It is quite natural for all of us to want to preserve and protect the foods we buy. We always think that the best way is by putting them in our refrigerators. However, there are certain foods which should never be placed in the fridge. The foods listed below may surprise you.

    Bananas in the fridge? Because they keep nutrients better outside the fridge, they should never be placed inside the refrigerator. Bananas are better kept on the counter until they ripen. The cold temperatures actually slow down the ripening process of the bananas, while the moisture and darkness of the fridge will only make them go bad.

    Potato should be placed in a cool, dry and dark space. By reason of the cold temperatures of the fridge, it can turn starch（淀粉）into sugar more rapidly. It is also recommended that potatoes be removed from plastic or paper bags they may have been placed in. Also, keep them unwashed, as well as in a well-ventilated cardboard box.

    Placing your onions inside your refrigerator will eventually end up turning them moldy and soft. Unpeeled（未剥皮的）onions should be kept out of plastic bags and fridge. One of the reasons for this is because unpeeled onions require and need air exposure for maximum life. If you have peeled an onion though, then you should keep it in the fridge, in a covered container.

    Believe it or not, placing garlic in your refrigerator will actually cause it to sprout（发芽）. The garlic will also got moldy and even rubbery. Moreover, inside your fridge, the look of the garlic will rarely change. This means you won't be able to tell if it's any good until you finally slice it open.

    A layover（临时滞留）or flight delay can be extremely fun in these international airports.

Munich Airport, Germany

    Aviation（航空）lovers passing through Munich can take a behind-the-scenes tour to learn how the airport operates. Visitors can also tour three historic aircraft and a retired rescue helicopter, climb up to a 28-metre high observation platform for an up-close view of take-offs and landings, and watch films on aviation in the airport's 60-seat cinema. Travelers can also kill layover time at an 18-hole mini-golf course, or even stop in for a teeth cleaning at the airport dental office.

    Changi Airport, Singapore

    After a long flight to Singapore, travelers can relax in a Balinese-style swimming pool, work out at the airport gym, or enjoy a drink and live musical performances at the airport's Music Bar. The airport also boasts a tranquil butterfly garden, and a “fragrant garden” which is home to 15 species of plants and trees. Free movies at one of two airport cinemas also keep passengers entertained.

    Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, the Netherlands

    Schiphol is Europe's fifth-largest airport. Here passengers can view the works of Dutch masters free of charge, and try their luck at airport's casino（赌场）. You can even have your wedding ceremony at Schiphol—couples can choose from four different wedding packages, including a 1930-style ceremony held on a Dakota military aircraft.

    San Francisco International Airport, California

    The airport's 24–hour AirTrain not only moves passengers between terminal, but also provides a fun view of the runways. There are three aquariums（水族馆）to explore, along with interactive play area, an aviation museum, and a library. If that's not enough to keep the little ones busy, travelers can rent portable DVD players and movies for use in the airport.

    You know those nutrition guidelines the government issues every few years? It turns out that following them isn't just good for your health. It's good for the planet, too.

    " What we found is that impacts vary across nations, but in the high­impact nations, in general, you can see that, if you follow a nationally recommended diet, despite the fact that these diets don't mention explicitly—or most of them don't explicitly mention—environmental impacts, that you are going to have lower environmental impacts due to that. So that's sort of fairly clear across all the high­income nations." said Paul Behrens, an environmental scientist at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

    The food we eat takes a big toll on the environment. A third of the ice­free land on Earth is used for agriculture, and according to some estimates, producing food accounts for roughly a fifth of all human­caused greenhouse gas emissions. Fertilizer runoff also leads to other problems, like the algae blooms in Lake Eerie and the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

    However, following dietary guidelines would reduce those impacts, especially in wealthy countries like the US. "Most of the reductions come from meat and dairy," which have an outsized impact on land use and pollution, and are a major source of greenhouse gases.(That's partly due to cow farts. Seriously.) Following the suggestions would also mean eating fewer calories, since many people here eat more than they need.

    Overall, in high­income countries, Behren's team estimates that following the rules could result in as much as a 17 percent reduction in land use, a 21 percent reduction in nutrient pollution, and a 25 percent drop in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Cutting down on how much food we waste—which is roughly a third in the US—could help even more. The results are in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    Of course, people are notoriously bad at following diets. But: "These nationally recommended guidelines do actually have a knock­on effect on other areas of policy making. So if I'm developing a new healthy­eating­for­schools program then that's going to be based off a lot of detail that I get from the nationally recommended guidelines. So while it might not necessarily be the case that people follow directly …they actually are quite influential on the preparation of other advice."

    It seems that a smaller environmental footprint and a healthier lifestyle could go hand in hand.

    A T-shirt a day has kept unemployment away for an American man who is making about $85,000 a year by selling advertising space on his shirt.

    Jason Sadler, 26, was once a former marketing expert from Florida. In 2008, he founded his own company, "I wear your shirt", with the idea to wear a T-shirt supplied by any company and then use social media tools to develop the company. Sadler charges the "face value" of the day for his human billboard (广告牌) service. So January 1 costs $1, while December 31 costs $365. He said this may not sound like a lot, but it adds up to $66,795 a year if he sells out every day, which he did this year. He also sells monthly sponsorships(赞助) for $1,500, adding another $18,000 to his income.

    "I walk around, take photos, wear the shirt all day … I blog about those photos, I put them up on Twitter, I change my Facebook introduction…and then I do a YouTube video. I made about $83,000 this year," he told Reuters Television. The average U.S income is about $615 a week or about $32,000 a year, according to the U.S government.

    Sadler has already begun to plan for his year 2010. He is making services larger by hiring another person to wear a shirt a day on the west coast of the United States.

    If you're DIY-minded, you can build your own solar power system. In some cases, you can even build your own solar panels (电池板), although the amount that you can effectively DIY home solar depends on how much you want to power. Making your own solar panel is a time-consuming process and requires some electrical skills. However, it can also be very rewarding-learning to build your own panel is a great way to understand how solarelectricity is generated.

    Before you can build your own solar panels, you first need to understand how solar cells generate electricity. Once you've bought individual solar cells (they can be purchased online), the basic process for building your own solar panel goes like this: Prepare the backing for your panel. Many DIY solar panel builders prefer to use a wooden board as the base for their solar cell. You'll need to drill holes in the board so that the wires for each cell can pass through. Wire your solar cells together. This requires some experience with electrical work. Use a soldering iron (烙铁) to attach wire to the solar cells and then link each of the cells together. Attach cells to your backing. If possible, attach each solar cell to the backing individually. This makes it easier to replace a single cell in the event that becomes damaged or is not operating properly.

    At this point you have a functional solar panel that can produce electricity when the sun shines. However, a solar panel by itself is not useful. If you are trying to generate electricity to power devices in your home, you need to pair your panel with an inverter (换流器) that will turn direct current (DC) power from the sun into the alternating current (AC) power used in most modern electronic devices.

It's one of the biggest challenges in higher education today: What do you do with the nearly one in five working-age adults who have some college experience, but no degree?

Sokeo Ros was one of them. "I just hated community college," he says. "I made up my mind: I'm never going back to school. I have all these debts, and I don't want to waste my time." Ros,34, was born in Thailand. He dropped out of two colleges, switching majors several times. Meanwhile, he taught dance in Providence, R. I. , struggling to raise his daughter. But in 2012, he found College Unbound that accepts adults, like Ros.

College Unbound is the creation of educator Dennis Littky He is devoted to helping adults make their own path to a degree through College Unbound. Nearly all the students can get scholarship. They are paired one-on-one with advisers who help them make a plan that combines a job with online classes and independent research. Students create online works and show their live exhibitions.

Right now,College Unbound has about 75 students. It makes a great effort to keep the total cost per student under $10,000 per year. So far, the approach seems to be working:85 percent of its students have returned for a second year;60 percent of graduates take less than two years to complete their bachelor's degrees. And nearly nine of 10 College Unbound alumni (校友) are employed full-time.

Littky says College Unbound's goal is to create a new learning experience giving students more than just job training or qualifications. At last it lets adults understand lifelong learning is important for them.

Sokeo Ros experienced that. "At first, I just wanted to get a degree. But I kind of fell in love with the idea that learning is a lifelong experience."