Scientists are using robots to study the health of waters in and around Venice, Italy. The robots are designed to act like fish, other underwater creatures and plants. The scientists are working with several universities and research centers as part of a group called subCULTron. The European Union gives money to the project as part of its Horizon 2020 program whose aim is to take great ideas from the lab to the market and support science and innovation (创新) in Europe. The scientists want to use the artificial intelligence of the robots to help humans understand what is happening under the water of the Venice lagoon (潟湖).

    SubCULTron, a collective artificial intelligence project, plans to create the biggest shoal (鱼群) of robot fish in the world. The project's aim is to improve knowledge of the seabed and try to turn human abilities into hi-tech items.

    Alexandre Campo, a computer scientist, says the scientists have looked at the way animals learn to work in groups to understand how robots can learn to work together. The subCULTron project wants its robots to learn to work together so they can watch out for changes and new problems in the water.

    One problem the researchers had in the beginning was how the robots would communicate with each other. Wi-Fi and GPS equipment don't work underwater. Instead，the robots can use sonar (声呐) and an electric field.

    Another problem was charging batteries. The robots come up to the water's surface and stay near a boat or a power station to charge without any electrical cables. Besides, how to be water- proof, especially for some key pads of the robots, was really tough. Fortunately, a special mixture has been created to be pinned on the robot, which successfully stands the test of water.

    The health state of the lagoon is pretty good. There are no industrial polluters, and the city now has a modem sewer (污水管) system. It's not like before when all the waste flushed directly into the water. The robots in Venice will continue their work until 2019. The subCULTron project hopes they develop into “an artificial society underneath the water surface” that serves “a human society above the water”.

    There's a new frontier in 3D printing that's beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn't stopping there.

     Food production

    With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that — it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to "re-create forms and pieces" of food that are "exactly the same," freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.

    Sustainability(可持续性)

    The global population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some analysts estimate that food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels. Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contribute to the solution. Some experts believe printers could use hydrocolloids (水解胶体) from plentiful renewables like algae(藻类) and grass to replace the familiar ingredients(烹饪原料). 3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions. Grocery stores of the future might stock "food" that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

    Nutrition

    Future 3D food printers could make processed food healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, "Food printing could allow consumers to print food with customized nutritional content, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday's bread from the supermarket, you'd eat something baked just for you on demand."

    Challenges

    Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing, the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste(糊状物) before a printer can use them, and the printing process is quite time-consuming, because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are skeptical about 3D food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.

    Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a conscious(自觉的) effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.

    Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.

    Memory “tricks” work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber(理发师) shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.

    We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people's forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never get tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when “tricks” of our memory can cause us great trouble.

    Last Saturday on the way to the mall, two children, a boy and a girl, came running towards me with bottles in their hands, asking if I wanted bottled water. It was a surprising gesture. I was wondering if they were doing fund-raising. I knelt and asked them where their parents were and how much a bottle of water cost. Then two adult women came up to me explaining what the children were doing. “We are teaching the children to give without anything in return. We are teaching people to accept without giving in return.”

    Two mothers had bought bottled water and placed a sticker on all bottles with five different quotes (引述):

    ⒈Smile at everyone. You'll never know when someone may need it.

    ⒉If Plan A does not work, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet.

    ⒊Have a thirst for life. Every day is filled with possibilities.

    ⒋In your thirst for knowledge, be sure you don't drown in all the information.

    ⒌Dig your well before you're thirsty.

    The bottle I have has quoted No.5. A sudden change of attitude opened up between me, the mothers and the children. We are no longer strangers to each other. We were having such a great time chatting and I ended up helping them give away the rest of the bottled water.

    One young lady was so thankful that she happily accepted the water and said it was the best thing that happened to her all day since she had a bad day at work. A man refused and walked away saying “No, thanks”. A couple kept on bowing to us in gratitude. When it was all done, the children and I were giving each other high-five. It was so remuch fun. I think I had more fun doing this than the mothers and the children.

An optional college course named "Appreciation of the Jiangxi Opera" has been taught in a packed house recently at Nanchang University in east China's Jiangxi Province due to the professor's innovative way of teaching—putting on actual opera performances in her classrooms.

Waving water sleeves, and spinning folding fans while wearing traditional makeup and costumes, Chen Li, the instructor of this course, displayed the enchanting charm of Jiangxi Opera, a several-hundred-year-old local opera, in front of the students. Many of the students recorded the performances and posted the video clips of the class on social media platforms, receiving millions of views and likes from netizens.

Instead of adopting the traditional form of stage play, Chen devotes more attention to her students' interactive experience. "I invite my students to come to the stage and experience the whole process of the performance by themselves," Chen said.

The course which she teaches has been open for many years, mainly introducing the history, tunes and performance characteristics of Jiangxi Opera. It's not well known that this course, which is full of people now, was originally rarely attended. "Before, I used to focus on the form of speech and lectures while the teaching effect was unsatisfying: the classroom was quiet and the students seemed uninterested, many even playing on their phones in class," said Chen. To stir the enthusiasm of the students, Chen decided to put on a costume and turn the class into a stage to perform. With traditional garments (服装) and brandishing water sleeves, students are immersed in the world of Jiangxi Opera.

Faced with the unexpected fame, Chen was satisfied but also realized that a greater responsibility now rested on her shoulders. "I hope that even though the popularity of the Jiangxi Opera fades, this art can still be passed down through generations." Chen said.

In 2009, Kevin Pearce was at the height of his professional snowboarding career and bound for the Winter Olympics. But in an instant, it came to an end. During training, he struck his head on the edge of a pipe, resulting in a traumatic (创伤的) brain injury. It changed the course of the then-22-year-old's life.

He had to relearn how to walk and talk and essentially start over. His older brother Adam quit his job and moved across the country to help him through rehab.

He eventually started doing yoga, and his family saw how it transformed him and gave him a sense of hope: "It was the first time I remember so clearly coming out of a class with him and just seeing in his face this new expression, this new person." Adam Pearce said, "We were like, ‘We need to figure out why and how that just happened.'"

Wanting to bring hope and healing to others through yoga and meditation (冥想). Adain and Kevin co-founded the Love YourBrain Foundation in 2014. The nonprofit offers week-long meditations and community-based yoga classes across the United States for people who are living with long-term brain-related disabilities. "I think people feel isolated after brain injury because they don't feel able, and when you don't feel able, you generally retreat back inside." Adam said, "At these retreats, people are given the space to lean into those deep challenges and express them and talk about them."

Ultimately, the organization aims to create a safe space and supportive community where people with brain-related disabilities can heal together. "Connection happens quickly because there's such a shared common understanding among the group." Adam said. "Once someone sees someone be vulnerable, it instantly allows the next person (to be). By the end, people start to see vulnerability as a superpower."