Almost every light comedy or situation comedy makes me feel like I should be drinking wine every night with my best friend while one of us tries on clothes. Not only should we share the same dress size, but we should also have a long, rich history of togetherness and secrets. Clearly, this is not reality.

    I have 598 friends. OK, but if I'm honest, 99.3 percent of those friends are those I met only once or acquaintances who live too far away to see regularly. That leaves 4 people, who I can call anytime, not feeling like I'm absolutely wasting their time. The remaining 0.2, I've decided, is my houseplant. I can tell it anything.

    Feeling the same way? You're absolutely not alone. Most of us find our "people" in school, but over time life changes: marriage, kids, etc. We grow out of our relationships and they grow out of us.

    So when the relationships come to an end, how do you find a new one?

    A woman in my apartment building, who I had seen around over the years, approached me one day and introduced herself. She bravely stated, "You seem cool. Do you want to hang out with me sometime? I'm looking for new friends." I almost dropped my bag of groceries at her social honesty. And now we get together for coffee a few times a year, gossip (八卦) about the neighbors, and take in the mail when one of us is on vacation. But a few times a year isn't enough for me.

    So, what counts as true friendship as you get older? For me, it's feeling comfortable enough to be myself. And if you're like me, it's also trust — not just keeping the secret, but trusting that my life choices aren't their gossip elsewhere.

    If you want to convince the boss you deserve a pay rise or promotion, the solution could be simple — eat the same food as they do. Psychologists have discovered managers are much more likely to instantly trust us if we choose the same dishes as them.

    During experiments, discussions over wages and work conditions were much more successful if both sides chose to snack on the same treats. And shoppers were much more likely to buy a product advertised on TV by someone eating a similar food to them at the time.

    The reason is thought to be so-called similarity attraction theory — where people tend to like others who have similar tastes or habits to themselves. But this is believed to be one of the first studies highlighting the role of food in this relationship. Researchers at Chicago University in the US conducted a series of experiments to examine food's role in earning trust.

    In a test, participants were told to watch TV — where someone pretending to be a member of the public praised a certain product. The volunteers were given Kit Kat bars to nibble (咬), while the TV people ate either a Kit Kat or grapes as they talked.

    The results showed viewers were much more likely to express an interest in buying the product if the TV showed the other person eating a Kit Kat too.

    The researchers added, “Although similarity in food consumption is not a sign of whether two people will get along, we find consumers treat this as such. They feel more trusting of those who consume as they do. It means people can immediately begin to feel friendship and develop a bond, leading to smoother transactions (交易) from the start.”

    Harley Street psychologist Dr. Lucy Atcheson said it was already known that wearing similar clothes could instantly create trust. But this was the first report that food had the same effect. She said, “This is really interesting. It makes sense as people feel they have common ground and can trust the other person. That means negotiations are more likely to be successful.”

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    There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have ever taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities (复杂性) of spelling. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content (内容) rather than spelling.

    If spelling becomes the only focus of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language.

    I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a piece of writing about a personal experience. "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes and your writing is terrible." It may have been a sharp comment on the pupil's spelling in writing, but it was also a sad sign that the teacher had failed to read the composition, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the spelling would have given the pupil more encouragement to seek improvement.

In the early 1990s, Ashok Kumar and I ran TRAFFIC-India, an organisation that worked to stop illegal wildlife trade in India. That was when the first letter from the famous American conservationist (自然环境保护主义者), George Schaller, arrived on our desk. Tibetan antelopes were being killed in their thousands, he wrote, and their wool (毛) was taken illegally to India. "No use in India for antelope wool," we wrote back, not knowing the seriousness of the illegal trade here. Schaller sent us back pictures to prove it and asked us to begin a Tibetan investigation.

We dug around and found that Schaller was right. We realised that antelope wool was the same as shahtoosh, the famous Kashmiri shawl (披肩). The shawl was made from the underwool of Tibetan antelopes, considered the warmest and softest wool in the world. A single shawl needed the wool of three to five antelopes. We had to save the animal.

Then began India's first campaign (运动) to protect Tibetan antelopes. A lot of designers and models joined us. Slowly, the message was being driven home: shahtoosh was out of style, shahtoosh was illegal and alternative (可替代的) shawls would save the antelopes from extinction.

There were, of course, those who tried to buck the campaign. The wife of a well-known army officer of India refused to give up her shahtoosh till she was forced out of it. She said: "I know the lovely antelope is dying and I so want to save it. But, the shawl is so light on my shoulders!"

Someone suggested farming the antelopes, but studies showed that it was an impractical idea. The antelopes could not even survive in low altitude zoos. The underwool is nature's gift to the animal to keep it warm at great heights. Later, we set up a business to process high quality pashmina wool and make an alternative shawl.

In 2000, good news came in from China. With strict policies in place, the number of Tibetan antelopes was on the rise again.

Insect numbers have decreased by half in some parts of the world due to climate change and intensive agriculture,a study has found.The combined pressures of global heating and farming are driving a "substantial decline" of insects across the globe,according to the UK researchers.

Lead researcher,Dr Charlie Outhwaite of UCL,said losing insect populations could be harmful not only to the natural environment,but to human health and food security,particularly with losses of pollinators(传粉昆虫)."Our findings highlight the urgency of actions to preserve natural habitats,slow the expansion of high-intensity agriculture,and cut emissions to reduce climate change," she added.

In the latest study,the researchers pulled together data on the range and number of nearly 20,000 insect species,including bees,ants,butterflies,grasshoppers and dragonflies,at about 6,000 different locations.In areas with high-intensity agriculture and substantial warming,insect numbers have decreased by 49%,compared with relatively untouched places that have so far avoided the most severe impacts of climate change,according to the research published in Nature.

But the researchers said there was some cause for hope.Setting aside areas of land for nature creates a refuge(庇护所) for insects,which need shade to survive in hot weather."Careful management of agricultural areas,such as preserving natural habitats near farmland,may help to ensure that vital insects can still survive," said Dr Tim Newbold,also of UCL.

Study researcher,Peter McCann,added,"We need to acknowledge how important insects are for the environment as a whole,and for human health and well being,in order to address the threats we pose to them before many species are lost forever."