I considered an active social life as basic human necessity. Yet when it dawned on me just how much time I was spending socialising, I realised I may be taking it to an extreme. I calculated that, on average, I was spending 22 hours or more each week on social activities. So, to see what would happen to my work output, health and wellbeing, I decided to try and cut out my social life entirely.

    I knew, at times, I filled my schedule simply out of fear of missing out (FOMO), but also as a way to shift focus away from my work. For one month, I declined all in-person activities with friends: going out for drinks; dinners; parties and non-work related events, to see if it would make me more productive, improve my focus and career prospects.

    On day one of the month-long experiment, I had to fight some anxiety over missing out. But as the days passed, I started to relax. I only had one option to consider for Saturday night—to stay home—and this limitation left me more satisfied in my decision. I felt more content working, reading or watching TV.

    While I found more time to work, I also noticed a change in my overall health. I found myself cooking more at home, doing daily exercise, getting to bed earlier each night, reading, and enjoying moments of rest and boredom throughout the day.

    Having no social life left me more free time than I'd imagine. Such idle moments are vital for creativity, and mind wandering has been linked to creative problem solving. During the experiment I found myself regularly brainstorming new ideas and reimagining existing projects.

    Of course socialising is an important way to build work contacts. While one month of no social life did not impact my relationship with existing clients, if I had continued, it may harm my ability to build new ones.

    My folks bought their first house in the early 1940s after Dad got a better job in Marquette, Michigan. We lived just inside the city limits in what was still a rural area.

    In the spring of 1948, when I was 6 years old, my parents bought a calf（小牛）to replace our cow, which had been killed the year before. So one day we drove to a local farm and returned with a white and brown calf we named Tubby.

    We didn't own a truck, so Tubby rode home in the backseat of Dad's car with my 9-year-old brother, Steve, and me. As you can imagine, the trip was a lot of fun for us kids.

    Later that summer, Mom thought it would be cute to take a picture of me sitting on Tubby's back. All went well until the snap of the camera shutter sent Tubby charging off on a run, with me holding on for dear life.

    I lasted for about 30 feet before I hit the ground. Mom was quick enough to shoot a follow-up picture, so we had photos of me both on and off Tubby!

    When summer had passed, the day arrived for poor Tubby to fill our freezer. I must have been somewhere else with my Mom on the fateful day, because I have no memory of how it happened. All I knew was that the barn was empty, and that we had plenty of meat for dinners.

    I hadn't lived on a farm like my mother, so I didn't understand that what happened to Tubby was not unusual. Livestock aren't meant to be pets, and most farm kids know and accept that truth.

    Whenever we had beef for dinner, I would tearfully, “Is this Tubby?” This went on for a couple of weeks until Dad had finally had enough and declared, “No more cows!” That made me feel a little better about poor Tubby.

    There have always been a lot of commonly believed but false ideas about being fat and doing exercise. Some people believe that they can't help putting on weight as they get older, while others hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles will turn into fat. Here are some more myths:

I'll never lose weight — I come from a fat family.

Wrong! While we can't change the body type we are born with, we can't blame our genes for making us fat. There's plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they share the same habits of eating too much and exercise too little.

    I am fat because I burn calories slowly.

Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism (新陈代谢). If fact, although fat people consume more energy that slim people, they also fail to realize how much they eat! Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake more accurately.

    Exercise is boring.

    Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it many times. The key is to develop a balanced and varied program that's fun as well as progressive. If you enjoy a Sunday walk, take a different route. If you do Yoga, try a tai chi class. If you like swimming, set yourself a distance or time challenge.

    No pain, no gain.

    Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is your body telling you something's wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury. You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but this your body adapting to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear relatively quickly. If you don't, rest and seek medical advice.

    Hacking isn't just for computers and smart phones. According to a study, scientists have found a way to hack a plant's genes in order to make it use sunlight more quickly. Someday, the results could increase the number of food produced around the world.

    Scientists used tobacco plants in the study because it is easy to change the plants^' genes. Hacked plants are larger than normal plants.

    Photosynthesis is the word used to describe how plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make their own food. Scientists say this is a very slow process. Plants use less than 1 percent of the energy. But by hacking a plant's genes, the scientists were able to increase the amount of leaf growth on plants between 14 and 20 percent. Scientists hacked the plant's protective system. Normally, this system starts when a plant gets too much sunlight. When the plant senses the light, it creates more leaves. When the plant is in shade, the protective system is turned off. But the process is slow.

    The new study sped up the process by changing the plant's genes, the protective system turned on and off more quickly than normal. As a result, leaf growth on the plants scientists used in the study increased. Leaf growth on two plants increased by 20 percent, while leaf growth on a third plant increased by 14 percent. Scientists conducted the study on tobacco plants. But they think the genetic changes would produce the same results in corn and rice.

    Agriculture professor Tala Awanda said the study makes sense, but cautioned the yield（产量）might not be quite so high for conventional food crops. Still, she added in an email, "this study remains a breakthrough,"

Barrington Irving made his historic flight and founded an educational non-profit-making organization.The secret,he believes,is having a dream in the first place,and that starts with learning experiences that inspire kids to build careers.

The moment of inspiration for Irving came in his parents' bookstore.One customer,a professional pilot,asked Irving if he'd thought about becoming a pilot."I told him I didn't think I was smart enough;but the next day he took me to the cockpit(驾驶舱)of the commercial airplane he flew,and just like that I was hooked."

To follow his dream,Irving turned down a football scholarship to the University of Florida.He washed airplanes to earn money and increased his flying skills by practising at home on a $40 flight simulator(模拟) video game.Then another dream took hold:flying alone around the world.He faced more than 50 rejections for sponsorship before convincing some companies to donate aircraft components.He took off with no weather radar,no de-icing system(除冰系统),and just $30 in his pocket.

After 97 days,26 stops and dozens of thunderstorms,he touched down to a cheering crowd in Miami."It was seeing so many young people watching and listening that pushed me into giving back with my knowledge and experience." Irving has been doing it ever since.He set up his non-profit-making organization,Experience Aviation(航空),aiming to increase the numbers of youth in aviation and science-related careers."We want to create chances for students to accomplish something amazing,"he notes.The most powerful educational tool is the example his own life provides.