Investing in yourself

    Figuring out how to invest your money can be a difficult task. This is something that you will want to learn how to do.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Things that will improve your knowledge, skills or health are all great investments. However, before you start, you need to be clear about what you will gain out of doing all of these things.

    You may think investing in yourself means investing in your education. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} . There are some other things you can do as well as buying a gym membership or learning a new skill.

    So what are some specific things you can do? {#blank#}3{#/blank#} . Reading books can really expand your mind and allow you to learn different skills and gain knowledge. I'm talking about the books where you will actually learn a new skill, not fiction books.

    You can also take courses and attend seminars. These programs are taught by people with a high level of knowledge or skill. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . Only in this way can you avoid being fooled by some sales presentation.

    Moreover, investing in yourself is a safe way to keep your money. Although a savings account is seen as the most secure investment, that isn't 100% safe. Even if you never experience your bank closing down, the return is little when inflation(通货膨胀) is taken into consideration. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} . But over time, they will show up in terms of your happiness level as well as your level of success.

A. This is just one way.

B. The benefits will stay with you.

C. If you aren't a reader, you should start with that.

D. The more you do this, the more valuable you will be.

E. Of course, you need to do some research before investing.

F. The best way to invest your money is to invest it in yourself.

G. When you invest in yourself, you may not see gains right away.

    “We all know that exercise is good for us, but can you get the benefits without actually doing the exercise?” asks Michael Mosley.

    Having a hot bath or a sauna is a good way to soothe your limbs after exercise, but what happens if you do it instead of exercise? Dr. Steve Faulkner of Loughborough University asked me to take part in an experiment comparing the relative benefits of having a long, hot bath versus an hour of hard pedalling.

    For this study I join a group of volunteers who have all been fitted with monitors which continuously record blood sugar levels. Keeping your blood sugar levels within the normal range is an important measure of your “metabolic” fitness.

    The first part of the experiment is very relaxing, consisting of having a long, hot bath. While I sit in the bath, which they keep at 40℃, Steve closely monitors my core temperature. Once it has risen and stayed there, I am allowed out.

    A couple of hours after my bath I have a light meal. Since we want to see how having a hot bath compares with exercise we repeat the experiment.

    So what's the result?

    “One of the first things that we were looking at,” Steve says, “is the energy expenditure while you're in the bath and what we found was an 80% increase in energy expenditure just as a result of sitting in the bath for the course of an hour.”

    This is nothing like as many calories as cycling for an hour (which comes out at an average of 630 calories) but we do burn 140 calories, the equivalent of a brisk 30-minute walk.

    For over 70 years, UNICEF has been putting children first, working to protect their rights and provide the assistance and services they need to survive and develop all over the world.

    It's the end-of-year giving season, and UNICEF has lots of good news to share about the influence its supporters have had on the lives of children. Thanks to its generous donors, UNICEF has helped save more lives than any other humanitarian organization.

    Monthly donors are a major reason why UNICEF can make that claim, according to Karla Coello, UNICEF USA Senior Director for Monthly Giving. “Last year, UNICEF responded to 377 humanitarian emergencies, from conflicts to natural disasters,” says Coello. “Emergency appeals bring in important revenue - but after the emergency, there are still a lot of things children need to make life bearable. That's what our monthly donors provide.”

    When drought destroys crops, conflict forces families from their homes, an epidemic breaks out or a disaster strikes, children suffer most. And in some countries, even the best of times are dangerous for its youngest citizens. Every day more than 15,000 children under 5 die from preventable causes.

    Protecting children before, during and after a crisis requires a reliable source of funding. The constant stream of revenue provided by monthly donations enables UNICEF to reach children with what they need most when they need it, prepositioning emergency supplies before a disaster strikes and continuing to build sustainable solutions after an immediate crisis has subsided.

    Monthly giving is also important to funding large-scale interventions(介入). Thanks to UNICEF's global immune campaigns, the world is now nearly free of polio(小儿麻痹症)and there are only 14 countries where mothers and children still face maternal and neonatal tetanus(破伤风)deadly threat. And UNICEF programs in 120 countries are helping to prevent and treat malnutrition, which is linked to nearly half of all deaths of children under 5.

    “UNICEF USA monthly donors are our most engaged, most dedicated supporters,” says Rebecca Volpe, UNICEF USA Manager, Monthly Giving. “So we do our best to make them feel appreciated by keeping them thoroughly updated about the powerful impact they are having and showing them how much they matter to us.” In turn, monthly donors tend to be dedicated supporters. “Protecting children - giving them opportunities to play, learn, feel safer, heal - is critical to us,” explained a survey respondent, expressing a commitment to children that UNICEF USA's Monthly Giving team sees every day.

    Supporters who sign up with UNICEF USA to give monthly automatically become members of the Guardian Circle, which affords them benefits, including:

    Annual statements to make tax time easier

    An easy-to-use donor access that simplifies modifying gift amounts, updating payment methods and making other changes, including the timing of donations with the option to cancel at any point

    Targeted communications in the form of monthly statements and a quarterly 8-page newsletter with stories from the field.

    A team available to answer questions via email or phone.

    “We have some donors who are on fixed income, others who can afford to make considerable monthly donations," says Coello. “Whether you give $5 or $700 a month, you are super important to us. What's important is that they all really want to give and help children. And that's amazing.”

    It can be time-consuming and difficult to track charitable donations. At end of year, Guardian Circle monthly supporters receive one statement that makes filing tax returns easier - and it's always delightful to see how much good has been done for the world's most vulnerable(受伤害的)children.

Round and Round They Go

Space is becoming more crowded. On December 3, a Falcon 9 rocket made by SpaceX thundered into the sky. On board were 64 small satellites, more than any American company had launched before in one go. They have a variety of uses, from space-based- radar to the monitoring of radio-frequency- emissions.

These objects are part of the latest breed of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. This launch is just taste of what is planned. SpaceX and OneWeb, a communications firm, plan to launch satellites in their thousands, not hundreds. The pair are set to double the total number of satellites in orbit by 2027.

That promises to change things dramatically on Earth. LEO satellites can bring internet connectivity to places where it is still unavailable or unaffordable. This will also be a lasting source of new demand for the space economy. Morgan Stanley, a bank, projects that the space industry will grow from $350 billion in 2016 to more than $1. I trillion by 2040. New internet satellites will account for a half this increase.

For that to happen, however, three worries must be overcome. Debris(碎片)is the most familiar concern. As long ago as 1978, Donald Kessler, a scientist at NASA, proposed situation in which, when enough satellites were packed into low-Earth orbits, any collision could cause a chain reaction which would eventually destroy all space craft in its orbital plane(平面). The syndrome which bears Mr. Kessler's name weighs heavily on the minds of executives at the new satellite firms. Debris could cause entire tracts(广阔的一片) of space to be unusable for decades.

Solutions exist. One is to grab malfunction satellites and pull them down into Earth's atmosphere. Another is to monitor space more intensively for debris; a US Air Force programme called Space Fence is due to start in 2019. But technology is only part of the answer. Rules are needed to govern the safe disposal(清除) of old satellites from low-Earth orbit. The United States' Federal Communications Commission is revising its regulations with this in mind. Other countries should follow suit.

Cyber-security is a second, long-standing worry. Hackers could take control of a satellite and seal intellectual property, redirect data flows or cause a collision. The satellite industry has been slow to respond to such concerns. But as more of the world's population comes to rely on the infrastructure of space for access to the internet, the need for action intensifies.

The third issue follows from the first two. If a simple mistake or a cyber-attack can cause a chain reaction which wipes out hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, who is liable? Underwriters(保险商) are studying the plans of firms that wish to operate large numbers of satellites. But there is a long way to go before the risks are well understood, let alone priced.

As space becomes more commercialized mind-bending prospects open up: packages moved across the planet in minutes by rocket rather than by plane, equipment sent to other small planets, passengers launched into orbit and beyond. All that and more may come, one day. But such activities would raise the same questions as LEO satellites do. They must be answered before the space economy can truly develop.

Erin Alexander, who was suffering from the loss of her relative, was having a hard day. However, her day took an unexpected turn when she picked up her order and noticed a message on the cup: "Madam," the waitress had written next to a heart, "your heart is golden." The small and unexpected act moved her deeply, brightening the rest of her day.

New research confirms the great influence of experiences like Ms. Alexander's. Researchers found people who perform an unplanned act of kindness tend to undervalue how much the receiver will appreciate it. This could hold many of us back from doing nice things for others more often.

In a recent experiment, 84 participants (参与者) were given a hot chocolate on two cold weekends at a park and were told they could keep it or give it to a stranger. The 75 participants who gave away their drink were asked to guess how "big" their kind act would feel to the receiver on a scale (等级) from 0 to 10, and how the receiver would rate their feelings upon receiving it. The receivers were then asked to report how they actually felt using the same scale.

It turned out that the people doing the kind thing always undervalued the importance of their actions. While they thought they were offering something small, the receivers considered it more meaningful because someone had done something nice for them.

Despite longing for kindness, many people feel awkward at the thought of being kind. The "little inner voice" often leads them to question whether their behavior might be misunderstood or whether it will make the receiver feel pressured to pay it back.

But an act of kindness is unlikely to have unintended results; it can lead to even more kindness. If you are not already in the habit of performing unplanned kind acts, start by thinking about what you are interested in and how you can turn that into an offering for others.

Human rubbish can be a cockatoo's (凤头鹦鹉) treasure. In Sydney, the birds have learned how to open dustbins and throw rubbish around in the streets as they hunt for leftovers. People are now fighting back.

When cockatoos learn how to open dustbin lids (盖子), people change their behavior, using things like bricks to weigh down lids, to protect their trash from being thrown about. That's usually a low-level protection and then the cockatoos figure out how to defeat that. That's when people strengthen their efforts, and the cycle continues.

Tricks such as attempting to scare the parrots off with rubber snakes don't work very well. Nor does blocking access with heavy objects such as bricks; cockatoos use force to push them off. Hanging weights from the front of the lid or placing items such as sneakers and sticks through a bin's back handles work better. Researchers didn't see any birds get inside bins with these higher levels of protection.

The findings suggest an arms race, but the missing piece is how the birds will respond as people try new ways of blocking bins. Some survey responses suggest that the parrots are learning.

Cockatoos may stay away from strategies that take too long to beat. Bricks, for instance, are easy to quickly push off a bin; breaking sticks placed through the bin's back handle could take more time. Perhaps if enough people in a neighborhood adopt a highly effective method, Clark. a behavioral ecologist says, the cockatoos may not find it worth it to stop by.