You know that balloons must be kept away from sharp objects. They also needed to be kept away from flames. A fire can weaken the rubber and cause it to break. However, in this experiment you will find out how you can hold a balloon directly in a flame without breaking the balloon.

    Materials needed:

● two round balloons not inflated(充气的)

● several matches

● water

    Inflate one of the balloons and tie it. Place 1/4 cup of water in the other balloon, and then inflate it and tie it. Light a match and hold it under the first balloon. Allow the flame to touch the balloon. What happens? The balloon breaks, perhaps even before the flame touches it. Light another match. Hold it directly under the water in the second balloon. Allow the flame to touch the balloon. What happens to this balloon? It doesn't break.

    Why does the balloon with no water break in the flame? The flame heats the rubber of both balloons. The rubber of the balloon without water becomes so hot that it becomes too weak to resist the pressure of the air inside the balloon. However, when the balloon with water in it is placed in the flame, the water takes in most of the heat from the flame. Then, the rubber of the balloon doesn't become very hot, it doesn't weaken, and the balloon doesn't break.

    Water is a particularly good absorber(吸收者) of heat. It takes a lot of heat to change the temperature of water. On the other hand, when water cools, it gives off a great deal of heat. That's why areas near oceans or other large bodies of water don't get as cold in winter as areas at the same latitude(纬度) further inland.

    FOR ALL the technological wonders of modern medicine, from gene-editing to fetal(胎儿的) surgery, health care—with its fax machines and clipboards(资料夹)—is often stubbornly old-fashioned. This outdated era is slowly drawing to a close as, slowly, the industry catches up with the artificial-intelligence (AI) revolution. And it should have happened earlier, argues Eric Topol, a heart doctor keen on digital medicine.

    Dr Topol's vision of medicine's future is optimistic. He thinks AI will be particularly useful for repetitive tasks where errors arise easily, such as selecting images, examining heart traces for abnormal symptoms or recording doctors' words into patient records. In short, AI is set to save time, lives and money.

    Much of this is imaginary—but AI is already defeating people in a variety of narrow jobs for which it has been trained. Eventually it may be able to diagnose and treat a wider range of diseases. Even then, Dr Topol thinks, humans would watch over the rules, rather than being replaced by them.

    The author's fear is that AI will be used to deepen the assembly-line(流水线) culture of modern medicine. If it awards a "gift of time" on doctors, he argues that this additional benefit should be used to extend the time of consultations, rather than simply speeding through them more efficiently.

    The Hippocratic Oath holds that there is an art to medicine as well as a science, and that "warmth, sympathy and understanding may be more important than the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug". That is not just a cliché: the patients of sympathetic physicians have been shown to do better. As Dr Topol says, it is hard to imagine that a robot could really replace a human doctor. Yet as demand for health care goes beyond the supply of human carers, the future may involve consultations on smartphones and measurements monitored by chat robots. The considerately warmed stethoscope(听诊器), placed gently on a patient's back, may become history.

    If cars had wings, they could fly and that just might happen, beginning in 2012.The company Terrafugia, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, says it plans to deliver its car­plane, the Transition, to customers by the end of 2012.

    "It's the next 'wow' vehicle, "said Terrafugia vice president Richard Gersh. "Anybody can buy a Ferrari, but as we say, Ferraris don't fly."

    The car plane has wings that unfold for flying—a process the company says takes one minute—and fold back up for driving. A runway is still required to take off and land.

    The Transition is being marketed more as a plane that drives than a car that flies, although it is both. The company has been working with FAA to meet aircraft regulations, and with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet vehicle safety regulations.

    The company is aiming to sell the Transition to private pilots as a more convenient and cheaper way to fly. They say it saves you the trouble of trying to find another mode of transportation to get to and from airports: You drive the car to the airport and then you're good to go. When you land, you fold up the wings and hit the road. There are no expensive parking fees because you don't have to store it at an airport—you park it in the garage at home.

    The car­plane is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,430 pounds, including fuel and passengers. Terrafugia says the Transition reduces the potential for an accident by allowing pilots to drive under bad weather instead of flying into marginal(临界)conditions.

    The Transition's price tag: $194,000. But there may be additional charges for options like a radio, transponder or GPS. Another option is a full­plane parachute.

    "If you get into a very awful situation, it is the necessary safety option," Gersh said. So far, the company has more than 70 orders with deposits. "We're working very closely with them, but there are still some remaining steps," Brown said.

    Singapore's public transport system is one of the best in the world, so you should have no problem finding your way around like a local. There are three main forms of public transport that you would find in any other major city－trains, buses and taxis.

    TRAINS

    Trains run from 6:00 am to midnight. Single trip tickets start at 80 cents. If you buy an EZ-Link card for $15, you can ride the trains and buses as you like. If you need more information, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.

    BUSES

    There are several bus services in Singapore and fares start at 80 cents. Be sure to always ask the driver the cost of your ticket as he cannot give change. If you need help, just call Transit Link on 1800 767 4333.

    TAXIS

    There are three main taxi companies－City Cab (6552 2222), Comfort (6552 1111) and Tibs (6552 8888). Booking can also be easy by calling the numbers listed above.

    RENTAL CARS

    Driving in Singapore is a pleasure and if you like to travel at your own pace, renting a car is a good choice. Renting takes away the hassle of getting to places around Singapore. Just sit back and enjoy the city. It also means you'll get to see a lot more that a train or a bus won't let you see.

    For car rental, call Avis on +65 6737 1668.

    It was the beginning of 2011. I had just finished filming the first season of Game of Thrones(《权利的游戏》). With almost no professional experience, I had been given the role of Daenerys Targaryen. The show was so successful that young girls would dress themselves up as Daenerys for Halloween.

    And yet, terrified of the attention, terrified of trying to make good on the faith that the creators had put in me, I worked much harder.

    On the morning of February 11, 2011, I was getting dressed in a gym when I started to feel a bad headache. I was so exhausted that I could barely put on my sneakers. I tried to ignore the pain, but I couldn't. I reached the toilet and sank to my knees. A woman came to help me. Then everything became unclear. I only remember the sound of an ambulance.

    That operation lasted three hours. When I woke, the pain was unbearable. After four days, they moved me out of the I.C.U. (重症监护室). But one day when a nurse asked me, as part of a series of cognitive (认知的) exercises, " What's your name?", I couldn't remember my name and I felt terrified: I am an actor; I need to remember my lines. Now, I couldn't recall my name.

    The phenomenon is called aphasia. Then I was sent back to the I.C.U. and, after about a week, I was able to speak and know my name. And I was also aware that there were people in the beds around me who didn't make it out of the I.C.U. I was continually reminded of just how fortunate I was.

    I rarely gave a thought to my health. Nearly all I thought about was acting. I thought of myself as healthy. Once in a while, I would get dizzy. When I was fourteen, I had a migraine (偏头痛) that kept me in bed for a couple of days. But it all seemed manageable — part of the stress of being an actor. Now I think I might have been experiencing warning signs of what was to come.

    Anyway, there is something pleasant about coming to the end of Thrones. And I'm so happy to be here to see the beginning of whatever comes next.

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I'm so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big hums (脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn't believe it—there aren't any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale—actually as big as our boat—was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools (漩涡) and waves. "She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe—and to give us a trusting (信任的) look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.