Evaluating Sources (来源) of health Information

    Making good choices about your own health requires reasonable evaluation. A key first step in bettering your evaluation ability is to look carefully at your sources of healthy information. Reasonable evaluation includes knowing where and how to fins relevant information, how to separate fact from opinions, how to recognize poor reasoning, and how to analyze information and the reliability of sources. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Go to the original source. Media reports often simplify the results of medical research. Find out for yourself what a study really reported, and determine whether it was based on good science. Think about the type of study. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Watch for misleading language. Some studies will find that a behaviour “contributes to” or is“ associated with” an outcome; this does not mean that a certain course must lead to a certain result. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Carefully read or listen to information in order to fully understand it.

    Use your common sense. If a report seems too good to be true, probably it is. Be especially careful of information contained in advertisements. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Evaluate “scientific” statements carefully, and be aware of quackery(江湖骗术).

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Friends and family members can be a great source of ideas and inspiration, but each of us needs to find a healthy lifestyle that works for us.

    Developing the ability to evaluate reasonably and independently about the health problems will serve you well throughout your life.

A. Make choices that are right for you.

B. The goal of an ad is to sell you something.

C. Be sure to work through the critical questions.

D. And examine the findings of the original research.

E. Distinguish between research reports and public health advice.

F. Be aware that information may also be incorrectly explained by an author's point of view.

G. The following suggestions can help you sort through the health information you receive from common sources.

    As soon as a person dies, decomposition(分解) begins. And the first visitors arrive. “Within 5 to 15 minutes of death, flies or other insects begin to colonize the body.” says Rabi Musah, an organic chemist at the University at Albany.

    She says different species turn up at different stages of decomposition. “So because of that, depending upon what entomological(昆虫学的) evidence you find, you can learn something about when the person died in terms of the timing of the death.”

    Flies don't tend to stick around when disturbed by detectives. But they do leave behind eggs. The eggs are hard to tell apart by appearance alone, so specialists raise them until they hatch, a few weeks later—and they get a species ID and, with a little guesswork, a person's time of death.   But Musah has come up with a more time-saving approach: chemical analysis of the eggs. She and her team investigated that method by first harvesting flies with pig-liver traps hidden throughout New York City. They collected the trapped flies and then chemically analyzed their eggs. And it turns out each species of fly egg has a unique chemical fingerprint—enough to tell the eggs apart without raising the eggs to maturity. The study is in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

    Musah and her colleague Jennifer Rosati are now testing the method on a real case. “And once we do that we will be publishing some case studies to illustrate(阐明) that this is a method that can be used, and hopefully eventually it's something that will stand up in court, and something that could speed up detective work—or help deal with a cold case.”

    Regardless of how far we'd like to believe gender(性别) equality in the workplace has come, there's still a yawning gap between male and female leaders in the professional world. A 2018 statistic shows that women nowadays hold just 5.8 percent of CEOs positions at S&P 500 companies, according to Catalyst.

    While it's not a huge shock that women are somewhat underrepresented in leadership positions, what is surprising though, is the fact that females may actually be better suited to lead in almost every area, at least according to new findings from the BI Norwegian Business School.

    In their research，Professor yvind L. Martinsen and Professor Lars Glas surveyed (调查)2,900 managers with a special focus on personality types. The results were clear: Women scored higher than men in four of the five major leadership-centric categories.

    While some people believe that men inherently make better leaders — probably because they picture a leader with a commanding voice, which is more typical of men than women — this piece of research suggests that women are better at methodical management and goal-setting, openness, sociability and supportiveness, as well as ability to communicate clearly.

    There was one area in which men scored higher than women, though, and that was on emotional stability and ability to face job-related pressure and stress. The results suggest that women are more sensitive to the effects of high-pressure or highly emotional situations.

    Obviously，it's important to consider individual(个人的) differences. Anyone, regardless of gender, may be an inspiring leader and a competent boss. But next time you're hiring for a management position, you just might want to give the resumes(简历) from female candidates a harder look.

    If you've ever visited London, it's likely that you've heard the loud chimes（鸣响）of Big Ben, the 157-year-old clock bell of the UK's Houses of Parliament（议会）.

    But on Aug 21, the world's most famous bell fell silent. This is because the Palace of Westminster's Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, needs to be repaired. The workers who'll carry out the repairs don't want their ears to be damaged by the sounds of the huge bell, reported BBC News. Big Ben won't ring again regularly until 2021.

    There's been quite an emotional response to the move. Several members of parliament gathered in front of the Houses of Parliament to hear the bell's last regular chime for four years. A few even shed tears, as if they were attending a friend's funeral.

    But a number of politicians are angry about the lengthy silencing of Big Ben, calling it a symbol of Britain, according to ABC News. And some members of public agree with it. "It's our heritage," David Dummigan, from Cumbria in the north of England, told The New York Times. "People come from all over the world to look at it and listen to it. It's part of British history." This kind of emotional reaction could be linked to "fears about Britain losing its voice and place in the world, which is part of the threat that comes from Brexit", according to CNN. "The reality of losing a place at the top table is being made obvious," it wrote.

    Worries aside, fans of Big Ben will still be able to hear its unique chimes during special occasions such as New Year's Eve. But if we do miss hearing Big Ben on a regular basis, we could always set its sound as our message tone.

    The surface of Venus（金星）has never seemed very hospitable. Temperatures change around 470℃（900℉）, the result of a runway greenhouse effect，and the pressure of its atmosphere, thick with carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid, is some 90 times that of Earth's. Lead（铅）would flow like water on Venus, and water cannot have existed in liquid form for perhaps a billion years.

    Now NASA'S Magellan spacecraft seems to have found one more horror in the nasty landscape: active volcanoes. Last week the space agency released the first detailed map of Venus and the most dramatic images ever made of its surface. The picture offer the best evidence to date that a planet once assumed dead is actually a lively pot of geological change.

    The most amazing image is of Venus's second tallest mountain, Maat Mons, which rises 8km（5 miles）. Most of the planet's many peaks, including 9.5-km-（6-mile-） high Maxwell Montes, look bright in the radar pictures Magellan takes from its orbit above the permanent could cover. That means they are strong reflectors of radar waves. But Maat Mons is dark; like the Stealth bomber, it absorbs much of the radar falling on it.

    This interesting fact, say project scientists, is a strong hint that the mountains has recently been covered with lava. Rock that sits on the surface of mountaintops appears to weather quickly in the hot，chemically reactive atmosphere, creating a soil that is rich in iron sulfide（硫化铁）• It is this mineral, the scientists believe, that can easily be seen on radar. If Maat Mons doesn't have any, it has probably been resurfaced, perhaps within the past few years.

    Such resurfacing has undoubtedly taken place in Venus lowlands: earlier images of the planet showed vast areas that are remarkably free of craters（火山坑）.That would be easy to explain on a Planet like Earth, where cratering from meteor strikes is erased by steady erosion. But while there is some evidence of wind erosion on Venus, the best explanation for the lack of cratering is periodic lava flow. Magellan has found direct evidence of such flows, including domelike upwellings and hardened streamed of rock trailing down the sides of Venusian peaks. There are also signs of other geologic activities, including dramatic faulting and several distinct incidents of mountain building. But the evidence can't indicate whether they really occurred millions of years ago. The case for active Venusian volcanoes is not yet proved, but Magellan, which is now well into its second complete survey of the planet's surface, may eventually settle the issue.

    Can you imagine a world without music？Studies show that public schools across the country are cutting back on music classes to save money. Worse, some schools have never had music classes to begin with. But without them, students' academic growth and emotional health could suffer. In fact, music classes are necessary for all students in schools.

    Recent studies by Brown University have shown that students who received music education classes were better in math and reading skills than those without music classes. Another study by The College Board found that students taking music and art classes got higher points. Students' academic success seems to depend on their taking part in music education.

    Music programs in public schools also help to add to a student's sense of pride and self-confidence. Teens today have too many learning tasks. Besides, they have family problems, self-confidence problems, relationship troubles, and choices about drugs and alcohol. All of these can stop academic success, but music education can help. A study by The Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse found that students who took part in school music programs were less likely to turn to drugs. Music programs encourage students to work together to produce an excellent performance.

    Music crosses language, class, cultural and political boundaries (界限). Music allows students from different countries to connect. For example, at a school talent show, a new Japanese student played a piano duet (二重奏) with an American classmate. Although they could not communicate verbally (口头上), they were able to read the music in order to play the duet. Two students from different cultures worked as a team with self-confidence and common purpose through music.

    The gift of music is priceless. We need to be sure to have necessary music classes for all students. The world is losing its music, and putting music into schools is the first step to get it back.