Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.

    “I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zeya, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”

    At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Luria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. “There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”

    However, many scientists who study in ageing are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.

    Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Pooh, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”

    Anyone who has had a long-term illness knows that recovering at home can be lonely. This is can be especially true of children. They may feel isolated（孤立的）from their friends and classmates. Now, a small robot may help children who are recovering from a long-term illness in the hospital or at home. The robot takes their place at school. Through the robot, the children can hear their teachers and friends. They can also take part in classroom activities from wherever they are recovering – whether at home or from a hospital bed.

    The robot is called AV1.It is created by a company called “No Isolation”. AV1 goes to school for a child who is at home while recovering from a long-term illness. And the child's school friends must help. They carry the robot between classes and place the robot on the child's desk.

    Dolva, one co-funder （创始人）of No Isolation, explains how the robot AV1 works. She says, “the robot sits at the child's desk in the classroom and the child at home uses a tablet（平板电脑）or a phone to start it, control its movement with touch, and talk through it. So the robot becomes the eyes, the ears and the voice of the child at school.” The robot is equipped with speakers, microphones and cameras that make communicating easy. Moreover，The AVI was designed to be tough. It is water-resistant(防水) and can take a fall from a desk without damage. Inside AV1 is a small computer connected to a 4G network. AV1 is large and looks like a human for a reason. Dolva thinks this is important because the robot is expected to be a friend to the children.

    The robot just became available to the public. Hopefully AV1 will help some children feel less lonely while they are absent from class.

    Imagine a perfect day: the weather is good and everything seems fine. When, suddenly, your mobile phone loses its signal, the television has no programs, and you can't get online with your computer.

    What has happened? These are just the types of problems a solar storm（太阳风暴）might cause. You may not think of storms as putting our society in danger. But today, a solar storm is as serious as other bad events, such as earthquakes.

    A solar storm is caused by solar flares（太阳耀斑）: large explosions（爆炸）near the sun that can give off lots of energy. The strong energy can stop the satellite systems（卫星系统）that control our computers, telecom networks and so on. These storms can even cause the power to go out for weeks or months.

    In the past few months, scientists have recorded some of the strongest sun flares in years. The most recent one happened around Valentine's Day, 2011. It caused radio and satellite signals to go down in some northern cities in China.

    “Solar flare activity is going to be much worse than what we've seen in the past. We're not talking about a few cities losing power, it could be half of the country, maybe more.” SolarStormWarning.com, a US website about space weather, warned.

    Scientists say that little can be done to predict such a storm. Governments around the world are trying to work together before the next storm, although they are not sure when that may happen.