A seabird named Lydia recently made a 26-day nonstop(不间断的)journey of about 2,500 mi­les, just to search for food for her baby. She is fitted with a satellite tracking device (卫星跟踪仪). Her trip started on Oct. 18 from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The trip is known as the lon­gest nonstop journey by one of these endangered seabirds.

      Before that, this kind of birds was known only to fly a few hundred miles from where they live, staying away for just a few days at a time. They usually fly over the sea.

      The scientists feel it strange that Lydia made such a long, nonstop journey and flew overland. So the above facts raise some serious questions about efforts to stop the decline(减少)of the birds. The number of the birds has fallen by 10 percent over the past 20 years.

Besides, the scientists are surprised that she was away from her baby for such a long time. They wonder why she needed to go that far. Maybe it shows that fish resources (资源)around Christmas Island are not large enough now. That might explain the slow decline of the bird 一 sea pollution(污染) is serious.

    April will bring a new product– the Apple Watch into the market. Last week, the watch was firstly introduced by Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. The price of the watch is from $349 to $1,099, depending on its size and whether it is a sports or regular one. Apple engineers and designers have put in a lot of thought and hard work into creating this small screen on your wrist. The sensor(传感器)on the screen not only finds your finger, but also knows the difference between when you are tapping(轻触), and when you are pressing harder.

    The watch also has haptic feedback(触觉反馈). You can send personal messages to your friend —such as drawing a star or a special sign with your fingers, or tapping the watch, say 3 times, and your friend will receive those taps on their wrist.

    Besides telling the time, the watch will use 'Bluetooth' to connect with your iPhone and show calls or text messages that come in.

    According to Tim Cook, the watch may open up a whole new area of applications（应用） that we had never thought of. Some car factories like BMW have developed an app that allows its car owners to open their cars with the watch. A 'Hotels' app may allow you to open the door to your hotel room without worrying about losing the smart-card. And finally, even at the airport—passengers may be able to simply wave their wrist to check into their flight.

    The biggest use of the watch, however, is as your personal fitness coach. The watch can show your pulse (heartbeat) using a sensor at the bottom of the watch. It also has the same sensor as your iPhone, so it knows when you are moving, and also how much you are walking or running. It will remind you if you have been sitting for too long without taking exercise.

    Is your TV connected to the Internet? What about your chair, or your fridge? Probably they are not. But in the future, most things in your home may be connected, thanks to the so-called "Internet of things".

    The Internet of things may be coming sooner than you think. Earlier this year, Samsung CEO spent a lot of time talking about the Internet things. He said that three years from now, every Samsung product will be part of the Internet of things, no matter whether it's a remote control or a washing machine.

    So, how do household objects that are part of the Internet of things work? Well, think of a common chair. When connected to the Internet, the chair warms up when it knows the user has just walked into the room and is feeling cold.

    An Internet-connected camera could help people feel safer in their homes. It can know people's faces and has an infrared sensor（红外传感器）, so even if it's dark it can see when someone passes by and send you a message on your smart-phone to let you know who's there. If the person is someone you don't know, it can tell you that, too.

    But according to MIT Technology Review, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or safety systems to the Internet, there may be some problems. For example, many early connected-home objects don't have much built-in security, which means they could be hacked（攻击）. Moreover, it could be difficult to get these new machines to work together especially when they are made by different companies. To fight this, many companies have joined the Open Interconnect Consortium, which had 45 members by late 2015.

    So, picture this: you enter your home. The temperature changes to make you feel comfortable. Your favorite music starts playing for you. Do you think that this would be a good thing? It may happen sooner than you think.

    There are millions of stars and planets in space. What's the difference between stars and planets? Stars can give out heat and light, but planets cannot.

    The sun is one of the stars. Some planets are balls of rock and some are balls of gas. We live on the planet earth. The earth spins around once every day to give us day and night. The earth goes around the sun once every year to give us different seasons.

    There are eight planets moving around the sun. We call the family of the sun and its planets the solar system. Mercury is the nearest to the sun, so it is very hot. It is the smallest planet. Venus is very bright and hot. It is the nearest to the earth. Mars is covered with orange-red desi and rocks, so it looks like a red star in the sky. It has seasons like the earth. Jupiter has more than 16 moons （卫星）and it is the biggest and heaviest planet. Saturn has more than 22 moons. The other planets, such as Uranus and Neptune, are all very far from the sun and very cold. We need a telescope（望远镜）to see them.

    Are you shy? If you are, you are not alone. In fact, close to 50 percent of people are shy. Almost 80 percent of people feel shy at some point in their lives. These days, shyness is becoming more and more common. Now, scientists are trying to understand shyness. They have some interesting ideas about why people are shy.

    Is it possible to be born shy? Many scientists say yes. They say 15 to 20 percent of babies behave shyly. These babies are a little quieter and more watchful than other babies. Interestingly, these shy babies usually have shy parents. As a result, scientists think that some shyness is genetic.

    Family size might cause people to be shy as well. Scientists at Harvard University studied shy children. They found that 66 percent of them had older brothers and sisters. The scientists said that these children were often bullied(欺侮) by their older brothers and sisters. As a result, they became shy. At the same time, children with no brothers and sisters may be shy as well. Growing up alone, they often play by themselves. They are not able to learn the same social skills as children from big families.

    You may also be shy because of where you were born. When scientists studied shyness in different countries, they found surprising differences. In Japan, most people said they were shy. But in Israel, only one of three people said so. What explains the difference? One scientist says the Japanese and Israelis have different opinions of failure. In Japan, when people do not succeed, they feel bad about themselves. They blame (责备) themselves for their failure. In Israel, the opposite is true. Israelis often blame failure on outside reasons, such as family, teachers, friends, or bad luck. In Israel, freedom of opinion and risk-taking are strongly supported. This may be why Israelis worry less about failure and are less shy.

    For shy people, it can be difficult to make friends, speak in class, and even get a good job. But scientists say you can get over your shyness. They suggest trying new things and practicing conversation. And don't forget—if you are shy, you are not the only one.