Can exercise during childhood protect you against memory loss many decades later? Exercise early in life seems to have lifelong benefits for the brain, in rats at least.

    “This is an animal study, but it shows that physical activity at a young age is very important—not just for physical development, but for the whole lifelong track of cognitive (认知的) development during ageing,” says Martin Wojtowicz of the University of Toronto, Canada. “In humans, it may delay the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms (阿兹海默氏症), possibly to the point of preventing them.”

    Wojtowicz's team divided 80 young male rats into two equal groups, and placed running wheels in the cages of one group for a period of six weeks. Around four months later-when the rats had reached middle age-the team taught all the rats to connect an electric shock with being in a specific box. When placed in the box, they froze with fear.

    Two weeks later, the team tested the rats in three situations: exactly the same box in the same room, the same box with the room arranged differently, and a completely different box in a different room.

    The rats without access to a running wheel when they were young now froze the same percentage of times in each of these situations, suggesting they couldn't remember which one was dangerous. But those that had been able to run in their youth froze 40 to 50 percent less in both changed box settings.

    “The results suggest the amount of physical activity when we're young, at least for rats, has influence on brain and cognitive health-in the form of better memories-when we're older,” says Arthur Kramer of Northeastern University in Boston, who has found that, in humans, exercise promotes the growth of new brain cells.

    The ocean is filled with eight million tons of rubbish—enough to fill five carrier bags for every foot of coastline on the planet. But a new invention could deal with this problem, one port at a time.

    A pair of surfers from Perth, Australia, has invented a "floating bin" that automatically draws rubbish floating on the water into it like a vacuum (真空) cleaner. While the invention may do little to battle against five giant "garbage islands" that flow around the world's  major ocean gyres (环流), it could stop waste from leaving harbours and marinas, for example. Peter Ceglinski and Andrew Turton said their device could spell the end of polluted seas.

    The concept is simple: A bucket connects to a water pump, drawing in any floating trash inside a removable net bag. There is also an optional oil-water separator system inside the pump. It can remove oil from the seawater before spitting it back into the ocean — pollution-free — through the other side of the pump.

    The water filtration (过滤) system is much like what you'd find in a fish tank, but it has the potential to clean up an entire ocean. The seabin can run 24/7, according to its website. And, amazingly, Peter and Andrew say they have never caught a fish or sea animal in their pumps in four years of testing.

    The Seabin Project aims to improve on the traditional and sometimes expensive — harbor cleaning methods of having a person physically remove trash from the water or sending boats equipped with nets to collect it. While it's not as extensive as 21-year-old Boyan Slat's plan to clean the entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years, starting in 2020, the seabin's creators said their device is something that harbors can start using to clean our oceans now.

    They're starting "close to the source of the problem in a controlled environment," Seabin's website states. "It's a big mission, but it can be done. In fact, we're doing it right now."

    Before the 1830s, most newspapers were sold through annual subscriptions in America, usually $8 to $10 a year. Today $8 or $10 seems a small amount of money, but at that time these amounts were forbidding to most citizens. Accordingly, newspapers were read almost only by rich people in politics or the trades. In addition, most newspapers had little in them that would appeal to a mass audience. They were dull and visually forbidding. But the revolution that was taking place in the 1830s would change all that.

    The trend, then, was toward the "penny paper"-a term referring to papers made widely available to the public. It meant any inexpensive newspaper; perhaps more importantly it meant newspapers that could be bought in single copies on the street.

    This development did not take place overnight. It had been possible(but not easy)to buy single copies of newspapers before 1830,but this usually meant the reader had to go down to the printer's office to purchase a copy. Street sales were almost unknown. However, within a few years, street sales of newspapers would be commonplace in eastern cities. At first the price of single copies was seldom a penny-usually two or three cents was charged-and some of the older well-known papers charged five or six cents. But the phrase "penny paper" caught the public's fancy, and soon there would be papers that did indeed sell for only a penny.

    This new trend of newspapers for "the man on the street" did not begin well. Some of the early ventures(企业)were immediate failures. Publishers already in business, people who were owners of successful papers, had little desire to change the tradition. It took a few youthful and daring businessmen to get the ball rolling.

    To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human. Common sense is not all that common. Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

    These three popular misquotes (戏谑的引语) are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature. To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don't want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do. The original quote about human nature went like this: "To err is human, to forgive, divine (神圣的)." This saying mirrors a deal people should be forgiving of others' mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite-find someone else to pass the blame on to.

    However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity.

    Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company," the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing."

    And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it's okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary (直接推论) to that: if good excuse is "good" even if it isn't honest, then where is the place of the truth?

    A new study from brain researchers helps explain how the human brain evolved or changed over time, to permit people to speak and write.

    Michael Ullman, the lead researcher, a professor at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington, D.C, has been studying language learning for more than 20 years.

    Ullman says his research shows that the human brain does not have a special area or system for making language. Over time we have simply reused or co-opted (指派) parts of our brain for language. And those parts, he says, are ancient-older even than humans themselves.

    "This study examines the theoretical framework (准则) that language is learned, stored and' processed in two ancient learning and memory systems in the brain."

    Ullman, Hamrick and the rest of the team looked at data from 16 other studies on language. They found that people learn language using two memory systems: declarative and procedural. Memorizing vocabulary, for example, is a declarative memory process. But learning grammar is, mostly, a procedural memory process.

    "Declarative memory, in humans at least, is what we think of as learning memory', such as, 'Oh, remember what you said last night' or things like that. And procedural motor memory is what we often call motor memory' such as how you learn to ride a bicycle." Or, Ullman adds, "These procedural memory skills become so deeply leaned that we are no longer aware that we are doing them."

    However, Ullman explains that the two long-term memory systems can share tasks. And, he adds, the adult brain uses the systems to learn language a bit differently than a child's brain.

    "Adult language learners of a second language may use their declarative memory for using grammar patterns. They think about it purposefully. For a child, the grammar may come more naturally. They don't have to think about the grammar rules before speaking."

    In addition to language learners, Ullman's study could help people who have a brain injury that affects speaking and writing. This knowledge can also help those who have learning disabilities such as dyslexia (阅读障碍). People with dyslexia have difficulty recognizing words and symbols accurately.

Animals are humans' best friends. Here we will know about some of those interesting friends.
       Gouldian Finch

Native to Australia, the Gouldian finch has special green, yellow, red and black markings. For the males (雄性), the part between the neck and the stomach is bright purple, while for females, this part is pale purple. We all Have to agree that nature has created some really great animals with the smallest of details.

Keel-Billed Toucan

It is the very same crazy bird from the movie Rio, also known to be the "rainbow billed toucan". The bird has a black body and a yellow face. The color of its bill (喙) is a combination of green, yellow, orange and red, and that's how the name rainbow billed toucan came from. It is rarely seen alone. It travels in small groups of about six to twelve individuals.

The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher

It is a great tiny bird commonly found in South Asia. This bird is the most brightly colored and the smallest kingfisher species. Its special feature is the orange with bluish-purple head, which can be easily recognized. The throat is white with bright orange colored lines at the bottom. It is a pretty and small bird.

Poison (毒) Dart Frog

It is a kind of very beautiful creature. The bright colors of the poison dart frog send a warning to its natural enemies about its poison. Found in South America, with some of the brightest shades of yellow, copper, red, green and blue, this frog is among those very animals that you have to watch out in the Amazon Rainforest.