The human athlete has a special trick that no other animal has. It is called self-talk. Athletes talk to themselves to warm up, to focus and to help themselves believe they will win. A few simple words like “I can do it!” and “It is now or never!” can make the difference between winning gold or not.

    Self-talk is also used by speakers, actors and other performers. Before a speech, politicians believe that their words will win votes. And, self-talk helps students stay calm even when stumped by hard exam questions. Self-talk is a life skill you can use wherever you are, whenever you need it.

    The whole idea of talking to themselves seems strange to many people. Imagine your teacher saying, “For homework, talk to yourself for half an hour tonight.” You might think he is playing a joke on your class. Instead, adults teach kids all about talking to other people. There are many books on why, when, what and how to communicate with the rest of the world. Thus, you can grow up knowing a lot more about people around you than about yourself.

    It is good to speak and listen to others. But there is great value in making time to listen to yourself. When you do, you get to know yourself better. Along the way, you may discover the power you have for using words well.

    Such ideas are so exciting to psychologists that they have been trying to learn more about self-talk. In the study, people found certain lost items at home more easily when they talked to themselves while searching for the things.

    If a trip to Rome or Paris is in your future, be prepared: The European Union Parliament is calling for an end to visa-free travel Americans. EU lawmakers passed a resolution urging the EU Commission to impose visas on U. S. citizens traveling into the 28-nation bloc.

    The dispute(争论)centers on reciprocal treatment of travelers from EU nations and the United States. While Americans have been able to travel throughout EU member nations without a visa, the U. S. still requires citizens of five EU countries-Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania-to apply for entry visas when visiting the U. S, Reuters reports. Citizens of the other 23 EU member nations can use the U. S. visa waiver program to enter America. The EU lawmakers are calling for mutual treatment for all EU citizens, says Reuters. They've given the EU Commission two months to respond.

    The trans-Atlantic visa dispute first came to light in April 2014, according to an EU Parliament news release. At that time, five countries-Australia, Brunei, Canada, Japan and the U. S. –required visas for some EU citizens. Since then, Australia, Brunei and Japan have lifted their visa requirements for all EU citizens. Canada, which currently imposes(推行)visa requirements on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, plans to follow suit in next December, leaving just the United States at odds with the issue of reciprocity of visa-free travel with the EU.

The EU says if a visa requirement for Americans is introduced, it would be temporary, according to a story in Money, which did not give a time frame.

    Often people receive a guitar, mandolin, or some other musical instrument as a birthday or Christmas gift. There's joy everywhere. The giver of the gift knows how much the receiver wants to learn this instrument and the receiver is actually holding it in his hands instead of longing for it through the shop window.

    Finding an instructor that fits into a busy work schedule is hard enough, but once you decide on a lesson plan, then you must consider the practice time, how to practice, what to practice—and let's face it...not all people learn something the same way. So in order to learn a musical instrument, how much practice time is enough and what kind of practice is right for you?

    There is no set amount of time that anyone should practice a musical instrument. When I was in programming classes, I could have studied nightly for 5 hours each night. It would have taken me years to learn the art of computer programming. Though I'm attracted by the systematic logic of it, my talent is towards another thing. However, on the other hand, if I spent an hour every couple days with a passionate hobby like playing the violin, not only would the time fly quickly...I'd also be learning at a much greater speed since the built-in passion is the motivation for advancement.

    So as much as it's important to practice, a step back is to first find the harmonious instrument that fits you as a person; as development of your personality. If you're learning the guitar because it's cool....obviously that's the modern-day mindset, however, you might not be actually linking your talent for musical satisfaction with your most creative advantages you have to offer.

    It's been my experience that every person has a certain level of musical talent. My pleasant challenge has been to assist them in this adventure and actually locate their best abilities as quickly as possible. Then and only then can we match learners with instruments and truly begin a fun and exciting walk down the road of happiness and contentment, where music, ability, personality and soul all meet. Once this piece of the mystery puzzle is in place, I've never had to work at motivating a learner to practice...

    Life for almost anyone is increasingly influenced by screens. Not only are screens themselves cheap to make, but they also make things cheaper. Any place that can fit a screen in can cut costs. And any activity that can happen on a screen becomes cheaper. The physical experience of learning, living and dying is becoming smooth glass. All of this has led to a curious new reality: Human contact is becoming a luxury good (奢侈品).

    "What we are seeing now is the luxury of human engagement," Milton Pedraza, the chief of the

    Luxury Institute, said. Expected spending on experiences such as enjoyable travel and dining is outpacing spending on goods, according to his company's research, and he sees it as a direct response to the rapid increase of screens.

    Screens exposure starts young. And children who spent more than two hours a day looking at screen got lower scores on thinking and language tests, according to early results of a landmark study supported by the National Institutes of Health. The study focuses on brain development of more than 11,000 children. Most disturbingly, the study is finding that the brains of children who spend much time on screens are different. For some kids, their cerebral cortex (大脑皮层) would become thinner before expected time. In adults, one study found an association between screen time and depression.

    There is also the reality that in our culture of increasing separation, in which so many of the traditional gathering places and social structures have disappeared, screens are filling a vital gap.

    For normal people, running away from the screen becomes impossible. It's not a luxury, and it's easy to get. It is normal for more people to need the network constantly. In addition, it has become an important part of social interaction.

Video calls are a common occurrence, but have you imagined being able to touch the person on the other end of the line? Scientists are making this a reality.

Researchers at the University of new South Wales, Australia have invented a soft skin stretch device (SSD). A haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. Haptic technology mimics the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.

Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices such as one attached to the back of the trackpad (触摸板) in laptops, which simulates a button clicking. However, haptic feedback with vibration becomes less sensitive when used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely. According to Mai Thanh Thai, lead author of the study.

The new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through a soft artificial "muscles".

"Our three-way directional skin stretch device, built into the fingertips of the wearable glove we also created is like wearing a second skin-- its soft stretchable and mimics the sense of touch-- and will enable new forms of haptic communication to enhance everyday activities" said Thanh Nho Do, senior author of the study.

Imagine you are at home and you call your friend who is in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs, and your friends also wears a glove with integrated 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object, it will physically press against your friend's fingers. And their glove with 3D force sensors will measure with interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces. Making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.

The haptic devices could be applied in various situations, allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. It could also be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient's organ tissues. With surgical tools without touching them.