When children start kindergarten, evident gaps in science knowledge already exist between Whites and minorities and between youngsters from upper-income and low-income families. And they often deepen into significant achievement gaps by the end of eighth grade if they are not dealt with during elementary school.

    The findings suggest that, in order for the United States to maintain(维持) long-term scientific and economic competitiveness in the world, policymakers need to renew efforts to ensure access(n.使用或见到的机会，权利) to high-quality, early learning experiences in childcare settings, preschools and elementary schools.

    The researchers' study tracked 7,757 children from their start in kindergarten to the end of eighth grade. Researchers found that, among kindergarteners with low levels of general knowledge, 62 percent were struggling in science by the time they reached third grade and 54 percent were struggling in that subject in eighth grade. And general knowledge gaps between minorities and Whites were already large at the time when students began kindergarten.

    “Children growing up in low-income families typically experience comparatively fewer early opportunities to learn about the natural and social sciences,” the authors wrote. “Their parents often have lower educational levels and therefore less science knowledge themselves as well as fewer resources available to direct the children's academic growth. Children raised in poverty often attend poorly resourced schools that futher limit their academic opportunities.”

    Morgan said that, within families, parents who regularly talk and interact with toddlers(学步的儿童) can point out and explain physical, natural and social events occurring around them daily. This might help youngsters learn facts and concepts that will prepare them to take better advantage of science instruction they receive during elementary and middle school.

    Helen Thayer, one of the greatest explorers of the 20th century, loves challenges. She says, “I like to see what's on the other side of the hill.” She has gone almost everywhere to do that.

    In 1988, at the age of 50, she became the first woman to travel alone to the North Pole. She pulled her own sled (雪橇) piled with 160 pounds of supplies, and during her trip no one brought her fresh supplies. Accompanied (陪伴) only by her dog Charlie, she survived cold weather and meetings with polar bears. In fact, Charlie saved her life when one of them attacked her. Near the end of her trip, a forceful wind blew away the majority of her supplies. The last week of the trip, she survived on a handful of nuts and a little water each day.

    Helen goes to challenging places not only for adventure, but also for education. Before her Arctic journey, she started a website called Adventure Classroom. On the site, she shares her adventures in order to motivate (激发) students. She explains, “Although kids often see the world in a negative way, without hope for their future, we work to inspire them to set goals, plan for success and never give up…” Helen grew up in New Zealand. Her parents were athletes and mountain climbers. Following how parents' example, she climbed her first mountain at 9. Later, she climbed the highest mountains in North and South America, the former USSR and New Zealand.

    In 1996, she took on another challenge-the Sahara Desert. She and her husband, Bill, walked 2,400 miles across it! In 2001, she and Bill traveled on foot from west to east through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. They hope to travel in mainland China into Sichuan and Tibet to study pandas this year.

    Helen plans to continue taking trips. She'll use her colorations, writing, photography and environmental work to create programs for her Adventure Classroom website. She wants to inspire her students never to stop facing challenges!

    In today's Internet age, the demand for online games continues to grow. Online computer game centers exist in many cities and towns throughout Asia. Facing the pressures of school and life, people turn to the virtual world, expecting a diversion from these problems. Too often, however, they can lead to problems and unhealthy addictions.

    This is most clearly seen in the example of South Korea. The country has the world's highest percentage of high-speed Internet services. It also has a high number of online game players and related problems. In 2013, a young man collapsed and died while playing online games. He had been playing almost nonstop for 86 hours at an Internet cafe. Another young man killed his sister after becoming confused between the online world and real life. A 12-year-old boy stole US $ 16,000 from his father and ran away from home. He did this to continue his obsession with an online game. Such problems, however, don't just happen in South Korea. They are spreading to other parts of Asia, as well.

    What kinds of people develop online game addiction? What does the problem look like? Dr. SueHuei Chen, a clinical psychologist, researches Internet addiction. She discovered some signs of at-risk individuals such as lack friendships and good social skills. Those problem individuals feel it so compulsive to play online games that they could sacrifice things such as school or family. They feel the need to spend more and more time online. And they become upset if anyone tries to limit their online game playing.

    How many problem game players are there? In mainland China, the potential number of problem online gamers is alarming. In 2014, the China Daily reported that China had 13.8 million online game players. Furthermore, it stated that 80 percent of these were under 25 and had signs of addiction. Such numbers point toward a growing problem among Chinese youth.

Make sure to keep control over your online game playing. If you don't control it, it can get control of you.

Do you like spicy food?

    What's your opinion on spicy food? Some people cannot handle even the smallest amount of chili-red pepper-in their dinner while others can't get enough of it.

    Scientists have long been puzzled by why some people love chili while others loathe it. Plenty of research has been done on the subject, dating as far back as the 1970s. Previous results showed that a love of chili is related to childhood experiences, and cultural influences affect our taste buds too. But the latest study has found that a person's love of spicy food may be linked to his or her personality more than anything else, CBC News reported.

    "We have always assumed that liking drives intake-we eat what we like and we like what we eat. But no one has actually directly bothered to connect these personality traits with intake of chili peppers,"said Professor John Hayes from Pennsylvania State University, who led the study.

    But before you look at the study, you should first know that "spicy" is not a taste, unlike sour, sweet, bitter and salty. It is, in fact, a burning sensation that you feel on the surface of your tongue. This got scientists thinking that maybe a love of spicy food is brought about by people's longing for thrill, something they usually get from watching action movies or riding a roller coaster.

    In the study, 97 participants, both male and female, were asked to fill out questionnaires about certain traits of their personality, for example, whether they like new experiences or tend to avoid risks. They were then given a glass of water with capsaicin, the plant chemical that makes a chili burn, mixed into it.

    By comparing the answers to the questionnaire and what participants said they felt about the spicy water, researchers found that those who tended to enjoy action movies or take risks were about six times more likely to enjoy the spicy water.

    Interestingly, we used to believe that the reason some people can withstand spicy food is that their tongues have become less sensitive to it. However, this latest study has found otherwise. "It's not that it doesn't burn as badly, it's that you actually learn to like the burn," Hayes explained.

    Father's Day is celebrated today in 75 countries around the world. In my personal world, it's a day I like to think of my father's father.

    I learned a lot in my later life from my dad. But I learned something else, as a kid not even yet in school, from my grandfather. I learned to be curious. Little things fathers and grandfathers do can change the life of a child forever. In my case, this change came from necessity: My mom needed someone to look after little Allen, barely 4 years old, during the school day. My grandmother volunteered, and my grandfather came up with a way I could be watched while he worked in his clockmaker's shop.

    He seated me on a chair every day while I was there, right in front of his big workbench. He told me stories. He had a great sense of humor and a funny way of making a "buh-buh-buh" sound when he sensed my attention was weakening, and he encouraged me to ask questions about anything he was doing.

    Naturally, I was usually asking questions about clocks--what made the hands move, what the pendulum(钟摆) did, why you had to stop winding just before the weight hit the stop. Sometimes I just asked about which shiny parts went where.

    Most of all, he showed me how clocks worked. He treated me as if I were a sort of small grown-up. He never talked down to me, never told me I was "too young to understand".

    And so my grandfather granted me two things: A love of clocks, and an everlasting curiosity.

    As a journalist, I turned that fascination into explanations of why computers and software do what they do——and, perhaps even more importantly, why they fail at that task. I haven't been afraid of opening up the innards and looking for what is wrong with the computer.

    It is not always a good thing to praise children because "empty" words may make them unhappy. Words such as "well done" may make them doubt their own abilities, a leading psychologist (心理学家) Stephen Grosz has warned. He says that words such as "you're so clever" or "you're such an artist" could also hinder their future development at school. He says that such empty praise causes children to be unhappy as they may say they can't live up to these expectations.

    Instead he advises parents and teachers to praise children less frequently and use words like "trying really hard," Mr. Grosz said, "Empty praise is as bad as thoughtless criticism (批评). People often pay no attention to children's feelings and thoughts." He also mentions research showing that children who are heavily praised probably perform worse at school.

    Some psychologists from Columbia University asked 128 pupils aged 10 and 11 to work out a number of math problems. Afterwards, some were told, "You did really well­—you're so clever." But the researchers told the other group, "You did really well­—you must have tried really hard." Both groups of children were then given more difficult questions and those who had been told they were clever did not do as well as the others.

    He says that when collecting his daughter from a school near their home in North London, he heard a teacher tell her, "You have drawn the most beautiful tree. Well done," Later, after she had done another drawing, the same teacher said, "Wow, you are really an artist." In his book, Mr. Grosz writes, "How could I explain to the teacher that I would prefer it if she did not praise my daughter?"

    As a parent of two children, I strongly agree with Mr. Grosz. I praise them when praising is proven right. I want them to know if I praise them, they have done something beyond my expectation, beyond what they are able to do.