Lockheed Martin, American space system company (空间系统公司) has found a really cool way to inspire the young minds of today to the research fields in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

    It may look like a normal yellow bus, but all the magic happens once you get inside. Meet the “Mars (火星) Experience Bus,” part of Lockheed Martin's new “Generation Beyond” national education program to get the kids joining in studying what goes on outside of our home planet. The bus offers a virtual reality (VR, 虚拟现实) experience making the teenagers feel like they are driving on Mars.

    The VR experience was developed by taking advantage of software (软件) created for today's best video games, so you can imagine the picture shown is top level. The kids do seem really excited to see the bus take a virtual trip on the red planet and search unknown places. It's certainly a great way of learning about the universe by virtual reality working on a common bus.

    The Lockheed Martin's bus will start a tour in the United States to allow kids from different parts of the country to take a ride in it. The Generation Beyond project also includes an iPhone app for iOS providing real-time information about weather reports for Mars, and there's also a free deep space course for middle school teachers and students.

    Many animals do strange things before an earthquake．This news may be important．

    Earthquakes can kill people and knock down houses．Animals may help to save lives．

    Some animals make a lot of noise before an earthquake．Farmers know about this．Dogs that are usually quiet start to bark．Horses on farms run around in circles．Mice leave their holes and run away．Cows give less milk．

    In a town in Italy, cats raced down the street in a group．That happened only a few hours before an earthquake．In San Francisco．a man kept tiny pet frogs．One Sunday, the frogs jumped around more than ever．They made loud noise．That night, an earthquake struck the city．People want to know when an earthquake is coming．Then they could get away safely．Right now, there is no sure way to know ahead of time．Maybe the best way is to watch the animals．

    When some plates(板块)of the Earth move suddenly, an earthquake happens. Many earthquakes begin under the sea. Earthquakes may happen anywhere on the Earth. They often happen near the mountains.

    During an earthquake, the shakings make rocks rise suddenly and even crack(断裂) open. Houses fall down. People are killed or hurt, and sometimes the whole villages or cities are destroyed.

    Can we do something to keep ourselves safe from earthquakes? Scientists have studied earthquakes and made maps that show the “earthquake belt（带）”. In area of these belts, it's possible for earthquakes to happen. In these areas we should build strong houses to fight against earthquakes.

    In the future, Scientists will be able to tell when and where an earthquake will attack before it happens. They can also tell people what to do and how to deal with it.

Why Do People Blink (眨眼) Their Eyes?

    People blink their eyes tens of thousands of times every day. Scientists have long believed blinking was an involuntary movement and served mainly to keep the eyeballs wet. But a new study suggests it has a more important purpose.

    An international team of scientists from the University of California at Berkeley studied the blinking of human eyelids. The journal Current Biology published their findings. The team said they found that blinking "repositions our eyeballs so we can stay focused" on what we are seeing. They said that when we blink our eyelids, the eyes roll back into their sockets—the bony area that surrounds and protects the eyes. However, the researchers found the eyes don't always return to the same position (位置). They said this causes the brain to tell the eye muscles (肌肉) to reorganize our eyesight.

    Gerrit Maus is the lead writer of the report. He serves as an assistant professor of psychology at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Maus said, "Our eye muscles are quite sluggish (迟缓的) and imprecise (不精确的), so the brain needs to constantly adapt (改编) its motor signals to make sure our eyes are pointing where they should be. Our findings suggested that the brain measures the difference in what we see before and after a blink, and orders the eye muscles to make the needed corrections." The researchers said that without such corrections our surroundings would appear unclear and even jumpy. They said the movement acts "like a steadicam (摄影稳定器) of the mind."

    The researchers said they asked volunteers to sit in a dark room while storing at a small dot on a flat surface. They used special cameras to follow the volunteer's blinks and eye movements. After each blink, the dot was moved one centimeter to the right. The volunteers did not notice this, but the brain did. It followed the movement and directed the eye muscles to refocus on the dot. After the dot was moved in this way 30 times, the volunteers' eyes changed their focus to the place where they predicted it would be.

    Professor Maus said. "Even though the volunteers did not consciously register that the dot had moved, their brains did, and adjusted (调整)with the corrective eye movements. These findings add to our understanding of how the brain constantly adapts to (适应) changes directing our eye muscles to correct for errors in our bodies' own hardware."