China Daily—Last week, the Beijing municipal government released a list of 192 areas in the capital where spring blooms, including peach, magnolia, apricot and winter jasmine, can be enjoyed from March to May.  The recommended spots cover an area of 22 square kilometers.  Apart from admiring blooms, folklore performances, botany exhibitions and other activities will be put on. 20 travel routes for tourists looking to appreciate floral beauty in the countryside are issued in Hubei, too.

    South Korean drama Descendants of the Sun《太阳的后裔》 has collected more than 200 million views on iQiyi, the Chinese streaming website said Tuesday.

    "Descendants of the Sun", the first Korean show to premiere simultaneously in South Korea and China (中韩同步首播), is a love story between an Army captain (Song Joong-ki) and a doctor (Song Hye-kyo) who find themselves in a fictional war-torn country called Uruk, where both try to save lives.

    "The show has become the talk of the town everywhere. Some shows even had live phone conversations with viewers to discuss its popularity," a Chinese entertainment official said.

    To put things into perspective, a f ifth of South Korea's population is 10 million people. Just a little over that number tuned in to watch Descendants of the Sun.

    Enthusiastic customers snapped up(抢光) the first batch of tickets in just five minutes on Monday for the opening day of the Shanghai Disneyland park on June 16, temporarily crashing the official website.

    "Within half an hour, clicks on the website (www.shanghaidisneyresort.com) reached more than 5 million. The massive volume resulted in our ticketing system temporarily malfunctioning."

    China is a land of bicycles．At least it was back in 1992 when I traveled the country．Back then everyone seemed to be riding a bicycle．Millions of them，all black．Cars were rare．Yet since my arrival in Beijing last year, I've found the opposite is true．There are millions of cars．However, people still use their bicycles to get around．For many, it's the easiest and cheapest way to travel today．Bicycles also come in different colors—silver, green, red, blue，yellow, whatever you want．

    It's fun people biking．They rush quickly through crossroads, move skillfully through traffic，and ride even on sidewalks．Bicycles allow people the freedom to move about that cars just can't provide．

    Eager to be part of this aspect of Chinese culture，I decided to buy a bicycle．Great weather accompanied my great buy．I immediately jumped up on my bicycle seat and started home．

    My first ride home was orderly．To be safe, I stayed with a“pack”of bikers while cars on the streets came running swiftly out of nowhere at times．I didn't want to get hit．So I took the ride carefully．

    Crossing the streets was the biggest problem. It was a lot like crossing a major highway back in the United States．The streets here were wide，so crossing took time，skill and a little bit of luck．

    I finally made it home．The feeling on the bicycle was amazing. The air hitting my face and going through my hair was wonderful．I was sitting on top of the world as I passed by places and people．Biking made me feel alive．

    If you feel like you've been listening to the same three songs on a loop（循环地）, maybe it's time to discover some new songs. With these apps (almost all of which are free, by the way) and some patience, you might just find your new favorite songs:

Indie shuffle

    Allows you to browse through lesser-known artists' music based on genre（类型）, release date and various other categories（类别）. You can save songs or artists you like and find bands with similar sounds.

Rormix

    Rormix searches your music library to find out what genres and artists you already listen to. Based on its findings, the app suggests music videos you might like just as much. It's an easy way to find new artists without getting too far away from the genres you know and love.

Band of the day

    Provides you with new lesser-known artists and groups to listen to every single day! Download the app, turn on notifications, and you'll get a daily recommendation.

Bandsintown

    If you live for live music, Bandsintown will automatically download your library and suggest concerts you might like based on that list. If a new concert is announced in your area, you will get an automatic e-mail with the details. Basically, you will never miss another show. Here is the best part: You can buy tickets through the app.

Soundcloud

    It is the place to find up-and-coming musicians and remixed singles. Anyone can share and ad music, leading to endless possibilities. The app is a streaming（流媒体）service, online community, and creative outlet. For fans, it makes it possible to keep up with your favorite artists' latest releases.

    Try this: For an entire day, forget about the clock. Eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're tired. What do you think will happen?

    You may be surprised to find that your day is much like most other days. You'll probably get hungry when you normally eat and tired when you normally sleep. Even though you don't know what time it is, your body does.

    These patterns of daily life are called circadian rhythms, and they are more than just habits. Inside our bodies are several clocklike systems that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle. Throughout the day and night, our internal clocks direct changes in temperature, body chemicals, hunger, sleepiness and more.

    Everyone's rhythms are unique, which is why you might like to stay up late while your sister always wants to go to bed early. But overall, everyone is programmed to feel tired at night and energetic during the day.

    Scientists have known for a long time that the light of day and the dark of night play important roles in setting our internal（内部的） clocks. Now, new discoveries are giving scientists insights into how these clocks work.

    Learning about our body clocks may help scientists understand why problems arise when we act out of step with our circadian rhythms. For example, traveling across time zones can make people wake up in the middle of the night. Regularly staying up late can make kids do worse on tests and quizzes. And working shifts at night leads to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

    “There is a growing sense that when we eat and when we sleep are important parts of how healthy we are,” says Steven Shea, Director of the Sleep Disorders Research Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

    Scientists still aren't sure why the timing of sleep matters so much, Shea says. But research findings suggest that our circadian rhythms are more important than we give them credit for.

    “During the night, we are prepared to sleep,” Shea says. “During the day, we are prepared to eat and move around. If you reverse (颠倒)what you are doing, everything is out of phase. That can have unfavorable consequences.”

    What do we think of when we someone mentions Scandinavia(斯堪的纳维亚半岛), the group of Northern European countries? Many things come to mind. We might think of the breath-taking natural beauty of Norway's fjords(海湾). If we enjoyed the fairy tales of Han Christian Anderson as children, perhaps we will think of  Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, and its statue of Anderson's Little Mermaid（美人鱼）.

    Perhaps we shiver at the thought of Scandinavia, as the countries there can be very cold. Or maybe we imagine this part of the world, so high up in the Northern Hemisphere, as dark and a little gloomy.

    What doesn't come to mind is people who like to party. However, according to a survey released by travel site Hostel-world this month, Scandinavia has some of the most sociable cities on the planet.

    For the study, 12,188 people from cities around the world were asked about their attitudes to socializing. Overall, Gothenburg in Sweden came out on top, but Copenhagen and Stockholm also placed highly, among with more predictably lively cities like New York and Madrid.

    A city made up of many little islands, Gothenburg is, according to The Daily Telegraph, "charming in an old-fashioned way". The city's authorities have preserved Gothenburg's attractive wooden houses from the 19^th century. Many of these have been made over into restaurant and coffee bars. Music fans are as well satisfied too — Gothenburg has dozens of record stores and live music venues(场所).

    As you'd expect, Scandinavia cities are also welcoming to visitors. People here don't care about your cultural background or anything else that some other places might take exception to. In these friendly Scandinavia cities, everyone's invited to the party.

Steager is an engineer at the University of Pennsylvania. His colleague Hyun Koo is an inventor and dental researcher there. Together, they found a way to form the nanoparticles（纳米颗粒）into long, skinny bristles（鬃毛）, a lot like the ones on a toothbrush. But these bristles shape-shift to fit whatever surface they encounter. They can even squeeze between teeth.

"A new way to clean teeth could help out anyone who finds this chore boring," says Koo. But it would be especially life-changing for people with disabilities or illnesses that make it difficult or impossible to hold and move a toothbrush.

The tooth-cleaning robot works thanks to two magnets（磁铁）. One goes on each side of the teeth. The nanoparticles sit in a water-based solution between the magnets. When the magnets are turned off, the nanoparticles float randomly in the solution. As soon as one magnet gets turned on, the nanoparticles clump together near its center. When you turn on the other magnet and turn off the first one, the nanoparticles extend outward in long, skinny bristles.

When there's a tooth in the way, these bristles can't stretch out as far as they want. So they push against the tooth's surface. If there's a gap between teeth, they push into the gap. Moving the magnets makes the bristles move against and between teeth.

Besides, as a bonus, the nanoparticles can kill what harms the teeth and keep them health y because it contains something commonly added to toothpaste and mouthwash.

The new invention is just a proof of concept. The researchers still need to turn it into a product that people will want to use. It must fit comfortably and safely in people's mouths. It can't draw too much power or cost too much. "There's a lot of engineering to get from here to there," says Steager. But he adds, "every good idea needs to have a start."