There's no doubt that our character has a profound effect on ourfuture. What we must remember, however, is not merely how powerful character isin influencing our fate (命运), but how powerful we are in shaping our own character and, therefore, our own fate. Character may determine our fate, but character is not determined by fate.

    It's a common mistake to think of character as something that is fully formed and fixed very early in life. It calls to mind old proverbs like“A leopard can't change its spots” and “You can't teach an old dog new tricks.”

    This perspective that our character is “etched in stone” is supported by a great deal of modern psychology emphasizing self-acceptance. As Popeye says, “I am what I am.” The hidden message is: Don't expect me to bemore, better, or different.

    Ultimately, these views of humanity totally under value the lifelong potential for growth that comes with the power of reflection and choice.

    How depressing it would be to believe that we can't choose to be better, more honest, more respectful, more responsible, and more caring. Noneof us should give up the personal seeking to improve our character. Not because we're bad, we don't have to be sick to get better, but because we're not asgood as we could be.

    There are so many things in life we can't control, whether we're beautiful or smart, whether we had good parents or bad, whether we grew up with affirmation or negation. It's inspiring to remember that nothing but moral willpower is needed to make us better.

    No, it isn't easy. But if we make a great effort to become moreaware of the habits of heart and mind that drive our behavior, we can begin to place new emphasis on our higher values so that we become what we want our children to think we are.

    Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world.

    When it comes to cancer, the sooner you know you have it, the better your chances of surviving are.

    A new blood test could change the way doctors and researchers find cancer in patients. Researchers say the test could provide some hints of the early forms of the disease.

    Gareth Jenkins is a professor at the University of Swansea. He says he and his team did not look for cancer. They instead looked for a by-product of cancer, mutated (突变的) red blood cells. They looked for, what Jenkins calls, the collateral (附带的) damage of cancer—the damage left by the disease.

    “In this blood test we don't measure the presence of cancer，we measure the presence of mutated red blood cells which are the collateral damage that occurs—a by-product of the cancer developing.''

    The researchers used normal laboratory equipment to perform the tests. This equipment looks for changes in the structure of millions of red blood cells. Those mutated cells lack a surface protein (蛋白质) that healthy cells normally have.

    “The goal of the test is looking for very rare cells which have picked up a mutation. The number of mutated red blood cells in a healthy person is around 5 or so mutated cells per million; so, you have to look at millions of red blood cells to discover those rare events. The number increases in cancer patients—it goes up to 40 or 50 on average.”

    The researchers tested blood from about 300 people, all of whom have cancer of the esophagus (食管). Patients with esophageal cancer have high levels of mutated red blood cells. Jenkins says that at this point he is not sure if other cancers would produce similar results.

    The hope is that the new test could one day become part of commonly used medical methods to find out if a person has cancer. These new technologies could save millions of lives.

    She will face the challenges of riding a bike to school or not being able to climb the monkey bars during playtime. But little Ella Peggie, who was born without her left arm, will get an extraordinary opportunity to share a life-changing bond with her new beloved pet, three-legged puppy.

    When her mother, Brooke Hodgson, saw the one-year-old puppy named Snowy, she knew instantly it would be the perfect companion for her one-year-old daughter. “My heart skipped a beat when I saw Snowy online, ”Ms. Hodgson said. It took just three days for the puppy, who recently had surgery to remove a 1eg, to find a new home after she was sent to the animal shelter last week.

    “I knew she was going to be perfect for Ella—they share the same age so they both have a long life of friendship ahead of them. I just know that Snowy is going to increase her confidence when she is growing up. It's going to be great for Ella when she realizes she's different or when she's having a bad day, she will see the resemblance and know that she's not alone. ”

    Ms. Hodgson has been touched by the relationship between the pair since the lively puppy became the latest addition to the family. And she believes the caring puppy will be by Ella's side through the highs and lows of her life. Ms. Hodgson said, “Every morning Snowy looks for Ella first before she runs to anyone else. It's quite a unique link. I'm just thankful that I was able to give her this dog. I just can't wait for them to get even closer. Not many people are able to do this for their children so we're very lucky to have Snowy. I can't even explain how I feel fight now. ”The young mother said Snowy, who was welcomed into the family just a week ago, has been playing a very special part to Ella's life as well as her three-year-old brother Blake and her father, Stewart Peggie.

Three Feet From Gold

    Darby's uncle was caught by the "gold fever" in the gold—rush days, and went west to dig and grow rich. After months of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore (矿石). He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. So, with the "strike", he returned home. And with the help of Darby, he borrowed a lot of money. After buying the machinery and having it shipped, Uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.

    The first car of ore was mined. And the returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Uncle and Darby!

    Then something happened! The vein (矿脉) of gold ore disappeared! They drilled on, but all in vain. Finally, they decided to quit and sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars. The junk man called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer's calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where the Darbys had stopped drilling! The junk man took millions of dollars in the vein, because he knew enough to seek experts' advice before giving up.

    Most of the money which went into the machinery was borrowed through the efforts of Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.

    Long afterwards, Mr. Darby made another discovery that desire can be changed into gold. This discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance. Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, for he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, saying to himself, "I stopped three feet from gold, but I never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance."

    Darby sold more than million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his "stick-ability" to the lesson he learned from his "quit-ability" in the gold mining business.

    LaVonn was helping out in her dad's store when a little boy, about five or six years old, came in. He was wearing a brown and oversized coat with dirty, old clothes beneath it. His shoes were broken, and only one had lace (鞋带). The boy looked around the store, picked up several items, examined them one by one and then carefully put them back on the shelf.

    LaVonn's dad walked over to the child and asked if he could help. The little boy said, "I'm looking for a gift for my brother." After 20 minutes, the child picked up a toy airplane. He held it carefully in his hands as if it were made of glass and carried it to LaVonn's father.

    "How much is this?" he asked. "My brother loves airplanes." LaVonn's dad answered, "How much money do you have?" The little boy reached into his coat and pulled out some small change (零钱). He spread his money out on the table and began to count. "I have twenty-seven cents," he answered. Her dad picked up the coins and said, "The airplane costs exactly twenty-seven cents! Wait here and I'll pack it up for you."

    The little boy walked out of the store with the gift and a smile of total satisfaction on his face. LaVonn made her way back to the shelf and she found the plane was priced at $11.98.She never mentioned it to her father. Her father didn't say anything more about it either, but she realized later, "My best gift that Christmas was seeing my dad's love in action."

Video calls are a common occurrence, but have you imagined being able to touch the person on the other end of the line? Scientists are making this a reality.

Researchers at the University of new South Wales, Australia have invented a soft skin stretch device (SSD). A haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. Haptic technology mimics the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.

Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices such as one attached to the back of the trackpad (触摸板) in laptops, which simulates a button clicking. However, haptic feedback with vibration becomes less sensitive when used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely. According to Mai Thanh Thai, lead author of the study.

The new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through a soft artificial "muscles".

"Our three-way directional skin stretch device, built into the fingertips of the wearable glove we also created is like wearing a second skin-- its soft stretchable and mimics the sense of touch-- and will enable new forms of haptic communication to enhance everyday activities" said Thanh Nho Do, senior author of the study.

Imagine you are at home and you call your friend who is in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs, and your friends also wears a glove with integrated 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object, it will physically press against your friend's fingers. And their glove with 3D force sensors will measure with interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces. Making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.

The haptic devices could be applied in various situations, allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. It could also be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient's organ tissues. With surgical tools without touching them.