At the age of ten I could not figure out what this Elvis Presley guy had that the rest of us boys did not have. I mean, he had a head, two arms and twolegs, just like the rest of us. About nine o'clock on Saturday morning I decided to ask Eugene Correthers, one of the older boys, what it wasthat made this Elvis guy so special. He told me that it was Elvis' wavy hair and the way he moved his body.

    About half an hour later all the boys in the orphanage(孤儿院) were called to the main dining-room and told we were all going to downtown Jacksonville, Florida to geta new pair of Buster Brown shoes and a haircut. That is when Igot this big idea, which hit me like a ton of bricks. If the Elvis hair cut was the big secret, then that's what I was going to get.

    All the way to town I told everybody, including the matron(女管家) from the orphanage who was taking us to town, that I was going to look just like Elvis Presley and that I would learn to move around just like he did and that I would be rich and famous one day, just like him.

    When I got my new Buster Brown shoes, I could hardly wait for my new hair cut and now that I had my new Busier Brown shoes I would be very happy to go back to the orphanage and practice being like Elvis.

    We finally arrived at the big barber shop, where they cutour hair for free because we were orphans(孤儿). I looked at the barber and said, “I want an Elvis hair cut. Can you make my hair like Elvis?”I asked him, with a bigsmile on my face. “Let's just see what we can do for you, little man,”he said. I was so happy when he started to cut my hair. Just as he started to cut my hair, the matron signed for him to come over to where she was standing. She whispered something into his ear and then he shook his head, like he wastelling her“No”. Then he toldme they were not allowed to give us Elvis hair cuts. Then I saw my hair falling onto the floor

    Scientists in Britain have managed to teach bumblebees(大黄蜂) to pull strings to get to food and then pass on what they have learned to others in their colony(群体)—showing a high level of intelligence despite their tiny brains.

    Researchers at Queen Mary University of London said the experiments, often used to test the intelligence of apes (猿) and birds, showed for the first time that some insects are up to the task, and can also pass skills on through several generations.

    The findings add to the evidence suggesting the ability for “culture spread” — the ability to learn and pass on knowledge and skills — may not be exclusive to humans.

    In the research, published in the journal PLOS Biology on Tuesday, the scientists were able to train 23 out of a group of 40 bees to pull strings with their legs and feet.

    The strings were attached to discs — or artificial “flowers” — containing food at their center but placed under a transparent screen. The bees, spotting the food beneath the screen, learned to pull the “flowers” out by pulling the string with their legs and feet to be able to get to it.

    From another group of bees given the chance to solve the task without any training, only two of 110 were successful.

    Another group of bees was then allowed to observe the trained bees pulling the strings, and 60 percent of them successfully learned the skill. Finally, trained bees were put in colonies, and the scientists found the technique spread successfully to a majority of the colony's worker bees.

    Lars Chittka, a Queen Mary University professor who guided the project, said the team is interested in figuring out the brain processes behind the bees' learning and teaching skills.

    We all know that exercise is good for your health. But some kinds of exercise may be better than others.

    Running, for example, may help to protect against heart disease and other health problems. Running may also help you live longer. Researchers say it is not important how far you run. It also does not matter how fast or even how often you run. As advertisements for the running shoes Nike say, “Just Do It.”

    Recently researchers studied more than 55,000 adults. About one-fourth of the adults reported running regularly. The study found these runners were considerably less likely than non-runners to die of any form of disease, including heart disease. In fact, the runners lived, on average, three years longer than the non-runners.

    This study lasted 15 years. During that time, more than 3,400 of the individuals died. About 1.200 of the deaths were linked to heart disease, hear, attack or stroke.

    One of the researchers is a man named D.C. Lee, a professor of Iowa State University Compared to non-runners, he said, runners showed a much lower risk of dying from some diseases. “Compared to non-runners, runners showed 30 percent lower risk of death by any causes, including heart attack, stroke and cancer. Also, runners compared to non-runners showed 45 percent lower risk of death by cardiovascular diseases（心血管疾病）, including heart attack and stroke.”

    D. C. Lee and the other researchers found that speed, distance and how often one runs made little difference in reducing the risk of death. The runners in the study averaged between 10 and 16 kilometers per hour. Mr Lee said slower runners and those who only ran once or twice a week were helped nearly as much as those who ran faster and further. “And also we looked at the inning over time and we found that persistent runners（over six years）showed the biggest benefits, as well.”

    Chicago festival season is here, but are you ready? Music festivals, film series, street fests, beer bashes – it's a summer long party. So pull out your calendar, read our guide and start enjoying weekends.

    Friday Art Markets at Daley Plaza

    Select Fridays August 19 through September

    Daley Plaza

    Cost: Free

    Directions: Nearly 75 artists will be showing their work in Daley Plaza, including jewelry, ceramics, sculpture, paintings, glass, wearables, wood and mixed media.

    Website: http://www.FridayArtMarketsaDaleyPlaza php?sid=146320

    Renegade Chicago Pop-Up

    Sept. 9-10

    Pilsen

    Cost: Free

    Directions: Get your hands on the goods at this outdoor celebration of all things handmade. Festivities include food trucks, DJ sets, craft brews, DIY workshops, photo ops and shopping.

    Website: http://www.RenegadeChicagoPop-Up php?sid=146346

    Millennium Park Summer Music Series

    Select Mondays and Thursday June 12 through Aug. 21

    Millennium Park

    Cost: Free

    Directions: Grab a blanket and some picnic snacks for a free outdoor concert in the park. The music series features a wide variety of music from top local, national and international artists.

    Website: http://www.MillenniumParkSummerMusicSeries php?sid=146432

    Northsider Craft Beer Fest

    Sept 23

    Uptown

    Cost: $15 - $69

    Directions: Spend a day on the green sampling beers and hard ciders （苹果汁）from breweries across the country, including Colorado, Michigan, California and Wisconsin – and let's not forget those in our own home state, too.

    Website: http://www.NorthsiderCraftBeerFest php?sid=146467

    Mark was a great kid from a tough neighborhood. Crime, drugs, fighting and poverty: You name the problem and his neighborhood had it. A scholarship fund provided his tuition to Catholic High, where he was a great baseball player.

    Mark struggled in the classroom, though. He was bright, just behind, due to a more than difficult home environment. But there were problems finding the time for all he needed to do. After-school tutoring seemed impossible because of baseball practice. Some suggested Mark abandon sports and concentrate on “schooling”. But, in reality, if he was going to attend college he would need his sports; so to miss practice and then perform any less than at his best on the field was not wise.

    A fellow teacher, Mrs. Jones, offered to tutor Mark in math at her home. I asked Mark to come to my house for other areas of work. No one paid us. Mrs. Jones summed it up this way: “Pay day doesn't always come on Mondays”.

    When we were not working with Mark to improve his skills for the ACT, the coach and Mark's dad took him to various colleges to talk with both baseball and football program coaches. He settled on the college that offered him scholarships to play both sports. But he needed a good ACT score.

    It takes months to receive the results of college entrance exams. One afternoon after school, while I was grading papers in my room, there was a noise outside the door.

    Mark came in, lifted me out of the seat behind my desk, spun(旋转) me around in the air, and yelled over and over: “I'm going to college! I'm going to college!”

    “I guess you got your scores!” I asked.

    “Well, yeah!” he laughed. “And guess what? I got one point more than I need to be admitted. One point extra. Thank you! Now, where's Mrs. Jones? I've got to tell her too!”

    Until that moment, I had never quite understood what the expression “Pay day doesn't always come on Mondays” meant. But it was clear to me the instant Mark ran into the room to announce his news. No amount of money could ever replace my spin in the air at the hands of a boy who finally had a chance at a better life.

    Humans make mistakes. Even surgeons with years of experience are not infallible. But what if these doctors could pool their knowledge and experience together and create a surgical standard of care, to be carried out by machines?

    That's the idea behind surgical robots, which may soon perform most surgeries, from sewing up tiny wounds to performing heart procedures. Many of these operations are, in fact, already completed with the assistance of robots. But a recent test suggests that robots in the operating room may soon go a step further, performing on soft tissue completely on their own, from start to finish.

    The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot（STAR）, successfully completed surgeries on pigs. "We're the first group to develop autonomous robotic surgery with soft-tissue surgery, and when compared to standard operation, it's better, "says Peter Kim, professor of surgery. "The idea is not to replace surgeons；it will make the surgeons better and make the procedures safer. "

    A recent Mayo Clinic study found that major surgical errors-including operating on the wrong site or side of the body, or even leaving tools or objects inside the patient-occur every one out of 22, 000 procedures. That's rare, but robots like STAR would aim to lower the number even further.

    In the da Vinci surgical system, surgeons place their arms inside instruments and use their hands to control the movement of robotic tools on the operating table from afar. The robot's every major move is controlled by surgeons, and thus its results may vary based on the surgeon's training or experience.

    STAR, on the other hand, is entirely autonomous. It's not only able to work on its own and perform surgeries with a more flexible "hand", but it's able to react to the unexpected incidents. Cutting into hard tissue like bones is one thing, but operating on moving soft tissue is far more complex. STAR reacts to a changing environment, similar to how self-driving cars are programmed to not only drive on the highway, but also react to another driver making a mistake and getting in your way.