It was a simple letter asking for a place to study at Scotland's oldest university which helped start a revolution in higher education. A 140-year-old letter written by a lady calling for her to be allowed to study medicine at St Andrews University has been discovered by researchers. Written by Sophia Jex-Blake in 1873, the seven-page document, which urged the university to allow women to study medicine at the institution, was released yesterday on International Women's Day.

    The document was discovered buried in the university archives (档案) by part-time history student Lis Smith, who is completing her PhD at St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research. She said: “We knew that Sophia Jex-Blake and her supporters, in their effort to open up university medical education for women, had written to the Senatus Academicus (校评议委员会) at St Andrews in an attempt to gain permission to attend classes there, but we didn't know documentary evidence existed. While searching the archives for information about the university's higher certificate for women, I was astonished to come across what must be the very letter Jex-Blake wrote.”

    In the letter, Sophia and her supporters offered to hire teachers or build suitable buildings for a medical school and to arrange for lectures to be delivered in the subjects not already covered at St Andrews. Although her letter was not successful, it eventually led to the establishment of the Ladies Literate in Arts at St Andrews, a distance-learning degree for women. The qualification, which ran from 1877 until the 1930s, gave women access to university education in the days before they were admitted as students. It was so popular that it survived long after women were admitted as full students to St Andrews in 1892.

    Ms Jex-Blake went on to help establish the London School of Medicine for Women in 1874. She was accepted by the University of Berne, where she was awarded a medical degree in January 1877. Eventually, she moved back to Edinburgh and opened her own practice.

    More companies and recyclers are taking steps to ensure that old electronic devices such as TVs and computers aren't sent to poor countries.

    The Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based non-profit that largely exposed the overseas discarding (丢弃) of US electronic waste, on Thursday launched a programme to use third-party employees to certify (证实) recyclers who don't export dangerous electronic waste.

    The so-called e-Steward recyclers will also agree not to discard the waste in US landfills and agree to meet other criteria. The certification is intended to provide companies and consumers with some assurance that the waste, which can include toxins (毒素) such as lead and mercury, is disposed of safely.

    The Government Accountability Office, in a 2008 report, declared that US electronic waste was often disposed of unsafely in such countries as India. There, workers recycle gold, silver and copper from the waste, often in open-air acid baths.

    The Basel Network also says it won assurances from 13 organizations, including Samsung, Bank of America, Wells Far-go, that they'll use e-Steward recyclers whenever possible. Wells Fargo had already been using recyclers who declared not to export. So far, Basel has certified three recyclers and seven sites.

    Before e-stewards, even, companies that wanted to avoid export of electronic waste had to “hope for the best”, when, they handed their waste to recyclers, says Robert Houghton, president of Ohio-based recycler Redemtech. It is an e-Steward that counts major companies among its customers. “Now, they can get some proof,” Houghton says.

    Basel's standards compete with another set launched in January. It was made by industry and backed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    That standard, called R-2, doesn't ban the export of dangerous electronic waste but requires that it be handled safely. Instead of a ban, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries says, efforts should be made to help poor countries develop safe recycling.

    Mobile technology has created new ways for all types of learning styles to help discover new information. If you want to teach yourself things, here are some apps that will help you.

    Coursera

    Perhaps one of the biggest advancements in the history of e-learning, Coursera has teamed up with top school like Duke, Stanford, and John Hopkins to bring you direct access to real college courses in psychology, computer science, business, and technology. Each course features pre-recorded videos, projects, and quizzes, just like you'd receive inside the classroom.

    Lumosity

    This app features three-day sessions that target many different areas of brain activity: memory, speed, problem solving, and thinking flexibility. Each day you can participate in a timed session to sharpen mental intelligence and keep track of your progress over time.

    Duolingo

    If you've ever wanted to learn a new language but didn't know where to start or couldn't afford expensive apps, you need to check out Duolingo. This app teaches more than a dozen languages by breaking up exercises into mini games. The developer of Duolingo claims that 34 hours of learning in this app equals a full term's worth of school.

    EarthViewer

    Ever wonder what Earth looked like a million years ago? There's no better way to know than to look for yourself. Earth Viewer takes you on a digital journey to see how the landscape(地貌) and face of the planet has developed over the past 4.5 billion years, and view climate changes, sea level adjustments, or the evolution of famous cities.

    According to findings of a survey by Citi and Seventeen Magazine, nearly four out of five (almost 80 percent) college students work while attending college, with the average work load of 19 hours per week. But should college students work while at college? Many factors should be considered.

    One benefit of working while in college is that it can help build your resume, regardless of whether the job is in your field, according to an article at Scholarships.com. "If you're lucky enough to find a job that closely relates to your major, you could get a leg up on the rest of your class once you graduate, because you'll have more experience in your chosen field," according to the article.

    Perhaps the most compelling reason for working while earning a degree is the money. While it's unlikely to entirely finance your education through a part-time or full-time job, you can still make quite a dent(削减)in the college bill by working.

    But some students prefer not to work while earning a degree so they can focus on getting the best grades. It's true that you'll have more time to stay at school if you don't work, provided you use that time wisely. If you feel like even 10-15 hours a week of work will hurt your grades, then perhaps you should not consider working.

    Working a part-time or full-time job can take away time from social activities, according to a You University TV article. "Trying to balance a job and your college studies, and taking a job can cut down your time to hang out with friends," according to writer Dave Potts.

    In addition to missing out on hanging out with your friends, working during college could prevent you from attending a number of campus events, such as movies on the lawn or football games. While you may be able to land a job that's flexible, it seems unlikely they'll let you choose your own schedule.

    So should students work at college? The decision should be made on a case-by-case basis. Some students can also thrive in school while working, whereas others can't.

    According to a recent study, a new genetically modified rice can prevent infections of HIV, the virus responsible for the disease AIDS.

    The study reports the newly-developed rice produces proteins that attach directly to the HIV virus. This process prevents the virus from mixing with human cells. The scientists say it can remove the effect of the virus and block its spreading.

    The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS reports that worldwide, nearly 37 million people were living with HIV in 2017. The organization says the largest number of those are in developing countries. Nearly two-thirds of HIV cases are in Africa. Now there is no cure for HIV/AIDS though there have been developments in oral drug treatments to slow the progression of the disease.

    The new study predicts the rice-based method will lead to long-term use of the anti-HIV treatment across the developing world. Researchers said the "groundbreaking" discovery is "realistically the only way" that anti-HIV combination treatments can be produced at a cost low enough for the developing world.

    They say the easiest and most cost-effective way to use the rice will be to make it into a cream to be put on the skin. The HIV-fighting proteins can then enter the body through the skin. People all over the world could grow the rice and make the cream themselves. This would prevent the cost and travel required for many patients to receive treatments and medicine.

    The process of changing the genetic structure of food crops has been debated for some time. Critics of genetically engineered crops believe they can harm people. The scientific team says further testing is needed to ensure that the genetic engineering process does not produce any additional chemicals that could be dangerous to people.

    Barbara McCintock was one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century. She made important discoveries about genes(基因) and chromosomes (染色体).

    Barbara McClintock was born in 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family moved to Brooklyn area of new York City in 1908.Barbara was an active child with interests in sports and music. She also developed an interest in science.

    She studied science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Barbara was among a small number of undergraduate students to receive training in genetics in 1921. Years later, she noted that few college students wanted to study genetics.

    Barbara McClintock decided to study botany, the scientific study of plants, at Cornell University. She completed her undergraduate studies in 1923. McClintock decided to continue her education at Cornell. She completed a master's degree in 1925. Two years later, she finished all her requirements for a doctorate degree.

    McCintock stayed at Cornell after she completed her education. She taught students botany. The 1930s were not a good time to be a young scientist in the United States. The country was in the middle of the great economic Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed. Male scientists were offered jobs. But female geneticists were not much in demand.

    An old friend from Cornell, Marcus Rhoades, invited McClintock to spend the summer of 1941 working at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It is a research center on Long Island, near New York City. McClintock started in a temporary (临时的) job with the genetics department. A short time later, she accepted a permanent (永久的) position with the laboratory. This gave her the freedom to continue her research without having to teach or repeatedly ask for financial aid.

    By the 1970s, her discoveries had had an effect on everything from genetic engineering to cancer research. McClintock won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her discovery of the ability of genes to change positions on chromosomes. She was the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize.