People know the danger of fires. It's good for a family to learn how to prepare for a fire. Here are some suggestions：

    Put a smoke alarm in the house. Smoke from a fire causes the alarm to go off. The alarm makes a loud sound. The sound tells everyone to leave the house at once.

    Make escape (逃脱) plans. They should know all the ways out of the house. If there is a fire， everyone follows the plan to get out. Part of the plan is to check all the windows to make sure they can be opened easily.

    Buy fire extinguishers (灭火器) in the house. Everyone in the family should know how to use them.

    Practice for a fire. They do fire practice because they teach children about fire safety. Everyone in the family should know the following fire rules：

    ＊Don't open a hot door! The fire can grow more quickly if you open the door.

    ＊Stay close to the floor! Smoke can be more dangerous than fire； the best air is near the floor because smoke rises.

    ＊What will you do if your hair or clothes start to burn? First， stop! Don't run! The fire burns faster because of more air. Drop! Fall to the floor. They roll! Turning over and over will make the fire go out. Put a blanket (毯子) around you to keep air away from the fire that may still be on you.

    There are many possible causes for fires. A wise family is ready all the time. If there is a fire， don't forget to call 119 for help.

    Bioplastic(生物塑料) is a kind of plastic, but it is not the same as normal plastic. Normal plastic is made from chemical materials and takes a very long time to degrade(降解). But bioplastic is good for the environment. It is made by using bacteria(细菌) to process(加工) natural sources like vegetable oils, corn or sugar. It can degrade more easily.

    But there is a problem with bioplastic. The "food" that bacteria eat is what we eat. This means that bacteria are competing against humans for the same resources.

    Now scientists have found a new way to make bioplastic——using two kinds of bacteria and sunlight, according to Newsweek.

    One of the bacteria can use sunlight to produce sugar. The other kind lives in the salty waters of Bolivia. It eats the sugar that the first bacteria produce and then it can produce polymers(聚合物). Polymers are used to create bioplastics. The way the bacteria store polymers is similar as humans store fats.

    The new way to produce bioplastic has many advantages. It is 20 times faster than the normal way we produce bioplastic. Moreover, using these two bacteria saves resources.

    Firstly, producing a lot of bioplastic requires corn and sugar, which are used to feed normal bacteria. And growing corn and sugar needs farmland. But these two bacteria can just use sunlight. The land that is saved can be used to grow food for humans. Besides, this system doesn't need rich land or clean water at all, scientists said to Newsweek.

    The next problem scientists face is that they want to put their lab research into real-world practice. By doing this, bioplastic made with these two bacteria can be widely produced in the future.

    A British company has made a new product to help us save money. The product is a wristband that gives us an electric shock if we spend too much money. The wristband is called Pavlok. It is linked to our bank account. It knows how much money we have in the bank. If we go shopping and there is not enough money in our bank account, the wristband makes an electric shock on our wrists. This warns us not to overspend. The company is called Intelligent Environments. It wants to work with banks to help customers with their money. So far, no banks in Britain have said they would ask their customers to wear Pavlok. They could start doing this in the future.

    The Pavlok wristband is part of the Internet of Things. This is the idea that everything in our life will be connected to the Internet. The CEO of Intelligent Environments, David Webber, said people liked the idea of the Pavlok. Shoppers would rather get a small electric shock in the store from the wristband than get a big shock later when they see their bank account. Mr. Webber said the Pavlok would be great for people who cannot stop spending because they have no power or their power is weak. He added that many young people have the "ostrich effect". This is when people put their heads in the sand and buy things rather than look at how much money they have in their bank accounts.

    We always think that it's OK for us to leave our plants home during our vacation as plants won't scream like pets, right?

    A recent study done by a group of scientists at the Tel Aviv University has discovered that some plants will scream when they are under stress.

    The research was carried out on tomato plants and tobacco plants by cutting their stems (茎) and depriving (剥夺) them of water. A microphone was placed 10cm away from them. When their stems were cut, the plants started "screaming" between 20 and 100 kilohertz, and the scientists guess that this scream is probably meant to warn other plants nearby.

    When the tomato plants' stems were cut, 25 ultrasonic (超声的) pain sounds were recorded in an hour, and at the same time, 15 ultrasonic pain sounds were recorded from the tobacco plants. When they were deprived of water, the tomato plants recorded even more pain sounds with 35 pain sounds in an hour while the tobacco plants recorded about 11 pain sounds.

    The plants also acted differently to different kinds of stresses. For example, the tobacco plants gave out a stronger "scream" when they were deprived of water than when their stems were cut. But plants that were in no immediate (立刻的) danger gave out less than one ultrasonic sound per hour.

    The group of scientists said that plants are not as quiet as we had always thought, but in fact their voices are so high-pitched that we just can't hear them.

    Last year, another study has found out that plants feel pain when they are touched or hurt and they will give off a terrible smell.