covered in modest clothing as a mark of respect.You should also remain a suitable distance from the monks.Photographs may be taken,but from a distance and never use a camera flash.The ritual has to be performed in silence.Talking to or touching the monks at any time,even when making an offering,is not allowed.

    Another must-do morning activity is to visit the local market,where you can see the generosity that Mother Nature offers this dreamy land.While walking through the morning market,located within a long and narrow hamlet,I was excited to see all kinds of products from the nearby river and jungle: some ill-fated squirrels lying next to fresh bamboo shoots,different kinds of wild mushrooms and vegetables displayed on banana leaves and giant river catfish in baskets.

    Although Luang Prabang is small,there are many things to see here.Active travelers can get up close and personal with Laos' gentle giants at the elephant conservation camp or take in some scenes of riverside life with a cruise or kayak excursion on the rivers.Two waterfalls that are perfect for picnicking in the foothills nearby,and classes are available in traditional crafts.

    Since his early childhood, G. A. Minton has always been a faithful fan of science fiction and horror. Whenever a scary movie was playing at the local theatre, he was there in attendance with his friends, loudly screaming in terror.

    In his everyday life, Minton likes playing the game of golf most, having lettered on his high school golf team. In addition to writing, he also enjoys reading, traveling, fishing, swimming, working out, listening to hard rock music, and watching great movies－especially those about horror, science fiction, mystery and comedy.

    Strangely enough, it was only after Minton was knocked down by a drunk driver and suffered a closed-head injury that he developed a new found passion for writing. After the car accident, he suffered from both memory loss and problems communicating with others, which frustrated him to no end. He had to go to see his doctor on a regular basis and for weeks he had to take medicine used by patients who are suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Luckily, his brain slowly began to mend itself.

    At the end of the healing process, something was very different. He noticed that he had developed a strong urge to write down a story that had formed in his mind. That's how his first novel Trisomy XXI was born. He penned（写作）it in only three months. He began with chapter one and wrote in a freestyle manner—almost in a stream of consciousness. The narrative flowed freely from his vivid imagination, creating a thrilling tale of terror that is formed from an ordered sequence of events.

    One could think that the damaged neurons（神经元）had rearranged themselves into a different pattern, and thus improving the creative elements in his brain. Besides, stranger things have happened! He has recently completed his second novel. Currently, his brain is busy at work, seriously processing the text for another -story of the terror-one that will both entertain and horrify its unsuspecting reader!

    Cultural rules determine every aspect of food consumption. Who eats together defines social units. For example, in some societies, the nuclear family is the unit that regularly eats together. The anthropologist Mary Douglas has pointed out that, for the English, the kind of meal and the kind of food that is served relate to the kinds of social links between people who are eating together. She distinguishes between regular meals, Sunday meals when relatives may come, and cocktail parties for relatives and friends. The food served symbolizes the occasion and reflects who is present. For example, only snacks are served at a cocktail party. It would be inappropriate to serve a steak or hamburgers. The distinctions among cocktails, regular meals, and special dinners mark the social boundaries between those guests who are invited for drinks, those who are invited to dinner, and those who come to a family meal. In this example, the type of food symbolizes the category of guest and with whom it is eaten.

    In some New Guinea societies, the nuclear family is not the unit that eats together. The men take their meals in a men's house, separately from their wives and children. Women prepare and eat their food in their own houses and take the husband's portion to the men's house. The women eat with their children in their own houses. This pattern is also widespread among Near Eastern societies.

    Eating is a metaphor that is sometimes used to signify marriage. In many New Guinea societies, like that of the Lesu on the island of New Ireland in the Pacific and that of the Trobriand Islanders, marriage is symbolized by the couple's eating together for the first time. Eating symbolizes their new status as a married couple. In U.S. society, it is just the reverse. A couple may go out to dinner on a first date.

    Other cultural rules have to do with taboos against eating certain things. In some societies, members of a family group, are not allowed to eat the animal or bird that is their totemic ancestor. Since they believe themselves to be descended from that ancestor, it would be like eating that ancestor or eating themselves.

    There is also an association between food prohibitions and rank, which is found in its most extreme form in the caste system of India. A caste system consists of ranked groups, each with a different economic specialization. In India, there is an association between caste and the idea of pollution. Members of highly ranked groups can be polluted by coming into contact with the bodily secretions, particularly saliva(唾液),of individuals of lower-ranked castes. Because of the fear of pollution, Brahmans and other high-ranked individuals will not share food with, not eat from the same plate as, not even accept food from an individual or from a low-ranking class.

    Nowadays six Amazon Scout delivery robots rolled out in a pilot program in Snohomish County, Wash. The robots carry meals, groceries and packages to homes and offices in this region just north of Seattle. They have appeared on the sidewalks of London, Beijing and other cities and communities worldwide. These machines must overcome pedestrian legs, naughty dogs and broken pavement, which raises some questions.

    These services are gaining attraction as a growing number of city residents expect immediate or scheduled delivery for just about everything. Between 2017 and 2018 online retail sales in the U.S. increased by 16 percent. On the final step of all these deliveries, called the last mile, humans on bicycles, motorized scooters (电动车) or large delivery trucks typically deliver packages. All the vehicles compete for space on busy urban streets. "Deliveries are trending upwards in all crowded city centers, and if city and state leaders don't start thinking about creative solutions like robot deliveries, we can expect even worse traffic jams," says Paul Mackie, director of a transportation policy research center in Arlington.

    A study by this center found 73 percent of delivery vehicles in Arlington were parked outside of authorized areas, often blocking bike lanes and crosswalks. By moving the last step of deliveries from the road to the sidewalk, cities could reduce traffic jams and solve the parking problem entirely, Mackie says.

    Companies such as Amazon are not developing this delivery technology simply to clear up urban traffic. Self-driving vehicles and sidewalk robots could cut down last-mile delivery costs in cities by as much as 40 percent, according to a 2018 report by a consultancy firm. A delivery robot can cost thousands of dollars to manufacture, and most currently require human management and conservation. But in the long run companies that use autonomous delivery vehicles in the next several years could end up saving billions of dollars, the report stated.