How can we reduce the risk?

    There are four general approaches to dealing with volcanic dangers. We can try to keep the danger from occurring - often an impossible task. We can try to change its path or reduce its impact on existing development. We can take steps to protect future development. We can also do our best to have disaster response plans in place before they are needed.

Removing the Threat

    Clearly, there is no way to stop an eruption. We can, however, attempt to reduce the eruption's effects by strengthening structures, for example, building protective works such as walls to make lava(熔岩) flow away from developed areas. Such efforts can be and have been successful, but are of limited use in a large-scale eruption.

Planning for the Future

    Protecting future development from volcanic dangers is a simple task. Before building houses, we should judge the risk. If the risk seems too great, a safer location should be found. This type of planning is very effective, but all too often, people are drawn to the lush(葱郁的)，rolling land of a quiet volcano.

Disaster Preparedness

    When a volcano comes to life, a few weeks may not be enough time to avoid a tragedy. Planning is the key to saving lives. Well before the warning signs occur, people must be educated about volcanic dangers. Escape plans must be in place. Communication between scientists, officials, the media, and the general public should be practiced. Emergency measures must be thought out and agreed upon.

    If you doubt the importance of these efforts, take another look at past volcanic tragedies, such as the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz. Communication failures left the town of Armero unprepared for escape. When a deadly mudflow came down the slope(斜坡), 21,000 people— 90 percent of the town's people--died.

    Choosing the right university for you is a big decision with many factors to consider. The institution that you choose will not only be the one that ensures your academic goals, but it will also be where you will live, learn, play sports, socialize and work for several years. Therefore, before you start filling out those university application forms, take a step back and consider the many variables that affect the “fit” of a university to your unique personality and educational goals. Take a look at the following factors, and decide which ones mean the most to you.

    Consider your educational goals. You will discover that different schools are  more recognized or progressive in your chosen field of study than others. For this reason, talk to advisors, professionals in your field, or go to clubs organized by the alumni(校友). When you check out school ranking for your major, you may find that your first choice is not really a match, while another fits perfectly.

    Consider costs. It will be no surprise to you at this point that not all schools cost the same. Some of the more famous schools are so because they are difficult to get into and difficult to pay for. Don't let this necessarily stop you. Just keep this consideration in mind as you narrow your list of potential schools.

    Choosing a university should not be done only on reputation, but also take the academic programs and overall environment into consideration. Be aware that reputations are sometimes out of date or overstated, so first-hand experience is often beneficial.

    Once you've identified the factors that are most important to you, you've taken the first steps towards making a successful choice. Make sure you pick a university that will serve your needs throughout your university career.

    Do you worry about entering senior high school? Everything, from study to environment, has changed. Can you adapt yourself to it?

    You're not alone. Remember that everybody else in your year is in the same boat. You may not notice it, but they're just as nervous as you are.

    Moving to senior high school is a chance, not a problem. Things are different, and all you need to do is to be polite and learn the new rules.

    The teachers will help. If you don't know what to do or are worried about something, then ask for help. Teachers are probably the best people to turn to, because they have experience in helping new students. Pay attention to what your teachers say.

    Everything changes. There are lots of differences between junior high school and senior high school. You will have your lessons with different teachers in different rooms. You will have homework for different subjects on different days, so make sure you get organized. Make sure you know which rooms your classes are in and which days you have your different subjects on.

Other points:

    If you've got an older brother or sister at the school, then ask them for advice.

    Be yourself! It sounds simple, but things will become better if you just act naturally.

    Having early nights makes a difference. You'll also find it easier to get up in the morning!

    Blue Planet It's latest episode focuses on how plastic is having a devastating effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, the oceans are drowning in plastic.

    Though it seems now that the world couldn't possibly function without plastics, plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s, the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining in popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.

    We put all these plastics into the environment and we still don't really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

    And it's not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning in the same breath as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don't have to remake our planet energy system.

    This is not a problem where we don't know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose (处理) of it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag--when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.

    Tiny microbes(微生物)are at the heart of a new agricultural technique to manage harmful greenhouse gas. Scientists have discovered how microbes can be used to turn carbon dioxide into soil­enriching limestone(石灰石), with the help of a type of tree that grows in tropical areas, such as West Africa.

    Researchers have found that when the Iroko tree is grown in dry, acidic soil and treated with a combination of natural fungi(霉菌)and other bacteria, not only does the tree grow well, it also produces the mineral limestone in the soil around its root.

    The Iroko tree makes a mineral by combining Ca from the earth with CO₂ from the atmosphere The bacteria then create the conditions under which this mineral turns into limestone. The discovery offers a new way to lock carbon into the soil, keeping it out of the atmosphere. In addition to storing carbon in the trees leaves and in the form of limestone, the mineral in the soil makes it more suitable for agriculture.

    The discovery could lead to reforestation(重新造林) projects in tropical countries, and help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the developing world. It has already been used in West Africa and is being tested in Bolivia, Haiti and India.

    The findings were made in a three­year project involving researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Granada, Lausanne and Delft University of Technology. The project examined several microbiological methods of locking CO₂ as limestone, and the Iroko­bacteria way showed best results. Work was funded by the European Commission under the Future&Emerging Technologies(FET)scheme.

    Dr. Bryne Ngwenya of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, who led the research, said: "By taking advantage of this natural limestone­producing process, we have a low­tech, safe, readily employed and easily operating way to lock carbon out of the atmosphere, while improving farming conditions in tropical countries."

    Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a conscious effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.

    Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.

    Memory "tricks" work the other way as well. Once in a while, you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.

    We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people's forgetfulness or absent -mindedness. Stories about absent -minded professors have been told for years, and we never get tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent -mindedness is not always funny. There are times when "tricks" of our memory can cause us great trouble.