I believe in the power of holding on. What do I mean by holding on? Hugging, or holding on, is the power we possess when we put our arms around someone. It can change relationships, makes a patient a person, an acquaintance a friend.

    My grandmother taught me about holding on, whenever she gathered me in her strong, loving Irish arms. She always hugged even when her back became curved .My mother hugs my children the same way—heart open and arms wide, breathing them into her soul.

    Once I became aware of its power, I started experimenting: I held my mother-in-law a moment too long then moved onto my sisters-in-law, aunts, nieces, nephews, and cousins. I tried it with a friend who had made my life rich with laughter, but I was too embarrassed to tell her, and acquaintances that I wanted to be friends with. Some were bothered, others accepting, but all had one thing in common—the next time I hugged them, they hugged me back.

    For me, holding on has become more than a physical interaction; it has become a way of thinking. My answer to life's dilemmas and tough choices, it's a mixture of acceptance, forgiveness, and patience—not always easy or understood but it guides me to be quiet and listen, look for the good, have a sense of humor and laugh, stop worrying and be patient because if I let it, something will change.

    I've often wondered how different my life would have been if I hadn't learned the power of holding on. If during that time in my life, when I was crumbling into myself, my mother had stopped holding on to me, I might have missed something so vital to my existence. I believe that a hug is like a battery charger—a good one can keep me going for a long time.

    A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

    “It's extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just a bunch of individual components (零件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. “The added difficulty with such a project is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to make them all on our own,” he said.

    They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, and then has to be matched well to everything it's connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

    Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect- scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications (应用). “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”

    We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body's functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.

    A brain can also simply be a smart person. If a person is called brainy, he is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say, “He's the brains in the family.” And if you are the brains behind something, you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft.

    Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase “brain trust” became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932. Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues(问题)facing the U.S. These professors were called his “brain trust”.

    These ways we use the word “brain” all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word “drain”. As a verb, to drain means to remove something by letting it flew away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are, sort of, draining out of the country.

    However, if people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.

    If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make some accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a positive way.

    Jim Denevan is an amazing artist whose work is admired by all, but owned by none--that's because all of Jim's art is created on an unusual canvas（画布）--the soft sand. He sometimes spends days working on a piece, only to see it washed away by the sea or a storm and that is just the way he likes it.

    Denevan discovered his artistic talents about ten years ago, when he was wandering aimlessly on the beach with a stick. He ended up drawing a 12-foot-long fish. Since then, Jim has traveled over 1,800 miles while creating over 600 pieces of sand art.

    Over the years, his drawings have become bigger, but the tools he uses haven't changed--All he needs is a stick, a garden rake（耙子）and most importantly, his lively imagination!

    Just like any good artist, Jim is quite particular about the “quality" of his canvas, sometimes walking for miles, looking for perfect sand. His latest piece of work, which is also the world's largest freelance（自由职业的）drawing, was created in the desert sand of Nevada. It took Jim three trips, eight days and over 100 miles of walking to create this 3-mile work of art. It took the storm just one night to destroy it! However, Jim says he actually enjoys watching the waves or rain, wash his paintings away.

    Jim's art has become very popular over the years and was even the topic of a documentary' （记录片）named “Sandman” in 2015. Jim Denevan is not just about art in the sand — he is also an excellent chef （厨师）and founder of an organization called“Outstanding in the Field”，whose motto（座右铭）is to celebrate food at its source. Accordingly, group dining events are held outdoors on farms, with the diners being treated to a delicious meal. The events, which are held in different farms throughout America, are always sold out the minute the schedule is announced.

    A survey has shown that what you do on a plane can be determined by which nationality is listed on your passport.

    According to the results of an international passenger survey, Australians are the biggest drinkers on board with 36 percent choosing to down the hatch, compared to 35 percent of Americans and 33 percent of Brits.

    The Airline Passenger Experience Association ( APEX) spoke to around 1500 people, aged 18 and older, who have travelled by plane at least once during the last three months and were living in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia or Brazil.

The results found Chinese travelers are most likely to nod off once the sea-belt sign switches off. They are also the first to reach for their credit card for some in-flight shopping and the biggest fans of gaming. Americans on the other hand like to use their time in the air more productively —when not drinking —choosing to work while flying a 350000 feet.

Meanwhile, Brits and Germans are the best at making chat with random strangers — spending 50 percent more time than any other nationality. Comparatively, Brazilians conduct their conversations online via e-mail, messaging apps or social media.

    Despite plane food having a bad reputation, seven out of ten interviewees said they were happy to eat up on the selection in-flight snacks and meals. In-flight magazines were also popular with four out of five passengers claiming to read them.

    The international flyers did however express their desire for better in-flight entertainment. “The industry has greatly improved the comfort, entertainment and onboard service, and passengers are accepting those improvements,” said Russell Lemieux, APEX executive director. “At the same time, passengers are demanding more from their air travel experiences which will drive more improvements touching all aspects of the journey,” he added.

    It has taken an extremely long time－161 years－but the National Portrait Gallery finally has the Duke(公爵)of Wellington in its collection after a fundraising campaign reached its ￡1. 3m target.

    The gallery announced on Thursday that it had acquired Sir Thomas Lawrence's unfinished final painting of a man regarded as Britain's greatest soldier after a successful appeal.

    Nicholas Cullinan, the gallery's director, said the NPG had been looking for a suitable painting of the Duke of Wellington since the gallery was founded in 1856.

    He called it "a remarkable painting", while Lucy Peltz, the gallery's senior manager of 18th­century paintings, said the work was "an inspiring and powerful image of one of the most influential men of the 18th and 19th centuries".

    The NPG announced last November that it needed to raise ￡300,000, the final piece of a funding jigsaw(拼图). The Art Fund had already contributed ￡350,000 and the appeal reached its target thanks to ￡200,000 from the G&K Boyes charitable trust and ￡180,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. A further ￡570,000 came from a public appeal and the gallery's own funds.

    It was painted in 1829 when Wellington was prime minister, however, Lawrence died in 1830 leaving the portrait unfinished. The gallery believes it is a more attractive work because of that, with the viewer focusing more on the man himself rather than any clothes of power.

    Dan Snow, the historian and broadcaster, said Wellington was a "Titanic figure" in British history, the only field greatest prime minister, a man of genius on and off the battlefield. He added:" This arresting portrait must sit in the national collection and now, following an outpouring of donation, it will do. The artist has caught the Duke's legendary features. Among his many contributions to British life he formed the culture of unbending spirit in the face of difficulty."

    The painting was lent to the NPG in 2015 for an exhibition marking the Battle of Waterloo.