First it was worry about second-hand smoke, now there's major concern over third-hand smoke which gets into hair, clothes, furniture or a car rather than directly from a cigarette or someone breathing it out.

    To be honest, I've always been worried about the health dangers of this even though I didn't know it had a name. My worry made me reluctant to let smokers hold my babies even though they didn't smoke in my house.

    Tests for its effects have been only carried out on mice, but I don't think they can be ignored. Researchers at California University last month suggested third-hand smoke (THS) could cause type 2 diabetes, liver and lung damage.

    They analyzed how people are affected by taking in smoke from another person's clothing, hair, home, or car. They say they can see an impact on the brain and liver. Lead author Manuela Martins-Green said: “Our goal was to decide the smallest amount of time required to cause physiological changes in mice when they are exposed(暴露) to THS.” This was done using an exposure system that is the same as human exposure.

    “We found THS exposure as early as one month caused liver damage. Exposure for two months lead to further molecular(分子的) damage, and at four to six months caused even more such damage. We also found the mice showed insulin resistance（抗胰岛素） after long-term exposure.”

    “THS is a hidden danger, a silent killer. Pollutants can be absorbed through the skin and through breathing.”

    “Although our research was not done on humans, people should be aware that hotel rooms, cars and homes that were used by smokers are very likely to be polluted with THS.” Martins-Green believes most people don't know they're being exposed to THS, or don't believe in the damage it can do.

    THS toxins(毒素) remain on surfaces for many years, and resist even strong cleaning agents.

    Some parents can't resist the strong desire to help their children play hooky (逃学) for a trip. Five-year-old Erica and her siblings Alex, 9, and Kate, 12, missed school in Denver on Aug. 21, 2017. Their father Mr. Reed took them on a camping trip to Halsey to see the solar eclipse (日食). Kate had told her teachers she'd be absent and Mr. Reed let Erica's and Alex's teachers know, too. But he didn't ask for permission.

    Mr. Reed has loved astronomy since seeing Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on his sixth birthday. He says, “I want my own kids to have a similar kind of wonderment and hope about future discoveries.”

    Parents often dream of traveling with their children to teach them about science, geography and culture. Many teachers support them, as the Reed children's teachers did. Other teachers were angry about the extra work.

    Teacher Amanda says she feels frustrated when parents take students out of school for family trips. If she sends homework, she finds it's often returned incomplete or incorrect, because the absent student didn't hear her explanation in class. Some students suffer anxiety as they struggle to catch up. Research shows that students who are absent often, for any reason—excused or unexcused—performed more poorly in school.

    Garrick agreed to miss five days of school for the Antarctic trip last year as a senior high school student, however. Managing the homework was a challenge, but it helped him gain time management skills. “And the trip is worth the effort,” he says, “sparking his interest in international relations. You can't really put a price on changing your world view,” Garrick says. “That's what travel has done for me. It has changed how I think about things.”

    Alibaba, Bank of China and Huawei—these are the dream employers for Chinese students, according to a new survey.

    “The survey of more than 55,000 students, conducted by the research firm Universum, has found that roughly a quarter want to work for an international company, while only 9％ want to work for a start-up. Five percent want to start their own business.”

    The students said that work-1ife balance was the most important career goal, followed by job stability. When it comes to desirable companies, Bank of China has been named the top choice by business students for seven consecutive years, and the gigantic state-owned firm shows no signs of giving up its lead.

    William Wu, the China country manager for Universum, said that banking remains an attractive industry for young Chinese. “China's government is now emphasizing the revolution of the finance industry, which leaves the younger generation with the impression that although banking is a traditional industry, there are still a lot of development opportunities.” Wu said.

    E-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) improved six places from 2014, ranking second among business students. Alibaba's rise shouldn't come as much of a surprise—the company held a record-breaking $25 billion IPO in September.

    Among engineering students, Alibaba was once again a bridesmaid. Instead, Huawei—a telecoms infrastructure firm that now makes consumer products-took the top spot.

    “Both of these companies are pioneers in terms of local companies going international.” said Wu. “It shows that… an international development strategy has a positive influence among Chinese young talents.” Tech companies ruled the rankings for humanities students, with Alibaba—which was ninth in 2014 —landing at the top. Last year, Apple was the Number l choice of Chinese students.

    A 12 -year-old girl who had a feeling that she might be quite clever has taken a test and proved she was absolutely right.

    After raising the idea with her parents and pestering (纠缠)them for the best part of a year, Lydia took the test in her summer holidays. It turns out the test wasn't that hard after all.

    "I was really nervous before the test and I thought it was going to be really hard. But as I started the test, I thought it was a bit easier than I thought it was going to be," she said.

    Lydia Sebastian achieved the top score of 162 on Mensa's Cattell III B paper, showing she has a higher IQ than well-known geniuses Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. The comparison doesn't sit well with the British student, who's currently in Year 8 at a selective girl's grammar school in Essex, England.

    "I don't think I can be compared to such great intellectuals as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. They've achieved so much. I don't think it's right," Lydia told CNN.

To explain Lydia's mark's level, the top adult score in the Cattell III B test, which mainly tests verbal(语言) reasoning, is 161. A top 2% score—which allows entry to Mensa, the club for those with high IQs—would be 148 or over. Lydia scored 162, placing her in the top 1% of the population.

    Lydia's not quite sure what she wants to do when she leaves school, although she's leaning toward something "based around Maths, because it's one of my favorite subjects." "All I'm going to do is work as hard as I can, and see where that gets me," she said.

    Pablo Picasso was an amazing painter who experimented with colour and shape. Picasso wanted to find ways to paint emotions. His paintings opened people's minds and showed there were many ways to express ideas.

    Born in Spain in 1881, Picasso learned to paint at an early age because his father was a painter. At fourteen, Picasso began attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelnoa. Although Picasso did well, his teacher wouldn't let him develop his own style. So he change schools. Though his new teachers praised his work, they still criticized it as being too different. Picasso made up his mind to express himself in his own way.

    Disappointed with his career in Spain, nineteen-year-old Picasso moved to Pairs, where he learned about abstract art. He started copying famous paintings so he could paint in any style. However, an important development in his own style came along when his best friend committed suicide（自杀）. Picasso was so upset that he painted only in blue and gray. He painted the poor and the disabled. This is known as his "Blue Period".

    In 1904, his painting style changed again when he fall in love with an artist's model. He began painting everything with colors of rose, red and pink. He mainly painted artists during this time, called his "Rose Period."

    Picasso's style went through style change as he began to learn African art and geometry（几何学）. Instead of painting with different colors, he used different shapes. His paintings made people surprise because they looked like they had been broken and put back together incorrectly. Everything was geometric and abstract. Picasso's new style became known as "Cubism." Cubism was so unique it became very popular.

Pablo Picasso in most remembered for his Blue, Rose, and Cubist periods. But Picasso never stopped experimenting with painting. His painting styles kept changing until his death at the age of ninety-two.

    The traditional tent cities at festivals such as Glastonbury may never be the same again. In a victory of green business that is certain to appeal to environmentally-aware music-lovers, a design student is to receive financial support to produce eco-friendly tents made of cardboard that can be recycled after the bands and the crowds have gone home.

    Major festivals such as Glastonbury throw away some 10,000 abandoned tents at the end of events each year. For his final year project at the University of the West of England, James Dunlop came up with a material that can be recycled. And to cope with the British summer, the cardboard has been made waterproof.

    Taking inspiration from a Japanese architect, who has used cardboard to make big buildings including churches, Mr. Dunlop used cardboard material for his tents, which he called Myhabs.

    The design won an award at the annual New Designers Exhibition after Mr. Dunlop graduated from his product design degree and he decided to try to turn it into a business.

    To raise money for the idea, he toured the City's private companies which fund new businesses and found a supporter in the finance group Mint. He introduced his idea to four of Mint's directors and won their support. Mint has committed around ￡500,000 to MyHab and taken a share of 30 per cent in Mr. Dunlop's business. The first Myhabs should be tested at festivals this summer, before being marketed fully next year.

    Mr. Dunlop said that the design, which accommodates two people, could have other uses, such as for disaster relief and housing for the London Olympics.

    For music events, the cardboard houses will be ordered online and put up at the sites by the Myhab team before the festival-goers arrive and removed by the company afterwards. They can be personalized and the company will offer reductions on the expense if people agree to sell exterior(外部的) advertising space.

    The biggest festivals attract tens of thousands of participants, with Glastonhury having some 150,000 each year. Altogether there are around 100 annual music festivals where people camp in the UK. The events are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious.