When thinking about placing a human being in space, one of the most important questions was how to design special clothing needed to protect a person from the dangers of the space environment. The cold of space will freeze skin in a short time. The fierce heat of the sun can cause serious burns. The lack of atmosphere can cause gases in the body to expand(扩大) and even burst. With no oxygen to breathe, a human being will die in only a few moments. Radiation from the sun is another risk in space. So is damage from small pieces of rock and objects like meteoroids (陨石).

    In 1933, an American flyer, Wiley Post, designed one of the first successful devices to protect a pilot at extreme heights. It was a large device that looked like a can surrounded the pilot's head. Astronauts in the American space agency (NASA) flew the first American space flights in the early 1960s. The clothing was similar to that invented by Wiley Post.

    Today, astronauts wear very different protective clothing. It lets them move, do useful tasks, and stay outside their spacecraft in comfort and safety for several hours. The spacesuit is called the shuttle extravehicular mobility unit or EMU. It was designed to endure longer and to permit more movement than earlier spacesuits.

    The EMU has a number of parts that an astronaut can link together by using only one hand, which makes it possible for each astronaut to select the parts that fit correctly.

    Nowadays, NASA scientists are also considering the kind of spacesuits that would be needed for exploration on the planet Mars. Because of the gravity on Mars, spacesuits may have to be designed to be lighter than suits used in orbit or on the moon. The equipment may also have to protect astronauts from dust carried in the winds on Mars. And, they must be easy to repair and keep clean during a longer flight to and from the red planet.

    The iPhone the iPad: each of Apple's products sounds cool and has become a fad(一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i”—and many other brands are following suit. The BBC's iPlayer—which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet—used the title in 2008. A lovely bear—popular in the US and UK一that plays music and vide is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London's Independent newspaper was stated last week under the name “i”.

    In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.

    Most “i” products are targeted at young people and considering the major readers of Independent's “i”, it's no surprise that they've selected this fashionable name.

    But it's hard to see what's so special about the letter “i” Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King's College, London, “i”works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or intcractive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn't have one clear definition,” he says.

    “However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability.” adds Thorne.

    Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.

    Along with“Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted“i”as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.

    But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. How ever, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.

    A new study says electronic toys are not helping babies learn.

    "Even if companies are marketing them as educational, they're not teaching the babies anything at this time," said Anna Sosa the study's author.

    Researchers listened to audio(声音的) recordings of parents playing with their babies aged 10 months to 16 months. The researchers compared the experiences when the children played with electronic toys, traditional toys such as blocks, or when the children looked at books. What they found is that parents talked less with their babies when the babies played with electronic toys.

    Why is this important? Research shows that how quickly children develop language is often based on what they hear from parents. When the infants played with electronic toys, parents said little to their children. But with traditional toys, such as blocks, parents shared the names and descriptions of the animals, colors and shapes as their children played. There was even more information given by parents as their babies looked at the pictures in books.

    Of course, there is no need for parents to throw out electronic toys, but they should look at their infants' play with such toys as entertainment, not a learning experience.

    Toy Industry Association spokeswoman Adrienne Appell responded to the study. She said it is important that parents make time to play with their children. "Playing is a way that kids can learn so much, not only cognitive(认知的) skills, but social and developmental skills," she said. She added that play should be balanced, including time for just "make believe" activities, as well as traditional and electronic toys.

    For generations, cereal（麦片） has been the base of the American breakfast, but it now seems to be losing some of its advantages. Sales of breakfast cereal in the US are not so popular.

    The consumer's desire for a healthier way to start the day is now at its highest ever. Shoppers are seeking out “high protein(蛋白质) and fiber content and natural ingredients,” an expert said in a report. “Consumers today believe cereal is overly processed and doesn't contain enough nutrients.” That means cereal is facing the competition from fresh fruit, yogurt, breakfast bars and drinks, and even all-day breakfast meals at McDonald's or other fast-food chains.

    Consumers are increasingly seeking products that match their personal definition of real food, and that can mean foods that are less processed. Another big challenge for the industry is the ever-changing pattern of breakfast eaters, with an emphasis increasingly being placed on satisfying time-squeezed lifestyles. This desire for convenience seems to be especially increasingly being placed on satisfying time-squeezed lifestyles. This desire for convenience seems to be especially evident among young people who believe that cereal is inconvenient because it involves cleaning a dish afterward.

    Then there's the issue of price. Brand-name cereal prices jumped after the financial crisis in 2008, owing largely to the higher prices of grains and other ingredients. It's only in the last two years that prices have stabilized（稳定）.

    However, manufacturers and industry analysts say that if breakfast cereal makers can keep on adapting to consumers' changing needs, especially among young people, the business can grow again; besides, young people are still eating a lot of cereal, just not always for breakfast. Ready-to-eat cereal is in 90 percent of all households and nearly 94 percent of young households. For this group, cereal is more than just a breakfast item. It is also a popular snack option.

    (CNN)—This photograph of two men sharing a drink 30 meters below the water is part of an art project exploring the mysterious world of freediving—a form of underwater diving that relies on a diver's ability to hold his or her breath until resurfacing rather than on the use of oxygen tanks (氧气瓶).

    Each man, dressed in shirt, jeans and sunglasses, sits in a chair at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea with local sharks—harmless to humans—swimming just meters away. Of course, these aren't ordinary men, but freedivers: extreme athletes who dive on a single breath of air.

    American photographer Lia Barrett had been taking pictures of brave divers competing at the Caribbean Cup off the coast of Honduras, when she decided to create a fantastic underwater world in which humans go about everyday tasks—such as drinking coffee or riding bikes.

    "After the competitors had a great time in the new national and world records set at the competition, I took advantage of their breath-holding skills to do photo shoots I had only dreamed of before," said the 29-year-old.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, Barrett is often asked whether the amazing pictures are Photoshopped. She laughs quietly as she insists they're 100% real.

    The picture of two men having coffee took 50 minutes to create, with the men receiving oxygen from standby assistants around every three minutes.

    "On the way back up, we were holding onto the table during our decompression (减压) stop in the strong current (水流)—it was quite a scene."

    The underwater models made an 11-minute stop on the way back to the surface, making sure they didn't rise too quickly and suffer decompression sickness—which can cause deadly blackouts (眩晕).

    When you live in total messiness—cookies in your pants draws, and some old New Yorkers or apple seeds in your bed—it's hard to know where to look for when you lose your keys. The other day, after two weeks of searching, I found my keys in the refrigerator. I can't say I was surprised. But I was surprised when I was diagnosed with ADHD(多动症), when I was a junior at Yale.

    According to a new study, 11% of school-age children have received an ADHD diagnosis, a 16% increase since 2007. And rising diagnoses mean rising treatments—drugs like Adderall are more accessible than ever. However, the consequences of misuse and abuse of these drugs are dangerous.

    Yet also harmful are the consequences of ADHD undiagnosed, an all-too-common story for women like me, who have symptoms, like disorganization and forgetfulness, which look different from those typically expressed in males.

    Dr. Ellen, author of Understanding Girls with ADHD, has found around 4 million females with ADHD are not diagnosed. "The main reason is that the diagnostic criteria were developed based on those hyperactive（过度活跃）young boys taken to clinics, making it difficult for girls to be diagnosed unless they behave like hyperactive boys." Ellen says.

    Besides, the idea that young women actually have ADHD often causes skepticism. As a top student, I didn't believe my diagnosis at first. My friends were also confused, and rather certain my doctor was misguided.

    "Often, if girls are smart or in supportive homes, symptoms are masked," Dr.Ellen says. "Girls will hide their inability to meet social expectations. They see their trouble organizing, and concentrating as character flaws(缺陷)."

    These years, I am both embarrassed and exhausted by my struggles to keep track of objects, but drug has helped it and made it more bearable.