Australia's koalas could die out within 30 years unless immediate action is taken to stop the losing in population, according to researchers. They say development, climate change and bushfires have all combined to reduce the number of wild koalas sharply.

    The Australian Koala Foundation said a recent survey showed the population could have dropped by more than half in the past six years. The number of koalas was once estimated to be more than 100,000, but now is as few as 43,000.

    The foundation collected field data from 1,800 sites and 80,000 trees to calculate the numbers. In one area in northern Queensland estimated to have 20,000 koalas a decade ago, a team of eight people could not find a single animal in four days of searching.

    The foundation said besides problems caused by cutting down forests, hotter and drier conditions because of global warming had reduced the nutritional value of their main food, eucalyptus (桉树) leaves, leading to poor nutrition for them. Koalas, which live in the forests in Australia's east and south, are very picky about what types of the leaves they eat.

    Foundation chief Deborah Tabart said: “The koalas are missing everywhere we look. It's really no tree, no me. If you keep cutting down trees you don't have any koalas.”She is hoping the new figures will persuade the government's Threatened Species Steering Committee (TSSC) to list the koala as threatened. But committee chairman Bob Beeton said a decision was not likely recently and the koala's status as one of the country's favorite animals would not be a factor. “There's a number of species which are attractive and people have special feelings towards them. We don't consider that,” Mr Beeton said.

    You get anxious if there's no wifi in the hotel or mobile phone signal up the mountain. You feel upset if your phone is getting low on power and you secretly worry things will go wrong at work if you're not there. All these can be called “always on” stress caused by smart phone addiction(上瘾).

    For some people, smart phones have freed them from the nine-to-five work. Flexible working has given them more autonomy (自主权) in their working lives and enabled them to spend more time with their friends and families. For many others, though, smart phones have become cruel masters in their pockets, never allowing them to turn them off and relax.

    Pittsburgh-based developer Kevin Holesh was worried about how much he was ignoring his family and friends in favor of his iPhone. So he developed an app — Moment — to monitor his usage. The app enables users to see how much time they're spending on the device(设备) and set up warnings if the usage limits are broken. “Moment's goal is to promote balance in your life,” his website explains. “Some time on your phone, some time off it enjoying your loving family and friends around you.”

    Dr. Christine Grant, an occupational psychologist at Coventry University, said, “The effects of this ‘always on' culture are that your mind is never resting, and you're not giving your body time to recover, so you're always stressed. And the more tired and stressed we get, the more mistakes we make. Physical and mental health can suffer.”

    And as the number of connected smart phones is increasing, so is the amount of data. This is leading to a sort of decision paralysis (瘫痪) and is creating more stress in the workplace because people have to receive a broader range of data and communications which are often difficult to manage. “It actually makes it more difficult to make decisions and many do less because they're controlled by it all and feel they can never escape the office,” said Dr. Christine Grant.

    Dogs are likely to have complex emotions such as jealousy(嫉妒)and pride, according to a new scientific research.

    Dogs feel very jealous when they find that they are unfairly treated. And they do not like seeing their owners being kind to other creatures, especially other dogs. They often react negatively(消极地)when their owners bring home new pets, the research found. “Dogs show a strong aversion to unfair treatment,” Dr. Friederike Range of the Vienna University said.

    At first, people believed most animals lack(缺少)the “sense of self” , which is needed to experience so-called secondary emotions such as jealousy, embarrassment or guilt. These emotions are more complex than feelings such as anger or joy.

    Besides dogs research, another research includes cows, horse, cats and sheep, and all the results have shown that animals are far more self-aware than we thought.

    Dr Paul Morris, a psychologist at the University of Portsmouth who studies animal emotions, told The Sunday Times, “We are learning that dogs, horses, and perhaps many other species are far more emotionally complex than we ever realized. They can suffer simple forms of many emotions we once thought only primates (灵长类) could experience. ”

    In research among dog owners, Dr Morris found almost all of them reported jealous behavior by their pets. The dog often tried to keep their owner away from a new lover in the early days of a relationship.

    Behavioral experts suggest that owners should keep a close relationship with the dog as usual when a new pet or child comes along in order to prevent jealous activity from the dog such as interruptions with barking.

    Nancy Ballard, 60, went for a routine checkup that turned into something extraordinary. She had just completed her master's in botanical illustration. In fact, she was canting a painting of a plant she'd done when she arrived at her doctor's San Francisco office. “It would be great if we had artwork like that for our chemotherapy(化疗)rooms, ”the nurse said. Ballard asked to see one.

    She was shocked by what she found. The walls were bare, and the paint was chipping(剥落).She could tell where old artwork had hung because of the naked nails. It was a depressing room for a depressing routine—patients had chemo drips for perhaps several hours, often with nothing to look at other than those sad walls. She couldn't imagine how anyone could even think about getting healthy in a room like that. As it happened, Ballard's physician, Stephen Hufford was ill with cancer himself, so finding time to decorate the rooms was low on his to-do list. So Ballard made it her mission to brighten up the place.

    She wrote to 20 local interior designers and asked whether they would donate their time and money to transform just one of Dr. Hufford's rooms each. Six of them wrote back almost immediately. Each of them ultimately chose a theme: The dragonfly room, for example, now features bright artwork and dragonfly wall ornaments. Most rooms got new paint, light fixtures, artwork, and furniture. Each room cost about $5, 000.

    Dr. Hufford was delighted.“ All the patients feel soothed by it.” he noted. He even said that his own tone of voice was different in the rooms and that he was better able to connect with his patients.

    Ballard was so encouraged that she created a nonprofit to raise money and decorate more spaces. Since then, she has worked on 20 projects, including one in Pennsylvania. She once went to Philadelphia for a ribbon cutting, and a woman there was on her third battle with cancer. When she saw what Ballard had done, she said, “I'm gonna beat it this time.I thought I wasn't going to, but now I know I'm gonna beat it.”

    Samuel Morse was born in Massachusetts USA. He started off his career as an inventor after being a painter and sculptor (雕塑家). He even earned a gold medal from the famous Adelphi Society of Arts for his first effort in sculpture, the "Dying Hercules". He became the first president of the National Academy of Design, and was made Professor of the Arts of Design in the University of the City of New York.

    Yet, this painter turned to inventing to make his fortune during a sea voyage. On this journey, Samuel Morse heard about many attempts to create usable telegraphs. He was fascinated by this problem and began to study books on physics for two years to gain more scientific knowledge. He realized that pulses (脉冲) of electrical current could carry information over wires.

    Thus the world's first working model of a telegraph was born. His signaling device was quite simple. It consisted of a transmitter (containing a battery and a key), a small buzzer (蜂鸣器) as a receiver and a pair of wires connecting the two. Samuel Morse improved it by adding a switch and a second buzzer to allow transmission (传播) in the opposite direction as well.

    On May 24, 1844 Samuel Morse sent the first electronic message between Baltimore and Washington, "Look what God has enabled us to build, and benefit by."

    Seventeen years later, the two coasts of the United States were linked by telegraph. The telegraph continued to enjoy the position of being the fastest and most reliable means of communication for almost 140 years since its invention.

"It's nice having a friend," said Mole (鼹鼠) to Rabbit as they sat talking in the sun one day.

"Oh, it is!" said Rabbit. "Very useful, too, 1 if you need help. 2 , I think I'd like Bull (公牛) to be my friend."

"But I'm your friend!" said Mole, feeling 3

"Oh, yes," said Rabbit. "You are good for talking to and laughing with, 4 you are too small. When I need help, I 5 someone big and strong like Bull. He would be a very good friend to have. It would be 6 shouting for him when I need help."

Mole went off in anger.

"Oh, well, I need to 7 something," Rabbit thought.

He moved along 8 he found a tiny garden. He had just started on his first leaf when there was a big noise. People were shouting and dogs were barking (吠叫). Rabbit was so afraid and in such a 9 to get away that he ran into the wrong hole. The hole was too small and Rabbit got stuck. He could not 10 at all.

"Help!" cried Rabbit.

Mole 11 him. He ran up to see what was the matter.

"Help!" cried Rabbit. "I'm stuck in this hole."

"If you want help," said Mole, "I'd better 12 Bull."

"No!" cried Rabbit. "He's no good! He's too big to get into this hole. You're just the right 13 ! Please help me, Mole!"

So Mole began digging around Rabbit. He worked so fast that Rabbit was 14 in no time.

"I'm sorry, Mole. I was wrong, " Rabbit said. "I'm 15 I have you as a friend."

And the two good friends set off for home together.