Dyslexia(失读症) is a learning disorder, it interferes with the ability to recognise words, and for some readers to understand what they have read.

    Experts say dyslexia affects about five to ten percent of the population of the United State. Researchers have long known that people with dyslexia write or read words and letters backwards in the wrong order.

    But a new study shows that people with dyslexia may have trouble redirecting(重新传入) their attention between senses, from seeing something to hearing something. The study suggests something that might help dyslexic people learn more quickly — play video games.

    Vanessa Harrar of Britain's University of Oxford led the study. She reported the findings in the journal Current Biology. The study suggests that dyslexic people may have trouble moving quickly from what they read to what they hear. Doctor Harrar calls this a "sluggish shifting of attention across the senses."

    "So, if you are trying to read something and then trying to listen to somebody who's reading aloud and you're trying to follow along with what they are reading -- they have to switch their attention from hearing what they are saying to looking at the piece of paper and back again. So we found they have quite sluggish shifting of attention across the senses," said Harrar.

    In the study, Doctor Harrar tested 17 people with dyslexia, and 19 others without reading problems. The volunteers were asked to push a button as quickly as possible when they heard a sound, saw a light or experienced both together. Doctor Harrar compared the speed of their reactions.

    She found that people with dyslexia were just as fast as the others when they saw only a picture or heard only a sound. But the dyslexics had a slower reaction time when they heard a sound and saw a picture at the same time.

    Doctor Harrar feels like playing action video games could help dyslexic people shift from seeing to hearing more quickly. She adds that images in video games force the eyes to move and focus quickly.

    "Video game types of things pop out of here and there, they move your eyes around the screen quite quickly in response to things quite quickly, and the more you play a video game the faster you get that kind of thing. So, the video game is really training the attention system to move quickly," said Harrar.

    The study also shows that dyslexic people have the most difficulty going between what they saw and what they heard, this may have an effect on how dyslexic children are taught how to read.

    When children learn the alphabet, they usually see the letter first and then hear the sound, or they see and hear the letter at the same time. The study shows that dyslexics might learn more quickly if they hear the sound of a letter or word first before seeing it.

    Think of a seed buried in a pot. It's dark down there in the potting soil. There's no light, no sunshine. So how does it know which way is up and which way is down? It does know. Seeds send shoots up toward the sky, and roots the other way. Darkness doesn't confuse them. Somehow, they get it right.

    More surprisingly, if you turn a seedling (秧苗) or a whole bunch of seedlings upside down, as Thomas Andrew Knight of the Royal Society did around 200 years ago, the tips and roots of the plant will sense, “Hey, I'm upside down. Look! I. will turn my way to the right direction and do a U-turn.”

    How do they know? According to botanist Daniel Chamovitz, Thomas Knight about 200 years ago guessed that plants must sense gravity. Knight proved it with a crazy experiment involving a spinning plate.

    He attached a bunch of plant seedlings onto a disc. The plate was then turned by a water wheel powered by a local stream at a speed of 150 revolutions (旋转) per minute for several days.

    If you have been at an amusement park in a spinning teacup, you know that because of centrifugal force (离心力) you get pushed away from the center of the spinning object toward the outside.

    Knight wondered, would the plants respond to the centrifugal pull of gravity and point their roots to the outside of the spinning plate? When he looked, that's what they'd done. Every plant on the disc had responded to the pull of gravity, and pointed its roots to the outside. The roots pointed out, and the shoots pointed in. So Thomas Knight proved that plants can and do sense the pull.

    Social media is one of the fastest-growing industries in today's world. Your friends' lives may look more exciting than yours on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but a new research shows it is because they are faking(伪造) it.

    A recent survey has found around two-thirds of people on social media post images to their personal information to make their lives seem more adventurous. And more than three quarters of those asked said they judged their peers based on what they saw on their Instagrm, Snapehat or Facebook pages.

    The British survey, by smart phone maker HTC, found that, in order to make our own pages and lives appear more exciting, six percent also said they had borrowed items to include in the images in order to pass them off as their own. More than half of those surveyed said they posted images of items and places purely to show off, causing jealousy among friends and family.

    Behavioral psychologist Hemmings said the trend was unsurprising due to the rise of social media. "We're living in a world instant communication." she said. "Fashion and style used to live and die in magazines; now people are in search of authentic, peer-to-peer recommendations as well, making social media an equal power house to magazines and newspaper."

    "With images being shared in an instant, we desire to know what our friends are wearing, or what super stars are buying, as soon as they have got them." Such is the influence of social media sites like Instagram, 76 percent of those asked also said seeing items on social influences them to buy them, with men more likely to take style advice and buy what they see.

    Modern day robots may not be as entertaining as R2D2 or the robot from Lost in Space, but robots are very important to space exploration and are being used in a variety of different ways for several important reasons.

    Robots make great explorers on planets, moons, and other landing areas. Aside from the earth, just about every surface in the solar system is unsafe for humans to explore. The air on most other planets is insufficient fortunate for humans to explore. The air on most other planets is insufficient for humans to breathe, making it necessary to wear a space suit and oxygen equipment. The temperatures on these surfaces are much too hot or much too cold for any humans to withstand. Plus there would be complications with radiation, weather, and a lack of gravity. Robots have much less limitation in these areas and can survive much longer under these conditions.

    Robots are designed for collecting scientific data. Robots are also able to perform many tasks at one time and can process information much quicker and more efficiently. Important scientific projects from detecting minerals, analyzing ground samples, to finding water are all performed much quicker and accurately by robots.

The use of robots has made the cost of space exploration much less expensive than it would cost for humans to do the work. In order to successfully send humans into space we would need to build a vehicle that can not only carry humans, but also enough | food and water to keep them alive for the duration of the trip. Moreover, robots have no problems working for hours on end. Robots never complain, they don't require food or water, and they never need a bathroom break.

    Over the past 30 years or so there have been many different types of robots used successfully in the exploration of space. Perhaps the most famous and successful robots are Spirit and Opportunity who have both been exploring the surface of Mars. They have both been very successful with experiments on soil and rocks and have even found evidence of water in Mars' history.

    “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”—that is one of Elton Johns most popular songs. But not every public figure seems to find it so tough to say that powerful five-letter word.

    In recent days public figures, from politicians to stars, have all publicly expressed remorse. But with so much remorse, how can we tell a forced apology from a heartfelt expression of remorse?

    Specifically, saying sorry should be a realization that something you have said or done has hurt someone and you want to make amends. “People wants the response to be personal to them. They want to feel that they're being listened to and taken seriously,” says Martin Stone.

    Firstly, it is important to show that you understand. It is vital that any group or a person making an apology understands the focus—is it sorry for the way it's acted or is it sorry that the complainant feels the way they do? Watch out for the speed of response. The quicker the apology comes, the better it indicates that the person making it has felt an immediate sense of guilt.

    If sincere, the person making the apology will be looking for clues (线索) to see if he or she is being understood, such as eye contact and facial expressions. Performed apologies always have a sense of being “acted out”, and are often accompanied by too many unnatural gestures.

    For a sincere apology, it is also important to avoid promises that can't be kept. Don't say that you'll make sure that this will not happen again if you're not confident that it won't. It could come back to bite you. And do remember that the use of “but” can hugely change the tone (语气) of an apology. As Stone points out, “I'm sorry but…” sounds like you are making excuses and aren't actually taking any form of responsibility.

    Plants are boring. They just sit there photosynthesizing (光合作用) while animals have all the fun. Right? Not so much. A new study has found that there is a long history of interactions between ants and plants. The ant and plant co-evolution (协同进化) started with ants feeding on plants and plants evolving ant-friendly features.

    Plants make a number of different structures that are specific for ant use. Some plants have evolved features that persuade ants into defending them from attack from other insects and even mаmmаlѕ. Тhеѕе іnсludе hollow thorns that аntѕ will live іnѕіdе, or ехtra nесtаr (琼浆) оn lеаvеѕ or stems for the ants to eat. Some ants will just cheat and take the nectar and run, but some will stick around and attack anything that tries to hurt the plant. Other plants get ants to help them move their seeds around, by providing them with rich food packets attached to the seeds. The ant will pick up the seed and carry it away, eat the food packet, and leave the seed—often in a nutrient-rich area where it'll grow better, and since it's farther away from its parent, they won't have to compete for resources.

    But scientists weren't sure how the evolutionary relationship between ants and plants got started. If evolution is an arms race between species developing ways to make use of their neighbors, then scientists wanted to know whether plants or ants fired the first shot. It was a chicken-and-egg question, whether things started with ants developing behaviors to take advantage of plants, or plants evolving structures to take advantage of ants.

    The history of ants and plants evolving together goes back to the time of the dinosaurs, and it's not easy to tell from fossils who fired the first shot. However, it is a question of little significance. Scientists say their study maters because it provides a look at how these widespread and complex interactions evolved.