One weekend in May 2015, over 48 centimeters of rain fell in Houston, Texas, USA. Soon the city was covered with water. The rising water rushed into the cars on the roads. There were 16 deaths that weekend.

      Changing Weather

      The weather is changing. Over the last few years, heavy rains have caused floods (洪灾) in Brazil, Pakistan, and Thailand. Droughts (干旱) have struck Russia and Australia. Heat waves have killed thousands in Europe. There are more different kinds of terrible wild weather all over the world. In 2011 alone, the bad weather caused the world to lose 150 billion dollars.　

      Warmer and Wetter

      As more wild weather events happen, a worried world is beginning to ask questions like: What is going on with the weather? And why? Many also want to know: Is this natural, or are we to blame (责怪)?

      The answer seems to be: a little of both. Wild weather is natural.   ▲   This global (全球的) warming makes heat waves more likely to happen. The higher temperatures also cause more water to enter the air. This causes much more rain. Some scientists also believe global warming makes some storms stronger.

      This means we're likely to see more wild weather. “But we don't have to just stand there and take it,” says Scientist Michael Oppenheimer. He and other scientists say we need to stop the Earth from getting warmer. We also need to be prepared, to do things that will help save lives.

      We want to explore and try to better understand the world in which we live. Space exploration is one of the ways.Through the exploration of space, we can begin to unravel the mysteries of our universe, and to better know our living environment.

      Space exploration provides us with knowledge about the beginning of our solar system, our own planet and ourselves. It also helps answer the questions that have puzzled us for many years. Solar system exploration is important because it is good for us.

      Space technology has become an important part of our daily lives. Some technology uses satellites to communicate. Satellites are also used to examine the changes in the Earth's climate and seas, for weather report and for military. We also use satellites in food production. Because of the use of space technology in crops, fewer and fewer people will suffer hunger.

        The space program provides a chance for nations to work together. The cooperation(合作) promotes peace and understanding between governments and their people. Many governments have taken part in the space technology, including the United States, Russia, Japan, the European nations and India. In the near future, other nations will take part in it. In fact, the United States remains the leader in new space technology.

  Turns out，you're not just what you eat—you're also where you eat．

  Researchers found out that people had double the number of calories(卡路里)when standing in a messy kitchen compared to when they stood in an orderly one．

    The researchers had 98 women spend to minutes in kitchens，under the guise of (以……为幌子)asking them to wait for someone．Half of the women stood in a messy kitchen，with piles of newspapers，dirty dishes and a ringing phone．The other half of the women waited in a clean kitchen．

    Both kitchens had bowls of biscuits and carrots．Each woman in the messy kitchen ate twice as many cookies compared to those in the clean kitchen．

    Why did this happen?

    “Being in a messy environment and feeling out of control is bad for diets，''Lenny Vartanian，one of the researchers，said．“It seems to lead people to think，‘Everything else is out of control,so why shouldn't I be?'''

    The study's size was small，but the findings prove something we know all too well：Stress(压力)is bad for you．Stress often causes people to overeat．Beyond weight gain，too much stress can also increase a person's heart rate，and lead to painful conditions like headaches．

    While there are many ways to manage stress．including listening to music and exercising，this study shows that there are easy and quick things you can do to find calm．The next time you don't want to tidy up the kitchen，remember that the exercise will help you a lot in so many ways．

     We often read the Air Quality Index （空气质量指标） or AQI reported in the newspaper. The AQI helps us understand what the air quality around us means to our health. The AQI uses colors, numbers and words to tell us about the air. Let's see what these colors and numbers mean.

    The World Health Organization(世界卫生组织) says air pollution kills seven million people around the world each year. Even if polluted air does not kill us, it can make us very sick.

    However, breathing dirty air may do more than hurt your body. It can also affect(影响) your brain and your ability to think.

A new study shows that air pollution can cause a "huge" reduction(减少)in our intelligence(智商).The researchers reported that long-term exposure(暴露) to air pollution can affect a person's mental(智力的) abilities in two areas: language and math.

Xi Chen, the researcher of the Yale School of Public Health led the study. He and his team found that breathing polluted air can reduce a person's education level by about one year.

    Chen said that the effect(结果) generally is worse for those over 64 years of age, for men and for those with little or no education.

    "The older persons-they are more affected. And we find, quite interestingly, men are more affected than women. And people working outdoors are more affected than people working indoors.

The researchers noted that the effect of pollution on language ability is even more serious as people age, especially among men and the less educated.

    Why were language skills more affected than math? There are two main kinds of tissue(组织)in the brain: white matter and grey matter. White matter is more connected with a person's language skills, while grey matter is connected to our ability to solve math problems. Studies have shown that air pollution has a great effect on the white matter in the brain, but not the grey matter.

    Chen said that air pollution did affect the math skills, just not as much as their language skills.