I've often wondered if I might do more good as a travel agent rather than as a psychologist.It seems that I have been more dramatically affected by certain kinds of travel experiences than I ever have.

     My trip to Iceland is a fine example of that.The plan was to spend two days in a remote mountain hut in Iceland.I was working on a photograhic book about winter in Iceland and needed to capture images of this amazing region of high mountain peaks，smoky volcanoes，and lakes with floating icebergs.

     The moment after we arrived，the weather turned extreme making visibility impossible.It snowed so much and the wind blew so hard that we couldn't leave the tiny hut.We tried to call for help but the radio did not work.Day after day，we watched our supplies of food and fuel grow dangerously short.We got acute cabin fever(幽居病)and started going for walks and ski expeditions outside.Even when the weather finally broke，nobody came to get us even though it was three days beyond our scheduled pickup.By the time the rescue team came to pull us out，we had all given up hope.

     From then on，the world looks different to me，as does my life.It would have taken me years of psychotherapy to get to the same point.

Almost everyone has a story to tell，and interestingly，most of these experiences were not altogether pleasant at the time.In fact，it appears that the most constructive life­changing journeys were those that involved some sorts of awful and uncomfortable events that forced the person to develop new resources，increase confidence，and solve problems in new ways.

    Can people change their skin color without suffering like pop king Michael Jackson? Perhaps yes. Scientists have found the gene that determines skin color.

    The gene comes in two versions, one of which is found in 99 percent of Europeans. The other is found in 93 to 100 percent of Africans, researchers at Pennsylvania State University report in the latest issue of Science.

    Scientists have changed the color of a dark-striped zebra-fish（斑马鱼） to uniform gold by inserting a version of the pigment (色素) gene into a young fish. As with humans, zebra-fish skin color is determined by pigment cells, which contain melanin (黑色素). The number, size and darkness of melanin per pigment cell determine skin color.

    It appears that, like the golden zebra-fish, light-skinned Europeans also have a mutation (变异) in the gene for melanin production. This results in less pigmented skin.

    However, Keith Cheng, leader of the research team, points out that the mutation is different in human and zebra-fish genes.

    Humans acquired dark skin in Africa about 1.5 million years ago to protect bodies from ultra-violet rays of the sun (太阳光紫外线), which can cause skin cancer.

    But when modern humans leave Africa to live in northern latitudes, they need more sunlight on their skin to produce vitamin D. So the related gene changes, according to Cheng.

    Asians have the same version of the gene as Africans, so they probably acquired their light skin through the action of some other gene that affects skin color, said Cheng.

    The new discovery could lead to medical treatments for skin cancer. It also could lead to research into ways to change skin color without damaging it like chemical treatment did on Michael Jackson.

    The police in Taiwan are unable to judge whether to treat it as an extremely clever act of stealing or an even cleverer cheat. Either way, it could be the perfect crime, because the criminals are birds — homing pigeons!

    The crime begins with a telephone message to the owner of a stolen car: if you want the car back, pay up. Then, the car owner is directed to a park, told where to find a bird cage and how to attach money to the neck of the pigeon inside. Carrying the money in a tiny bag, the pigeon flies off.

    There have been at least four such pigeon pick-ups in Changwa. What at first seemed like the work of a clever stay-at-home car thief, however, may in fact be the work of an even lazier and more inventive criminal mind — one that avoids not only collecting money but going out to steal the car in the first place. Police officer Chen says that the criminal probably has pulled a double trick: he gets money for things he cannot possibly return. Instead of stealing cars, he lets someone else do it and then waits for the car-owner to place an ad in the newspaper asking for help.

    The theory is supported by the fact that, so far, none of the stolen cars have been returned. Also, the amount of money demanded — under 3,000 Taiwanese dollars — seems too little for a car worth many times more.

    Demands for pigeon-delivered money stopped as soon as the press reported the story. And even if they start again, Chen holds little hope of catching the criminal. “We have more important things to do,” he said.

    One of Scotland's most active centenarians ( 百岁的人), Lady Morton, drove for nearly 80 years. She loved driving and spent the war years as an ambulance driver for Bangour Hospital. Aged 100 she was still driving around Edinburgh, up to Perthshire and elsewhere — the oldest among all the drivers in Scotland. But she had her first ever accident several days after her 100th birthday — she hit a traffic island (a raised area in the middle of a road where people can wait until it is safe to cross) when she took her new car for a drive in Edinburgh.

    Lady Morton, who celebrated her 100^th birthday in July, was given a car as a present. She talked about the accident happened that night. “I wasn't going fast, but I hit a traffic island. I couldn't see it, because it had no light, which I think was unbelievable and unreasonable. But I am all right and luckily my car wasn't badly damaged.

    Although Lady Morton had the accident, she didn't plan to stop driving.“Some people are just born to drive, and I think I am one of them. I've been a good driver since the first time I got in a car, she said. “I am musical, so I listen to sound of the car to know when to change gear (档位).

    Lady Morton bought her first car in 1927. The main change she had noticed since then is the traffic. “It's appalling. However, I don't mind it, because I am experienced, but I feel very sorry for beginners,” she said.

    Can exercise during childhood protect you against memory loss many decades later?Exercise early in life seems to have lifelong benefits for the brain,in rats at least.

     “This is an animal study,but it shows that physical activity at a young age is very important—not just for physical development,but for the whole lifelong track of cognitive（认知的）development during ageing,”says Martin Wojtowicz of the University of Toronto,Canada.“In humans,it may delay the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms（阿茨海默氏症）,possibly to the point of preventing them.”

    Wojtowicz's team divided 80 young male rats into two equal groups,and placed running wheels in the cages of one group for a period of six weeks.Around four months later—when the rats had reached middle age—the team taught all the rats to connect an electric shock with being in a specific.When placed in the box,they froze with fear.

    Two weeks later,the team tested the rats in three situations: exactly the same box in the same room,the same box with the room arranged differently,and a completely different box in a different room.

    The rats without access to a running wheel when they were young now froze the same percentage of times in each of these situations,suggesting they couldn't remember which one was dangerous.But those that had been able to run in their youth froze 40 to 50 percent less in both changed box settings.

    "The results suggest the amount of physical activity when we're young,at least for rats,has influence on brain and cognitive health—in the form of better memories—when we're older,"says Arthur Kramer of Northeastern University in Boston,who has found that,in humans,exercise promotes the growth of new brain cells.

    He is a lesson to every boy who ever picked up a basketball and dreamed that it would change his life.

    The lights were never brighter and the crowds were never bigger for a homegrown sports hero than they were a quarter-century ago for Ray Hall. But his athletic achievements, as impressive as they are, are to my mind not what is most admirable about the man.

    Known as “Sugar Ray” in his teens, Hall was rated among the country's top 25 high school basketball players. An inner-city kid from a solid family, Hall took on the challenge of lifting Canisius College — still recovering from its failure — back to respectability, rejecting more favorable offers. His status of a savior (救世主) brought more pressure than any 18-year-old should have to handle. However, I watched him mature into the player who led Canisius back to daylight.

    After college Hall played professionally in Italy and Greece for over 10 years until a car accident at 32 ended his basketball career. The news that he would never play again shocked Hall but unlike so many others he was ready for life after basketball. When I met Hall — still fit at 46 — for lunch Monday, he wore a cut-sharp gray suit, designer tie and blazing white shirt that screamed Success. “That was always the question — when the cheers end, where do you go? Who do you turn to?” he said. “It starts and ends with that person in the mirror.”

    Hall got the concept of academics-first from his parents. He graduated from Canisius a semester early. “No matter how good of an athlete you are, you are just one injury away from losing it all,” he said. “But if you take care of things academically, you are prepared until you leave this earth.”

    For the past 14 years, he has been in a computer sales job at Ingram Micro. He married his college sweetheart. They have three kids and a nice house in the suburbs. He figured out early what others learn too late: Athletics is part of a journey, not the destination.

    Congratulations, Ray, you made it. In more ways than one.