Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored(监控) in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people's e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.

    “The 'if it bleeds' rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don't care how you're feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don't want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”

    Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative, but that didn't necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times' website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times' readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.

    Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused(激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”

    Skillswise Delivery Services

    Christmas Job Opportunities

    Aged between 16 and 65 years? Need some money for Christmas?

    Are you available to work at short notice?

    Can you work early in the morning or late at night? We are looking for careful and patient people to help to sort and deliver parcels in the Reading area from late November until the end of December.

    Pay for weekdays, including Saturdays and Sundays, will be

Ages 16 to 17—-£4.80 per hour.

Age 18 and over—- £ 6.10 per hour.

    So if you have good communication skills and are able to work as part of a team, we would like to hear from you.

    To get an application form, please write to:

    Elaine Grey, Personnel Officer, Skillswise Delivery Services, Windsor Road.

    Reading, RGS 4BR

    Tel:0118 932 814 (24 hr. answer phone)

    Closing date: 10th November

    Over 500 dogs being delivered to a butcher house were saved by a Chinese animal protection organization.

    The incident then triggered a debate among Chinese netizens about the necessity of pouring so much money and efforts into saving dogs.

    On Friday, a truck loaded with over 500 dogs were stopped by volunteers from animal protection organization on Jingha Expressway Beijing section. Beijing Times reported these dogs were being delivered to slaughter houses in the city of Changchun, northeast Jilin Province and would be eventually served on dinner tables. After negotiations with the truck driver, pet service provider Leepet Holding Corp. and a philanthropic foundation, Shang shan Foundation purchased these dogs, each paying 50,000 yuan. Dogs were then delivered to the headquarter of China Small Animal Protection Association (CSAPA), being taken care of and waiting for adoption.

    After the "dog saving mission" was reported, Chinese net users debate over whether saving dogs is worth so much efforts and money while there are still many poor and needy people in China lacking assistance. Some net users argue the "dog saving mission" is placing overattention to animals while lots of needy people are still left unattended. A microblogger "Xiaowulaitajie" said on China's twitter like website, weibo.com, "Dogs are saved, adopted and they attracted media spotlight. We'd better spend such money and take such efforts in helping the needy people." Another microblogger, Liluping, said "We poured such huge sum of money into saving dogs. I would rather the money was spent on disaster relief."

    Some applaud volunteers' actions and show eagerness of offering their helping hands to those saved dogs.

    Still many disapprove those "saving dogs" critics, but they argue that such act nonetheless promotes social progress.

    A microblogger named "broken bridge" said, saving dogs does not run counter to taking care of people. Such enthusiasm in public affairs will help raise social awareness in helping the needy.

    I think people and animals are created equal. Attention should be paid to people as well as animals.

    Your local grocery store is a psychological minefield (布雷区), where even the bananas are ripe with mystery.

    ⒈Southpaws (左撇子) have an invisible (看不见的) advantage

    You've probably seen that stores keep go-to items—produce, meats, dairy—on the outer edge. But did you notice that most of them are set up to make you run counterclockwise (逆时针)? Ninety percent of us are right-handed, so we buy more when it's counterclockwise. You'll also often find the dairy section in the back left corner：Because dairy is likely on your list, stores make sure you take the longest route to get there. In fairness, it's also a more convenient place to put a fridge.

    ⒉Everything is in its place

    It's safe to say that nothing you see on a shelf is there by chance. The cookies on sale at the end of a passage are likely the result of smart product placement. More expensive items are usually placed at an adult's eye level, while colorful treats and other products for kids are positioned lower—to catch the attention of children.

    ⒊Time goes by so slowly

    Stores rarely have windows or clocks. With no reference to the outside world, customers can easily lose track of how long they've been there so that they can buy more. Grocery stores may use another trick to control your sense of time: small floor tiles (瓷砖).

    Many of us have had this experience: we lie down in a bed other than our own, perhaps at a friend's house or in a hotel room, and find it difficult or impossible to fall asleep. Is it because the bed is uncomfortable? Maybe, but perhaps there can be other reasons.

    According to a new study published in Current Biology, a significant reason is what the scientists call "first night effect". They believe that one side of the brain acts as a "night watch" to warn us about potential dangers. It forces us to stay awake on the first night in a new environments.

    For the study, 35 young volunteers were asked to sleep in a sleep lab for several days. Meanwhile, researchers watched their brain activities.

    According to the researchers, on their first night, the left brain was more active than the right brain and people had a hard time sleeping. However, left-brain activities decreased as days went by, falling even to the point of complete calm. In this process, the participants got an increasingly better sleep experience.

    The findings suggest that the different rhythms of the sides of the brain affect our sleep. When the two sides work differently, the balance between them is broken. Thus, the brain can't relax and is sensitive to anything strange in the surroundings, just as it is in the daytime.

    "At some level, the brain is continuing to analyze things, even though you are not aware of the analysis, " US professor Jerome Siegel told Smithsonian

    "If something unusual happens - if a door opens or you hear a key in a lock --you can be alert, even though the intensity of the stimulus (刺激强度) is quite low." More surprisingly, this phenomenon is similar to the way some animals sleep.

    The researchers think that it is the result of evolution (进化), and works to protect us in potentially dangerous environments.

    If you have ever had what you think is "first night effect", researchers suggest that you bring your own pillow or sleep in a room similar to your bedroom next time you sleep away from home.

Brushing your teeth twice a day should keep the dentist away. But if a group of scientific researchers have their wish, it will make the rest of your body healthy too. A toothbrush that checks blood sugar and bacteria while you brush is currently in development in the USA. It is one of many gadgets (小器械) proposed by engineers and doctors at the Center for Future Health in New York.

The gadgets seem fanciful, but the basic principles are simple. The gadgets should make it easy for people to detect illness long before it strikes and so seek treatment far earlier than normal. Instead of relying on hi-tech hospitals, the emphasis (重点) is shifted to the home and easy-to-use gadgets. In the long run, the technology may even prevent illness by encouraging us to lead healthier lives.

Intelligent bandages are a good example. Powerful sensors within the bandage could quickly identify tiny amounts of bacteria in a wound and determine what medicine would work best. The cut could then be treated instantly.

The biggest development is melanoma(黑色素瘤) monitor designed to give early warnings of cancer. It could be used to take a picture of your body each week, and then compare it to previous images. If a problem is found, the system would advise you to get a check-up.

If all this sounds worrying, then help is at hand. Experts are also working on a "digital doctor", complete with a comforting bedside manner. A standard computer would be able to understand your voice and answer questions about your symptoms in plain English and in a way which could calm your nerves.

Stress is no sweat either. A portable communication aid could recognize certain phrases and tones and let you know when you are about to lose your temper. The software would also suggest ways of keeping your cool.

Researchers are still struggling, however, with making the technology cheap and simple enough for the household user. That is going to be the difficult part.