Online clothes shoppers will be told exactly what size is best for them using new software which combines with their webcam(网络摄像头) or smart phone to form a 3D tape measure.

    Scientists from Surrey University and design experts from the London College of Fashion are developing a program which can take precise waist, hip, chest and other measurements from camera images.

    Using the person's height as a starting point, the software will be able to build up a 3D image and estimate their size at various different points on the body, based on their overall proportions. The result will be a more accurate sizing guide than previous systems based on waist size or a “small/medium/large” scale, which rely on limited measurements and the buyer's perception of their own body size.

    Shoppers and retailers(零售商) who choose to sign up for the project could save millions of pounds a year in postage costs by removing the need to order multiple sizes of the same garment and send back illfitting clothes, researchers claimed. The project, sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council(EPSRC), is expected to be brought to market within two years.

    After choosing an item, the shopper will activate the software, enter their height, stand in front of their webcam or smart phone in their underwear and take a photograph.

    The software will not store or transmit the image to the Internet, but will use it to judge the person's dimensions at various points on their body.

    Philip Delamore of the London College of Fashion said, “The potential benefits for the fashion industry and for shoppers are huge. Currently, it's common for online shoppers to order two or three different sizes of the same item of clothing at the same time, as they're unsure which one will fit best.”

    Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually be more than one reason that makes him laugh—and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.

    I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out. The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost all of them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is, people were laughing both because of the funny joke and because of the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

    The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it. For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh at it louder than if you weren't jealous of him.

    In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh. All I want to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

    Parents can cut the chances of their children getting fat simply by keeping them longer at table. Just three minutes extra at a family mealtime could help prevent child obesity. Research found that among poor families, the extra minutes at mealtimes made great improvement of a normal weight for the youth. The factors are likely to be communication and the importance of a scheduled mealtime.

    Dr Barbara Fiese said, “Children, whose families have a 20-minute meal over four times a week, weigh less than kids who leave the table after 15 to 17 minutes. Over time, those extra minutes per meal add up and become really powerful.”

    The researchers studied 200 family mealtimes, testing the effects of factors and mealtime behavior of families with children in primary school. They found that families, who said that shared mealtimes were an important part of family life and had special meaning for them, were less likely to have an obese child. Similarly, families, who talked more together and interacted more positively during the meal, were more likely to have healthy-weight children.

    Teaching low-income families how to make the most of family mealtimes was a wise idea. Dr Fiese said, “This is something we can target and teach.” She added, “It's also important to recognize the increasing differences of families and their sometimes complex living arrangements that may challenge their abilities to plan ahead and arrange a single time to communicate with each other.”

    Families in poorer US neighborhoods faced a lot of problems, including poor access to healthy food. But even so, regular high quality family mealtimes made a difference to the children's weight. Dr Fiese said, “Three to four extra minutes per meal will make a healthy weight more possible.”

    When Rebecca Saxon was diagnosed with cancer at the young age of 27, she thought her life was over. But in her darkest hour, inspiration struck and she found a way of turning her misfortune into advantage.

    Following her cancer treatment, Rebecca launched a successful business "Something Blue Bridal Shoes"—a unique range of wedding footwear, which came out of the fashion pictures she drew while recovering in her hospital bed.

    Rebecca, from London, says, "I started designing wedding shoes with blue soles (鞋底) when I was halfway through my cancer treatment. I had a hit when I was diagnosed with cancer but I decided that I was going to pick myself up and fight this cancer. The pictures were my release and the way I got through the many hours spent in a hospital room. I had no idea what was going to happen to me, but I knew I had to be positive if I was going to overcome this treatment. I told myself this was not going to be the end for me. I decided to fight with my negative feelings and start drawing."

    Rebecca had always loved fashion since she was younger. Several of her friends were getting married at the time when she was ill. "So at first, I would be drawing designs for wedding dresses and other clothes. But then I started drawing wedding footwear—designing shoes with blue soles which were very comfortable too. I thought it would be a lovely way of combining the 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' tradition. Drawing really helped me deal with my treatment," said the brave girl.

    With the encouragement of her boyfriend, she turned her dreams into her reality and set up "Something Blue Bridal Shoes". Each beautiful shoe has a blue sole, combining the age-old tradition of what a bride should wear at her wedding for good luck.

    Ask any group of teenagers in the UK what they most like to eat, and foods like pizzas, curries, pasta, burgers and chips are bound to get mentioned and many young people would probably also list hanging out at the local fast food restaurant as one of their favorite pastimes (消遣).

    But what teenagers like to eat is not necessarily what they should be eating. According to the National and Nutrition Survey, far too many young people in the UK between the ages of 14 and 18 consume too much fat sugar and salt in their diet and take in too many calories. Meanwhile their intake of starchy carbohydrates (含大淀粉的碳水化合物), fibre, iron, vitamins and calcium is too low.

    For a growing body, eating foods containing plenty of calcium, such as milk, yoghurt and cheese, is particularly important as calcium is essential for the development of healthy, strong bones. Similarly, foods that are rich in iron are good for young, rapidly developing bodies, so red meat. bread, green vegetables, dried fruit and tonified(使增强体质的) breakfast cereals are also recommended.

    It is during our teenage years that habits of lifestyle can become entrenched (根深蒂固的),so it is crucial (全关重要的)that young people are educated about what foods arc good for them. In 2005, in an attempt 10 change eating habits and open teenagers' minds to new flavours and new tastes, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver launched a "Feed Me Better" campaign. As part of a television series Jamel School drivers, he worked with teachers and cooks in a number of schools across the UK to provide more healthy, nutritious school meal opt ions. Although there was initial resistance from sonic teenagers and parents. the campaign was generally hailed (把...... 誉为)as a huge success and helped to influence governmental policy on nutritional standards for school meals.

    No one expects to end the teenage love affair with fast and junk food but. hopefully, if projects "Feed Me Better" and the government's own "Change for Life" campaign continue to give out the right messages, more young people will understand the importance of balancing occasional treats with healthier food options.

The best science books inspire a sense of wonder and make you amazed at the incredible world we live in.Here are four of them to feed your imagination.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

How did it all begin?And how did we get here?Combining history and science,the book offers a comprehensive yet entertaining answer to these questions.Bill Bryson takes the reader on an impressive journey through the greatest scientific discoveries in history.It explains scientific topics in a vivid way,but it's quite a long read.

Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe

How do helicopters work?Or cells?Randall Munroe explains how things work using illustrations and only the most common 1,000 words in English.It will shift your approach to explanation.So,next time explain how something works rather than merely call it by its name.However,additionally providing more technical terms might have enhanced the understanding and learning experience.

Ask an Astronaut by Tim Peake

What does it feel like to fly into space?How do you prepare for it?Astronaut Tim Peake answers all the questions you never knew about going into space.The book gives insights into the cutting-edge science,as well as the day-to- day life on board of the International Space Station.Its question and answer format makes it easy to quickly find answers,but it can become less appealing due to the lack of descriptive language.

Deep Time by Riley Black

Want to know the story of our planet?Riley Black takes us on a journey,in the order of time,through the geological(地质的)events that have shaped our planet.The fascinating high-quality images are supported by easily digestible explanations of key historical moments.It also expands on key concepts in geology,astronomy and biology. Yet,measuring the size of some objects on the photos is difficult due to the lack of a scale bar(比例尺).