Some of the most famous universities in America are urging students to consider the idea of putting off college for a year. It's called a “gap year.” And while it's been common and popular in Australia and the U.K. for decades, the concept is now starting to gain significant steam here in America.

    Why? A growing number of high school seniors are tired of riding the academic conveyor belt from preschool all the way to university. They're burnt out. Or not quite ready. Or they want to explore a few interests before deciding what to study in college, they're volunteering in New Orleans or teaching in Thailand. They're starting the great American novel, or working for a short time to help figure out what they want to do with their lives.

    Understandably, that makes a lot of parents nervous. But a gap year does not mean that a student will remain degree-less forever. While there are no formal studies on the number of students who don't finally go to college after the gap year, evidence from admissions officers across the country says very few actually leave college without finishing their courses. Taking a gap year can actually make kids more focused and ready for future academic life. In fact, Harvard University believes so much in the gap year that it encourages every student it admits to consider a year off before matriculation (入学).

    The reason behind higher education's support of the gap year is clear: Better-prepared students mean higher completion rates. And it's completion that matters. Parents should remember that getting a kid into college is only half the battle. According to the College Board, three out of five students who enter a public four-year college don't manage to obtain a degree within five years. And nearly 30 percent of all students who enter college don't return after the gap year. Considering the fact that this year's average price at a four-year private college is about $ 23,712 per year, it's a pretty expensive place to play around.

Plastic-Eating Worms

    Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year. Almost half of that winds up in landfills(垃圾填埋场), and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans. So far there is no effective way to get rid of it, but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms.

    Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene, which accounts for 40% of plastics. The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it. To confirm that the worms' chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown, the researchers made some worms into paste(糊状物) and applied it to plastic films. 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass — apparently broken down by enzymes (酶) from the worms' stomachs. Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017.

    Federica Bertocchini, co-author of the study, says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food — beeswax — also allows them to break down plastic. “Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well,” she explains, “The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond. ”

    Jennifer DeBruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene. But compared with previous studies, she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting. The next step, DeBruyn says, will be to identify the cause of the breakdown. Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes(肠道微生物)?

    Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team's findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills. But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process — not simply “millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic.”

    The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the island of Hawaii, has two active volcanoes: Mauna Loa, which last erupted (喷发) in 1984, is 13,677 feet (4.17 km) above sea level; Kilauea is next to Mauna Loa and it has been erupting since January 3rd, 1983. It is 4,190 feet (1.23 km) above sea level.

When to visit

    The park is open 24 hours a day all year round. There are no plants or trees on the lava (火山岩) fields and no protection from the sun, so you must bring sunscreen (防晒霜).

    How to get there

    The best way to get to the park is to take Highway 11. From the airport at Hilo, Highway 11 will take you southward across the eastern part of the island.

    Things to see

    If you want to know more about the park, the Kilauea Visitor Center is surely a stop to make. It is a quarter of a mile (402 m) from the park entrance. There, you can see a great movie about real lava and learn about the island's natural and cultural history. The center is open from 7:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There are also many guided walks and hikes around the park. You must check weather conditions and volcanic activity before hiking alone. If possible, you may drive down Chain of Craters Road to see lava flowing into the ocean.

    Tickets

    Entrance to the park is $10.00 for each vehicle, $5.00 for those who travel on foot or ride a bicycle. Children under the age of 15 are free.

    What's it like to become a music star with millions of fans? These young artists know the feeling. Over the course of their short careers, they have attracted the attention of the biggest stars in the world and taken home prizes from major shows. For now they're just kids that everyone in music is watching. Check out the next generation of stars below.

    FIFTH HARMONY

    The 1990s was a brilliant period for girl groups. But after that few groups have been able to make much of an influence. This doesn't seem to bother Fifth Harmony, who landed the biggest hit of their career in 2016 with "Work from Home", a pop song that encourages everyone to ask for leave more often. When it climbed to No.4 on the Billboard Hot100, it was the first time that a girl group had entered the top 5 in the past ten years.

    LORDE

    It's been four years since the release of Born Heroine — the hot selling CD that made her a 16-year-old global sensation and the spokeswoman for a new generation of smart, strong-minded, creative female pop artists. She contributed to The Hunger Games soundtrack (插曲) in 2014, and for this time setting foot in Hollywood production also brought her more opportunities in her following career.

    TROYE SIVAN

    You might recognize the rising star Troye Sivan from YouTube, where he's been uploading videos since he was 12 and his channel already has millions of fans, or from the movies, where he played the role of young Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Things to Do in Atlanta

    Need a rundown of the top things to do this weekend? Here is what's on in Atlanta.

    In the Mood

    Date: May 22 through May 26, 2019

    Time: 2:00 p.m. ~ 5:30 p.m.

Phone: 770-916-2800

    If you love the music of the 1940s, then here's what you need to do this Sunday. Go to a 1940s musical show at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. The music of Glenn Miller has a distinctive sound. No need to ask me twice. Are you “In the mood”?

    Party With the Penguins (企鹅)

    Date: May 20 through May 25, 2019

    Time: 11:30 a.m. ~ 2:00 p.m.

Phone: 404-581-4000

Celebrate Penguin Awareness Day at Georgia Aquariums annual party with the penguins. The party will feature fun activities, including the chance to see an African penguin up close and learn how to help protect these endangered species.

    Callanwolde Arts Festival

    Date: May 21 to May 22, 2019

    Time: 10:30 a.m. ~ 5:30 p.m.

Phone: 404-872-5338

    Located at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, this event is a festival for artists and by artists, letting them have a voice in the creation and operations of the festival. If you are of the artistic persuasion or enjoy a creative scene, don't miss out.

    Foollio's Hoodilly Storytime

    Date: May 21 through May 27, 2019

    Time: 1:00 p.m. ~ 4:30 p.m.

Phone: 404-523-3141

    We make up a brand-new story every week. Come and enjoy a new story each time at Dad's Garage Theater. Little ones will get to help provide key parts of the story and even add in their own jokes. Interactive and out-of-the-ordinary fun for kids and parents!

Don't ignore (忽略) the difference teenagers can make.

John Michael Thomas, 14, Florida

When John Michael Thomas decided to honor his friend and classmate Elizabeth Buckley, who died from cancer, he remembered how much she loved peacocks (孔雀).

He wanted to build a life-sized peacock fountain (喷泉) in Elizabeth's favorite park in the city. He thought it could be a place for people to relax and be inspired.

John Michael raised $52,000 to build the fountain.

Barrett England, 13, Utah

The wheels began to turn for Barrett England when he heard about Karma Bike shop, a place where young people can earn free bikes by reading and performing community (社区) service.

Barrett visited Karma's owner with his idea: He would collect and repair used bikes and donate them to the shop.

He expected to get about 10 donated bikes. In the end, Barrett received 39.

Zachary Blohm, 15, Wisconsin

The 25-year-old playground at an elementary school near Milwaukee, Wis. was so small that only 70 of its 575 students could play on it at a time.

That's when Zachary Blohm saved the day. He and some volunteers wanted to build a huge playground. To raise money, Zac planned T-shirt and bake sales, sold tickets and more. He held monthly money-raising events for more than a year. Overall, he collected $130,000 — enough to finish his project.

Jack Zimmerman, 16, New Jersey

For some people, finding a meal is as simple as opening the refrigerator. For more than 366,000 hungry kids in New Jersey, it's not that easy.

That fact didn't sit well with Jack Zimmerman, who organized a drive to lessen childhood hunger in his state. His goal: create 40,000 packaged meals that could be donated to those in need.

On game day, Jack and his volunteers started their work. After the final count, the team had packaged 47, 124 meals—well above Jack's goal.