Music for Humans and Humpback Whales   

    As researchers conclude in Science, the love of music is not only a universal feature of the human species, but is also deeply fixed in complex structures of the human brain, and is far more ancientthan previously suspected.

    In the articles that discuss the field of bio-musicology, the study of the biological basis for the creation and appreciation of music, researchers present various evidence to show that music-making is at once an original human "business", and an art form with skillful performers throughout the animal kingdom.

    The new reports stress that humans hold no copy right on sound wisdom, and that a number of nonhuman animals produce what can rightly be called music, rather than random sound. Recentin-depth analyses of the songs sung by humpback whales show that, even when their organ would allow them to do otherwise, the animals converge on the same choices relating to sounds and beauty, and accept the same laws ofsong composition as those preferred by human musicians, and human ears, everywhere.

    For example, male humpback whales, who spend six months of each year doing little else but singing, use rhythms (节奏) similar to those found in human music and musical phrases of similar length—a few seconds. Whales areable to make sounds over a range of at least seven octaves (八度音阶), yet they tend to move on through a song in beautiful musical intervals, rather than moving forwards madly. They mix thesounds like drums and pure tones in a ratio (比例) which agrees with that heard in much western music. They also usea favorite technique of human singers, the so-called A-B-A form, in which a theme is stated, then developed, and then returned to in slightly revised form.

    Perhaps most impressive, humpback songs contain tunes that rhyme. "This suggests that whales use rhyme in the same way we do: as a technique in poem tohelp them remember complex material," the researchers write.

    BEIJING — The launch of a new manned space mission brings China closer to the establishment of a permanent space station, international experts say.

    Chinese taikonauts, Jing Haipeng, 50, and Chen Dong, 37, were blasted off into space onboard Shenzhou-11 at 7:30 am Monday and will spend 30 days in the Chinese space laboratory Tiangong-2.The launch marks a key step toward China's plan to eventually operate a permanent space station. The successful launch of the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft is another step forward to put China among leading players in space technology, said Alexander Zheleznyakov, a Russian expert on history of space flights. China's experimental space lab will help provide solutions for spacecraft of different functions to approach and anchor, and for a long-term operation of life support system, said Zheleznyakov. Shenzhou-11 is scheduled to anchor on Wednesday with Tiangong-2, which is part of China's plan to build a permanent space station by 2022.

    China can now test technologies for cargo spacecraft anchoring, life support system operation and water recycling to ensure a long-term continuous operation of its space station in the future with less dependence on renewal from the Earth, he said. If all goes well, China will launch the unpiloted Tianzhou-1 cargo ship next spring to autonomously tie up with Tiangong-2. Tianzhou-1 will be capable of automatically transferring rocket fuels, a vital requirement for space station grouping and maintenance, according to a report by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

    "That will further their anchoring abilities needed for the larger space station," Johnson Freese was quoted." Tiangong-2 is supposed to be able to stay in orbit for two years or longer, so that's taking them (Chinese) really close to 2019 or so. I think this will be their last big technology test phase before going to their large space station," said Freese.

    Ammie Reddick from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, was only 18 months old when she had the accident that had scarred(留下创伤）her for life. The curious child reached up to grab the wire of a hot kettle in the family kitchen and poured boiling water over her tiny infant frame.

    Her mother Ruby turned round and, seeing Ammie horribly burnt, called an ambulance which rushed her daughter to a nearby hospital. Twenty percent of Ammie's body had been burned and all of her burns were third-degree. There, using tissue（组织）taken from unburned areas of Ammie's body, doctors performed complex skin transplants(移植）to close her wounds and control her injuries, an operation that took about six hours. Over the next 16 years, Ammie underwent 12 more operations to repair her body.

    When she started school at Maxwelton Primary at age 4, other pupils made cruel comments or simply wouldn't play with her. "I was the only burned child in the street, the class and the school,” she recalled, “some children refused to become friends because of that.”

    Today, aged 17, Ammie can only ever remember being a burned person with scars; pain is a permanent part of her body. She still has to have two further skin transplants. Yet she is a confident, outgoing teenager who offers inspiration and hope to other young burns victims.

    She is a member of the Scottish Burned Children's Club, a charity set up last year. This month, Ammie will be joining the younger children at the Graffham Water Center in Cambridge shire for the charity's first summer camp. “ I will show them how to get rid of unkind stares from others,” she says. Ammie loves wearing fashionable sleeveless tops, and she plans to show the youngsters at the summer camp that they can too.“ I do not go to great lengths to hide my burns scars,” she says, “ Igave up wondering how other people would react years ago.”

    Many people find that music lifts their spirits. Now a new research shows that music therapy (疗法) can be a useful treatment for depression.

    The finding that music therapy offers a real medical benefit to depression sufferers comes from a review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a non-profit group that reviews health care issues. Some studies looked at the effects of providing music therapy to patients who were receiving drug treatment for depression. Others compared music therapy to traditional talk therapy. In four out of five of the trials, music therapy worked better at easing depression symptoms than therapies that did not employ music, the researchers found.

    “While the evidence came from a few small studies, it suggests that this is an area that is well worth further investigation.” said lead author Anna Maratos. Ms. Maratos notes that music therapy might be particularly useful for adolescents who may reject a traditional form of counseling. Some older patients also may not be comfortable talking about their feelings but do tend to express themselves through songs.

    There are two main types of music therapy. Sometimes, a therapist will listen to music with a patient and talk about the feelings or memories that it arouses. In another form, the therapist is a skilled musician and will improvise (即兴创作) music with the patient. If the patient doesn't play an instrument, he or she might be given a simple percussion (击打) instrument and the therapist will play along.

    Other studies have shown a benefit from music therapy in the treatment for dementia, learning disabilities, strokes and pain management during labor and birth. The problem is that there isn't very much high-quality research. "It doesn't easily attract serious research funding. It's difficult to do high-quality, large-scale trials." said Ms. Maratos.

    Doing business nowadays without a cellphone? Living a very private life? I can't imagine it anymore.

    Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explained it very well: For the average working person, there's no greater feeling than powering down your computer and kissing goodbye to your work emails for the day. If we're lucky enough to disconnect from the job on evenings and weekends, we're overjoyed to leave work emails and the stress that comes with it in the office.

    But experts say we're increasingly failing to do so, instead bringing the burden home with us and dealing with emails during our free time. Unsurprisingly, this routine has some serious consequences.

    Working abnormal or long hours has long been linked with depression(抑郁症), anxiety and even heart disease. In addition, the importance of weekend recovery has also been linked with weekly job performance and personal initiative(主动性). And further research showed psychological detachment(脱离) during off-work time reduced emotional exhaustion caused by high job demands and helped people stay engaged.

    So, if we know all this, it begs the question: Why are we still letting work bother our precious weekend? According to Cary Cooper, professor of Organizational School, the recent trend even spills into the way we access our work communications and projects.

    Today, says Cooper, work emails are just a tap of a smartphone away. "You don't carry your laptop around when you're out to dinner, but you do carry your mobile phone," he says. "The smartphone does not make up for what is lost." So delete your work email account from your inbox(收件箱), and leave the worries until Monday.

When I was three, my parents took me to have an operation in India, which stopped my eyesight from deteriorating(恶化). Several years later we moved to Pakistan, where I received 12 operations within one year and went completely blind. Later, I realized that the doctors used me as an experiment.

I met my husband when he came over from India to study. I wanted to go to India to marry him, but it was almost impossible to emigrate. I made a crazy plan to cross the borders of several countries to get to India. I was arrested in the first country I escaped to. Back in Pakistan, I lost my job and was asked to sign a "never-to-escape" promise. Instead, when I got home, I made a cup of coffee and decided to make a formal application for emigration. The chance was slim, and people who applied to go to India found it hard to find a job in Pakistan while they were waiting. In the end, my husband managed to smooth the way for my emigration. We got married and had children. But after nine years, he died of brain cancer. I was helpless for a while, and then I learned to face reality optimistically. He taught us happiness came from inside us.

Six years ago, I brought home a dog called Moritz from the seeing-eye dog centre. He was short with long ears. No one liked him because of his pathetic(可怜的)appearance. We were almost always together. Moritz could not leave me for even one minute. Now when I walk down the street, not like before, people will come up and say, "What a good seeing-eye dog! ", and have a little chat with me as a normal creature.

I'm now working for the Association of the Blind and I have many good friends, and a special friend in Hamburg. It is a wonderful feeling to speak freely with someone I can't see, to trust one another.