People born in winter are more likely to suffer mental health disorders, according to a recent study carried out by researchers at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

    Researchers raised baby mice from birth to weaning (断奶) in either “summer” light cycles of 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dark or “winter” cycles of 8 hours of light and 16 hours of dark. A third group experienced 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark a day.

    Then half the winter mice stayed in a winter cycle, while half switched to a summer schedule. The summer mice were similarly split. The mice raised in equal periods of light and dark were split into three groups, one of which stayed on the 12­hour schedule, one of which joined the winter group, and one of which joined the summer group.

    After 28 days, it turns out the summer­born mice behaved the same whether they stayed on the summer cycle or switched to winter. But among the winter­born mice, those stayed in winter kept their previous schedule, while those that switched to summer stayed active for an extra hour and a half, which indicates that mice born and weaned in a winter light cycle showed dramatic disruptions（破坏） in their biological clocks.

    The finding is the first of its kind in mammals, and it could explain why people born in winter are at higher risk for mental health disorders.

    “We know that the biological clock regulates(管理) mood in humans,” said study researcher McMahon. “If the mechanism (机制) similar to the one that we found in mice operates in humans, then it could not only have an effect on a number of behavioral disorders, but also have a more general effect on personality.”

    Young people and older people do not always agree. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one special program in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.

    Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works several hours each day. They do so not just to keep busy but to find meaning and fun in work. Some teenagers work in the forests or on the farms near the village. Some learn to make things like tables and chairs and to build houses. The adults teach them these skills.

    There are several free hours each day. Weekends are free, too. During the free hours some of the teenagers learn photo-taking or drawing. Others sit around and talk or sing. Each teenager chooses his own way to pass his free time.

    When people live together, they should have rules. In this program the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, “Why did it happen? What should we do about it?”

    One of the teenagers has said something about it, “You have to stop thinking only about yourself. You learn how to think about the group.”

    On the last day before Christmas, I hurried to the supermarket to buy Christmas gifts. In the supermarket, I noticed a little boy, holding a doll and looking so sad. He turned to the old woman next to him, “Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?” The old lady replied, “You know we don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.” Then she left for something else and the boy still stood there.

    Finally, I went to the boy and asked him who he wanted to give this doll to. “It is the doll that my sister wanted so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Father Christmas would bring it to her.”

    I told him that maybe Father Christmas will bring it to her. But he replied to me sadly, “No, Father Christmas cannot bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mother so that she can give it to her when she goes there. My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mummy will also go to see God very soon, so I thought that she could bring the doll with her to give it to my sister.”

    Hearing this, I quickly reached into my wallet and took a few notes and said to the boy, “What if we checked again, just in case if you have enough money?”

    “OK,” he said, “I hope that I have enough.”

    I added some of my money to his without his seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll.

    The little boy said, “Thank God for giving me enough money.”

    Then he looked at me and added, “I prayed to God yesterday before I slept to make sure I have enough money to buy this doll. He heard me.”

    As a result of pollution, Lake Erie, on the borders of the USA and Canada, is now without any living things.

    Pollution in water is not simply a matter of “poisons” killing large numbers of fish overnight, Very often the effects of pollution are not noticed for many months or years because the first organisms（生物体）to be affected are either plants or plankton. But these organisms are the food of fish and birds and other creatures. When this food disappears, the fish and birds die too. In this way a whole food chain can be wiped out, and it's not until dead fish and water birds are seen at the river's edge or on the seashore that people realize what is happening.

    Where do the substances which pollute the water come from? There are two main sources of sewage（污水）and industrial waste . As more detergent（洗涤剂）is used in the home, so more of it is finally put into our rivers, lakes and seas . Detergents harm water birds, dissolving the natural substances which keep their feathers water - proof. Sewage itself, if not properly treated, makes the water dirty and prevents all forms of life in rivers and the sea from receiving the oxygen they need. Industrial waste is even more harmful as there are many highly poisonous things in it, such as copper and lead（铅）.

    So, if we want to stop this pollution, the answer is simple: sewage and industrial waste must be made clear before flowing into the water. It may already be too late to save some rivers and lakes, but others can still be saved if the correct action is taken at once.

    If you are in charge of a project, the key to success is getting everyone to want to help you. As a director, I point, I suggest, I gently push the actors in the direction I want them to go. In the 1986 movie, "Nothing in Common", Jackie Gleason's character, Max Basner, gets fired from his job as a clothing salesman. The scene, shot on a boat, shows Max's despair about being out of work. I was looking for some gesture that would allow Max to show his feelings.

    Jackie had far more experience at everything than I did, and at first I was frightened. What could I possibly tell "The Great One" about acting? Out of fear I decided to direct by suggestion, and I sat down with Gleason to talk about the scene. "So Max is sad, right?" I said.

    Gleason nodded.

    "And he's probably still carrying his pens with his name on them—the ones he used to hand out to his customers, right?"

    Gleason nodded.

    "So what would you want to do with the pens after you were fired?"

    He was silent for a moment. "Why don't I throw them overboard?"

    I stood up and turned towards the crew. "Hey, everybody, Jackie has a wonderful idea. Let's shoot it."

    After filming the scene, Gleason called me over and said with a smile. "Garry, what kind of wonderful idea am I going to have tomorrow?"

    You and your team can discover the answers to problems together. When there are no prizes or gold stars for those who get the solution first, you'll all benefit when everything turns out right.

Every four or five years, vast quantities of warm water build up along the west coast of South America. This phenomenon, El Nino, creates storms that cause destructive floods. The result is costly.

Modern farmers come to terms with El Nino. They use money saved in good years to rebuild in bad ones. But history suggests it need not be like that. In a paper published recently, Ari Caramanica, an archaeologist at University of the Pacific, in Lima, shows how it used to be done. And the answer seems to be, "better".

Dr Caramanica and her colleagues have been studying the Pampa de Mocan, a coastal desert plain in northern Peru. Pampa de Mocan is not suitable for farming. Its soil contains little organic matter and the annual rainfall in non-Nino years is usually less than two centimeters. Today's farmers therefore depend on canals to carry water from local rivers to their fields.

It had been assumed that ancient farmers had a similar arrangement — and so they did. But Dr Caramanica also found eight canals that could carry water far beyond the range of modern farms. She thinks that they were intended to guide the floodwaters arriving during Nino years. Around a quarter of the ancient agricultural infrastructure of this area seems to have been built only for managing Nino-generated floodwaters.

Evidence from pollen supports this theory, revealing that Pampa de Mocan produced lots of crops in some years, while remaining nearly barren in others. The team also uncovered two cisterns in the area serviced by the extended canals. These, probably, were used to store extra flood-water.

These findings suggest that, rather than resisting El Nino, early farmers in Pampa de Mocan were ready to make use of it when it arrived. Modern farmers might do well to learn from them.