Blind tasting is a very strange activity. Contrary to what many people imagine, it has nothing to do with blindfolds. It involves tasting a wine without seeing the label and it can deliver shocking surprises. I tasted seven champagnes (香槟) blind with a group of professionals recently. There was a shock when they discovered the wine most of them preferred carried a label they regarded as their least favorite. That sort of result is especially common with champagne, the most image-driven rather than quality-driven wine of all. But it happens all the time when wine is tasted blind.

    Because I'm interested in how wines really taste instead of how I think they should, I taste wine blind as often as I can, especially when assessing similar young wines. But blind tasting when you know absolutely nothing about the wine in front of you is something completely different. The most difficult Master of Wine exams include three sessions during which you have a dozen glasses in front of you and nothing more helpful than a printed exam paper asking you to identify each wine as closely as possible, and assess its quality.

    Now that the MW is behind me, I taste wine completely blind only very rarely, and never in public. So my blind tastings these days are round the dinner table with good friends and once a year when I act as a judge, with Hugh Johnson, in the Oxford vs Cambridge wine-tasting competition. This is the most extraordinary match, always held before the Boat Race but taken just as seriously nowadays. This year's taste-off took place at the end of last month, as usual in the Oxford and Cambridge Club on Pall Mall in London.  

    How can we reduce the risk?

    There are four general approaches to dealing with volcanic dangers. We can try to keep the danger from occurring—often an impossible task. We can try to change its path or reduce its impact on existing development. We can take steps to protect future development. We can also do our best to have disaster response plans in place before they are needed.

    Removing the Threat

    Clearly, there is no way to stop an eruption. We can, however, attempt to reduce the eruption's effects by strengthening structures, for example, building protective works such as walls to make lava (熔岩) flow away from developed areas. Such efforts can be and have been successful, but are of limited use in a large-scale eruption.

    Planning for the Future

    Protecting future development from volcanic dangers is a simple task. Before building houses, we should judge the risk. If the risk seems too great, a safer location should be found. This type of planning is very effective, but all too often, people are drawn to the lush(葱郁的)，rolling land of a quiet volcano.

     Disaster Preparedness (预案)

    When a volcano comes to life, a few weeks may not be enough time to avoid a tragedy. Planning is the key to saving lives. Well before the warning signs occur, people must be educated about volcanic dangers. Escape plans must be in place. Communication between scientists, officials, the media, and the general public should be practiced. Emergency measures must be thought out and agreed upon.

    If you doubt the importance of these efforts, take another look at past volcanic tragedies, such as the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz. Communication failures left the town of Armero unprepared for escape. When a deadly mudflow came down the slope (斜坡), 21,000 people—90 percent of the town's people—died.

    An exciting landing process of Chang'e-4 lunar probe (月球探测器 ) was seen through the monitor at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, Jan. 3, 2019. It touched down on the far side of the moon at 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time, becoming the first spacecraft soft-landing on the moon's unknown side never visible from Earth.

    China's Chang'e-4 probe has started the exploration on the far side of the moon thanks to the relay satellite that provides a communication link with ground control. The relay satellite, named Queqiao, meaning Magpie Bridge, after a Chinese legend (传说) , was launched on May 21, 2018, and became the first communication satellite operating in the halo orbit, nearly 500,000 km from the earth. It can also provide communication for probes from other countries. The relay satellite will also be used for scientific and technological experiments. The maximum distance between the satellite and the Chang'e-4 probe on the far side of the moon is 79,000 km. The satellite processes data from the probe and sends it to Earth.

    The satellite can stay in its orbit for a long time due to its relatively low fuel consumption, as the earth's and moon's gravity balances its orbital moving. While in orbit, it can "see" both the earth and the far side of the moon.

    The concept of using a relay satellite in the halo orbit was first put forward by U.S. space experts in the 1960s, but was realized by Chinese space engineers.

    Researchers hope to use the cameras on the satellite to record asteroids (小行星 ) hitting the far side of the moon. To control the cost of the Chang'e-4 probe, the relay satellite was designed to be relatively small, weighing about 400 kg.

    Researchers had just 30 months to develop the satellite, putting them under high pressure. To promote public interest in space exploration, the China National Space Administration invited people to write down their wishes for lunar and space exploration, and the relay satellite carries the names of tens of thousands of participants and their messages.

    It's not just adults who have a thing or two to discuss with other people, babies too have their own social lives and enjoy group interaction, according to a world-first study.

    The breakthrough study conducted by psychologist Professor Ben Bradley, at Charles Sturt University, could completely transform the way child-care centres are set up. In their study, the researchers examined groups of nine-month-old babies in New South Wales and Britain.

    And they came across astounding (令人吃惊的) results. It was found that infants had "social brains" and focused not just on their mothers but on social life in groups as well.

    "They communicate with more than one baby at once, and show jealousy and generousness," said Professor Bradley.

    He added, "They develop their own meanings through group interaction, they notice if a group member is behaving differently and they take on roles, such as leaders and followers."

    "A baby who has a depressed mother tends to be withdrawn (内向的), but put that same baby in a group of its peers (同龄人) and they behave and interact like any other baby."

    It was the first all-baby group study ever to be conducted. "Most studies of babies concentrate on the infant-mother relationship, assuming that is the single foundation for mental health, but babies are constantly involved with groups of people other than their mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents and those taking care. Therefore, the mother-baby approach needs to be combined with a group approach," said Bradley.

    Phoebe Christison, a child-care worker at Camperdown Sunshine Bubs in Sydney's inner west, said she often noticed what appeared to be emotional attachments developed between toddlers.

    She said, "Joel (1) months and Isabella (2) months always like to hold hands when they sit in their high chairs and eat. And babies definitely show jealousy. They push and touch each other, and copy what the other is doing."

Dear Jamie,

    I'm writing to you because I feel like we've grown distant lately. I know you have two little babies now that take up most of your attention, but I want to remind you that I'm your dog. My name is Max, and I am here long before those two troublemakers joined our family. The older one, Hannah, keeps trying to ride me. She knows I'm not a horse, right? Let's remember that I'm 11 now. That's 77 years old to you, friend. So how about showing me some respect I deserve?

    Anyway, I'm still an official part of this family. I know I have made mistakes with food, but those kids are covered with so much food. It's like an alcoholic living in a wine store. I have tried harder not to eat their food, but this business of forcing me to the backyard for most of the day was unacceptable.

    And when you told your wife Kate that you wanted to drop me off in the valley to live with wolves, well, that hurt my self-respect. And did you have to do it right in front of me? I might be old, but I can still hear.

    Remember the old days? By the time you came into the picture, I had already known Kate for three years. And then you came along. I knew she liked you so I welcomed you into our world. I remembered one night, she asked me if I thought you were the one. I barked "yes" repeatedly because I thought you would take great care of us. And you did.

    Look, I know you're a father of two now, but please try to include me a little bit more. That's all I'm asking.

Sincerely yours,

Max the Puggle