My 17-year-old daughter went off to college and having her away from home brought back memories of watching Peter Pan when she was little. In the classic TV production, one scene in particular impressed me: when Mrs. Darling puts her children into bed. As she turns off the last of the night light, she takes one last look at the bedroom and says, “Dear night lights, protect my sleeping children.” As a mother, I know how much she loves her children.

    It has been several weeks since we took our daughter to college and she seems to be adjusting  well after a short period of homesickness. For us, though, it's another story. Like most parents, I love checking in on my children at night. But now she's gone, and I find night times the hardest. I miss her most at night.

    In my neighborhood, most of the parents whose kids are off to college are dealing with similar melancholy. My husband is filled with anxiety. One friend talked about getting this sick feeling in her stomach as she prepared for the college drop-off. We complained that many of us were too busy to truly enjoy being with our children while we had them.

    For us moms, seeing Toy Story 3 only made the sadness worse as we watched the character Andy, who is the same age as our kids, say goodbye to his childhood as he prepares to leave for college. And it's not just “first-time” parents like me. Two moms who have kids already well into college said the separation didn't get any easier. “You feel like something has been taken away from inside you” said one of them.

    I imagine things will get easier with time, especially as I see my daughter adjust to college life. Meanwhile, as I keep my cell phone close to me in bed and text my daughter goodnight and sweet dreams every night, I like to think that messages serve as a night light that keeps her safe.

    Researchers are trying to figure out exactly when and where a lizard got trapped in the sap(汁、液) of a tree. Over time, the tree sap turned into amber (琥珀), preserving the lizard's mains, which a man discovered and donated to the Miller Museum of geology at Queen's University. But the man didn't report the amber's age and where he got it.

    “The man who donated it died, unfortunately,” said Ellen Handyside, an undergraduate student at Queen's University. “We are really starting from scratch in determining its history Ellen Handyside is leading the research into the amber-surrounded lizard. She and her colleagues analyzed the chemical composition of the 4.7-inch -long piece of amber and learned some facts. “The amber wasn't actually artificial,” she told Live Science, “and we found that it did match up quite well to an amber sample.”

    The researchers analyzed the amber's carbon and hydrogen isotopes(同位素) and the results indicated that the amber was formed from the sap of a flowering tree. Moreover, the results suggested that the tree and the lizard, for that matter, lived in an area with a lot of rainfall and dated to the Neogene, a period that lasted from the end of the Paleogene Period 23.03 million years ago to the beginning of the present Quatemary Period. Next, the scientific team realized that the 2.7-inch-long lizard was likely a gecko(壁虎), according to a detailed, 3D, digital model of the animal's body that the researchers created through X-ray microscopy scans.

“We looked at the skull —the teeth are in place and the ear bones are there too. And we've even got some flesh, skin and its long toes,” Handyside said. “It's fantastic!” She said she hoped that they could figure out how the creature fit into the gecko family tree. “When you think of a gecko, you think of short and fat toes and sticky pads. That isn't what we're looking at, but it's more likely to live in trees. If it were a tree-living creature, then its death actually could make more sense,” Handyside said.

    You're in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater. You listen to their conversation: “I can't believe it—Lorenzo Bertolla! They are almost impossible to find. Isn't it beautiful? And it's a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome.”

    They leave and you go over to see this incredible sweater. It's nice and the price is right. You've never heard of the brand of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those girls looked really stylish. Their clothes follow the fashion. They must know. So, you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes to be heard by others.

    Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too. This is the secret of undercover marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it.

    Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don't pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the MTV generation-consumers between the age of 18 and 34.It's a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don't trust ads.

    So advertising agencies hire young actors to “perform” in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice misleading, but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative. “Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is decreasing.” It is true, because everyone knows an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. However, you don't know when a conversation you overhear is just a performance.

    People do not analyze every problem they meet. Sometimes they try to remember a solution from the last time they had a similar problem. They often accept the opinions or ideas of other people. Other times they begin to act without thinking. They try to find a solution by trial and error. However, when all these methods fail, the person with a problem has to start analyzing. There are six stages in analyzing a problem.

    First the person must recognize that there is a problem. For example, Sam's bicycle is broken, and he cannot read it to class as he usually does. Sam must see that there is a problem with his bicycle.

    Next the thinker must define the problem. Before Sam can repair his bicycle, he must find the reason why it does not work. For instance, he must determine if the problem is with the gears, the brakes, or the frame. He must make his problem more specific.

    Now the person must look for information that will make the problem clearer and lead to possible solutions. For instance, suppose Sam decided that his bike does not work because there is something wrong with the gear wheels. At this time, he can look in his bicycle repair book and read about gears. He can talk to his friends at the bike shop. He can look at his gears carefully.

    After studying the problem, the person should have several suggestions for a possible solution. Take Sam as an illustration. His suggestions might be: put oil on the gear wheels; buy new gear wheels and replace the old ones; tighten or loosen the gear wheels.

    Eventually one suggestion seems to be the solution to the problem. Sometimes the final idea comes very suddenly because the thinker suddenly sees something new or sees something in a new way. Sam, for example, suddenly sees that there is a piece of chewing gum between the gear wheels. He immediately realizes the solution to his problem: he must clean the gear wheels.

    Finally the solution is tested. Sam cleans the gear wheels and finds that afterwards his bicycle works perfectly. In short, he has solved the problem.

    On Nov. 24, near Yellowstone's northeast entrance, Spitfire, a female grey wolf, was shot and killed by a hunter as she approached a group of cottages.

    "It was a legal harvest," Abby Nelson, a wolf management specialist said. "The facts are obviously a little bit harder for people to bear, but that pack has showed signs of habituation. They just stand there and have no fear. Wolf hunters can easily pick the one they want."

    The carefree relation that some Yellowstone wolves have built with humans is reportedly attractive for hunters who look for an easy kill.

    In the overnight, yet another famous Yellowstone wolf met a violent end outside the park, officials are actively rethinking how to manage wildlife habituation.

    Smith, a wolf biologist for Yellowstone, says, "Now we're thinking of pounding them," Park officials might use fireworks, and paintball or beanbag guns when they approach humans in the park. "If you get close to people, you're going to get attacked."

    If you think this sounds cruel, you're not alone. Seeing these creatures from the roads that wind through the park not only allows tourists to witness something amazing, but also to reconnect with nature in a way that is better than any conservation campaign. But there's a growing sense that the present policy of doing nothing isn't working; more wolves will unnecessarily die and the broken record of hunters scoring easy kills will go on.

    As Smith adds, urging people to keep wolves wild when meeting them halfway is a big ask. Still, he's hopeful to preserve the world's best place to observe free­ranging wolves; it's a policy change that tourists can be involved in.

    "... perhaps Spitfire's death will accomplish some good, and we'll all come together to do a better job on managing crowds and roads and wolves in Yellowstone, " Smith said.

    Many people like travelling, but they cannot take their dogs wherever they go. Some people let their dogs stay alone at home while others ask someone else to take care of their pets. If you're leaving your beloved pet at home for a holiday, it can turn into a bad experience. Luckily, you don't have to worry about your dogs any more because Rover can cover for you while you are on leave. Rover is the latest service to offer at­home dog boarding. It's a good alternative (替代物) to boarding your dog at a dog boarding kennel (狗舍) or your neighbour's house.

    The way Rover works is sort of like Airbnb. Dog owners browse the "search" section of the site or app for pet sitters, which can be organized by zip code and available dates. Information of pet sitters is provided, complete with many reviews, specific services and rates. Now Rover has over 25,000 pet sitters in more than 5,000 US cities. And they're all experienced pet sitters.

    After finding someone that meets your needs, just send messages to the pet sitter to arrange a meeting. Then, like Rover says, all that is left to do is relax! Rover's pet sitters are encouraged to send text and picture information throughout the day, and if there's a medical emergency, the site will send a vet. Besides, don't worry about a pet sitter who falls through, because someone else will soon take his or her place.

    Happy doggie, happy travels — that sounds good to us. To learn more about Rover, click here.