You may think that light pollution isn't something extraordinarily important. You may believe that every other type of pollution has a larger impact on the environment that light pollution does. But light pollution is serious.

    Light pollution, or “sky glow”, is the glow you can see at night above cities and towns. Light pollution is a problem that has been accompanying man ever since he started his first fire some 15,000 years ago. Light pollution is the light that comes from streetlights, buildings, parking lots and any other source of light that is reflected or directed into the atmosphere.

    Urban light pollution means that one-fifth of the world's population can no longer see the Milky Way(银河) with the naked eye(肉眼). Many city kids, even if they did look through the orange smog above their heads, would probably see only a handful of stars. We have lost our view of the stars, and we have mucked up our  night-time environment as well. Astronomers are calling for the dark places on Earth to be preserved as national parks.

    Lots of people find the ever-brightening night annoying, and animals that are programmed to prefer the dark may avoid a brightened habitat. Sea turtles can get lost searching for a beach to lay eggs, and their hatchlings(孵化的幼仔)may confuse over-lit beachfront resorts(度假胜地) for the ocean horizon, wasting precious energy needed to find the sea and escape predators(食肉动物). Because their necks aren't yet long enough to see things far away, baby turtles rely on the mirror image of the moon to guide them to the sea, to begin their new life. A car may even hit a particular turtle, which was thinking the light from a nearby city was moonlight reflecting off the ocean waves. Birds that live in and around cities can die because of sky glow, too. The bright lights can blind them, leading to countless collisions with buildings and other tall structures.

    On an individual level, people can help reduce much sky glow by using lighting only when necessary. The stars above us are priceless heritage— for not only for astronomers but for all humans. More of our children should be able to look up at night and see the Milk Way.

    Kitchen Products Thai Will Make Your Life a Lot Easier

    Hanging Trash Bag

    Speaking of clever bag that will change your world, how many times have you cut off loads of vegetables and tried to clean up the messy waste, only to make half of it accidentally drop on the floor? This hanging trash bag attachment makes clean-up super easy, so you'll never end up with smelly chopped (切碎的) onions all over your floor again.

    Available on Amazon, $ 6.99

    Dream Farm Spoon

    How many times have you struggled for just that last little bit of something out of a jar or dish? This all-purpose cooking spoon helps scrap (刮擦) the edges of any pan, bowl, or strangely-shaped container with zero effort, so you'll always get that last bit, every time.

    Available on Amazon, $20.40

    Flex Pot Clip

    For those of us who'd rather not balance our serving spoon or wooden spoon on the edge of the pot unsteadily, or rest it on the counter where it'll definitely make a mess, allow me to introduce you to the Flex Pot Clip. Attach it to the edge of your pot so you can keep your counters clean and your hands free. It's heat-resistant and dishwasher safe!

    Available on Amazon, $7.88

    Reusable Silicone Lids

    These are useful to cover your food before putting it in the fridge if you often have leftovers. These silicone lids are flexible, reusable, arid airtight, allowing you to leave your food right in its original dish or bowl and keep it fresh for days. They're clear, eco-friendly, and super easy to store, since they hardly take up any space.

    Available on Amazon, $15.97

The Museum of Science and Industry

    The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry will give us a more wonderful interpretation of the museum. The 2.8 hectare museum was rebuilt on the site of a huge Victorian warehouse and the world's oldest passenger train station. The number and type of collections are ranked first, and in the power exhibition hall, steam engines used during the Industrial Revolution can still be seen. The display of the railway here is rich and vivid in content. Understanding the history of the Industrial Revolution, the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry is a good choice.

    Power is the central theme of the museum, whether it is a bicycle or a steam engine, not to mention an old car. The history of mankind, as this museum shows, has been constantly running. All human inventions can't be separated from this idea. Life is also about exercise. All the exhibits in the museum are alive. The workers oil and wipe every day. Finally, steam is imported into the machinery to make them run as usual as they did a hundred years ago. Time is also reversed.

    In the power exhibition hall, the steam engine that had been used during the Industrial Revolution was still roaring, and the influence was not reduced. If you want to understand the Industrial Revolution and the role of Manchester in it, you must come and visit it, and you will find answers from the many wonderful exhibitions here.

    The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry completely reproduced the British Industrial Revolution, and ensured that the machines of its scientific and technological inventions operated daily, so that visitors and school children could experience the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, the museum has become an outstanding model for preserving industrial heritage.

    Manchester was known as Cotton Capital, Northern Capital, Second City, and Warehouse City for the Industrial Revolution. The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry is located in the center of Manchester City. It records the cradle (摇篮) of the Industrial Revolution with historical details. Manchester City's history, textiles, energy, communications, aviation, transportation and other industries have risen and fallen with the development of science and technology.

    More information: visit https://www.msichicago.org/

    Address: 150 Deansgate Manchester M3 3EH

    Main traffic: Bus 255 to Manchester City Centre

    Open daily: from 10:00 to 17:00

    Tour tickets: free

    OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS

    Animals Out of Paper

    Yolo！Productions and the Great Griffon present the play by Rajiv Joseph，in which an origami（折纸术）artist invites a teenage talent and his teacher into her studio. Merri Milwe directs. In previews. Opens Feb.12.（West Park Presbyterian Church，165 W.86th St.212-868-4444.）

    The Audience

    Helen Mirren stars in the play by Peter Morgan，about Queen Elizabeth II of the UK and her private meetings with twelve Prime Ministers in the course of sixty years. Stephen Daldry directs. Also starring Dylan Baker and Judith Ivey. Previews begin Feb.14.（Schoenfeld，236 W.45th St.212-239-6200.）

    Hamilton

    Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote this musical about Alexander Hamilton，in which the birth of America is presented as an immigrant story. Thomas Kail directs. In previews. Opens Feb.17.（Public，425 Lafayette St.212-967-7555.）

    On the Twentieth Century

    Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher star in the musical comedy by Betty Comden and Adolph Green，about a Broadway producer who tries to win a movie star's love during a cross-country train journey. Scott Ellis directs，for Roundabout Theatre Company. Previews begin Feb.12.（American Airlines Theatre，227 W.42nd St.212-719-1300.）

    American high school students are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots. Or, more accurately, robot-readers—computers programmed to scan students' essays and spit out a grade.

    Mark Shermis, professor of the College of Education at the University of Akron, is helping to hold a contest, set up by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (WFHF), which promises $ 100,000 in prize money to programmers who write the best automated grading software. "If you're a high school teacher and you give a writing task, you're walking home with 150 essays," Shermis said. "You're going to need some help."

    Automated essay grading was first proposed in the 1960s, but computers back then were not up to the task. In the late 1990s, as technology improved, several textbooks and testing companies jumped into the field. Today, computers are used to grade essays on South Dakota's student writing assessments and a handful of other exams, including the TOEFL test of English fluency, taken by foreign students.

    The Hewlett contest aims to show that computers can grade as well as English teachers—only much more quickly and without all that depressing red ink. "Automated essay scoring is objective," Shermis said. "And it can be done immediately. If students finish an essay at 10 pm, they will get a result at 10: 01 pm."

    Take, for instance, the Intelligent Essay Assessor, a web-based tool marketed by Pearson Education, Inc. Within seconds, it can analyze an essay for spelling, grammar, organization, and help students to make revisions. The program scans for key words and analyzes semantic (语义的) patterns, and Pearson claims that it can understand the meaning of text much the same as a human reader.

    A telescope, called Gaia, is being designed by astronomers in Europe, and it couldn't be more different from Pan-STARRS, which is another telescope being designed. While Pan-STARRS will be looking for asteroids (小行星) and comets headed for Earth, Gaia will be looking at our entire galaxy (银河系).

    Gaia is designed to draw a map of the Milky Way, our home galaxy. Just as a map of your town gives you a picture of where things are located, Gaia's map of the galaxy will tell astronomers where the stars are. Over five years, Gaia will observe (观察) about a billion stars and other objects in our galaxy. Each object will be observed about 70 times.

    Gaia will be sent into space connected to a rocket. It contains two telescopes, each focused at a different angle (角度). These two telescopes act like Gaia's “eyes”. The reason why humans can see things in 3D is that we have two eyes focused on the same object, at slightly different angles. By using two telescopes like eyes, Gaia can produce the first 3D map of the positions of the stars it views.

    Gaia, which is to be sent into space, will be a powerful telescope. If you were to use it on Earth, for example, you could stand 600 miles away from your best friends and still get a clear picture of their hair.

    Gaia is one of more than a dozen telescopes being designed by scientists right now. The next generation of telescopes will reveal new parts of our universe that will seem surprising. The universe, with all its planets, stars and other strange objects, is a puzzle with pieces that we can see by using powerful telescopes.