Most of us have been in this situation: You're on your way to your friend's house, then you suddenly ask yourself,"Did I remember to turn the lights off?” For those with "smart homes", however, this wouldn't be a problem.

Over the last few years,smart home technology has become more popular. Thanks to user-friendly products like intelligent lighting and heating controllers, people can control nearly every electrical item in their homes from anywhere in the world.

    While smart homes aren't new, companies like Philips, Amazon and Xiaomi have finally brought automation to everyday people with affordable products like artificial intelligence(AI) speakers and sensors.

    “The obvious message is that you can stop wasting energy,” Tom Kerber, director of research for U. S -based digital company Parks Associates, told The Guardian.

    And the technology also has more meaningful uses. In Norway, for example, one company is using smart tech to make life easier for its elderly customers. Abilia's system allows carers to check up on patients through a tablet on a wall inside their home. The device sends patients reminders about tasks, such as when they need to take medication(冥想). It can even tell carers if there's any unusual activity in the home that could be life-threatening.

    “This kind of system allows people to take care of themselves, which is the most important thing,” Abilia's vice president, Oystein Johnsen, told the BBC. "It also saves the government money. In Norway, it costs 1 million kroner(about 0. 8 million yuan )per year to have someone in a care home. This system costs 15,000 kroner a year.”

    So, for those who have already "gone smart", will it ever be possible to go back to do things in the old-fashioned way? "I think it would be difficult. When we go to a friend's house or on vacation we find ourselves expecting the house to do things for us that we should do, "Poulson, 35, a senior program manager from Seattle.,U. S.,explained.

    In the future those who are taking care of old people may get help from the house itself.

    Over the last few years, new technology, such as the Internet, Wi-Fi and flat TV screens, has changed our homes and the way that we live. Now, another technology revolution is happening. A new project at the University of Hertfordshire wants to create a home that monitors people living in it who are elderly.

    The researchers have developed a wristband device（装置）which helps us to watch the elderly person who is wearing it. The device collects information to see if the person has fallen or has wandered away from where he or she should be.

    The assisted-living project is part of the university's wider Interhome project, which is the development of a smart house. The house remembers the habits of the person who lives there and it uses very low amounts of energy. The Interhome team hope that offering this service will help take care of the elderly. They say, "It's very important that these technologies are there to help and support and not replace any of the existing services."

    The Interhome is not just a research method. It's also a way for students from different scientific backgrounds to learn and develop technology. The university uses the latest technology to help students get experience by developing new hardware and software themselves. The team includes design, engineering and computer science students working together.

    "We are working on a smart-home project in Watford with some companies at the moment," says the project leader. "We are looking at how a smart home can provide even more services." This could help millions of old people around the world have a better and safer life in the future.

    I first met Paul Newman in 1968, when George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, introduced us in New York City. When the studio didn't want me for the film - it wanted somebody as well known as Paul — he stood up for me. I don't know how many people would have done that; they would have listened to their agents or the studio powers.

    The friendship that grew out of the experience of making that film and The Sting four years later had its root in the fact that although there was an age difference, we both came from a tradition of theater and live TV. We were respectful of craft(技艺) and focused on digging into the characters we were going to play. Both of us had the qualities and virtues that are typical of American actors: humorous, aggressive, and making fun of each other — but always with an underlying affection. Those were also at the core(核心) of our relationship off the screen.

    We shared the brief that if you're fortunate enough to have success, you should put something back — he with his Newman's Own food and his Hole in the Wall camps for kids who are seriously ill, and me with Sundance and the institute and the festival. Paul and I didn't see each other all that regularly, but sharing that brought us together. We supported each other financially and by showing up at events.

    I last saw him a few months ago. He'd been in and out of the hospital. He and I both knew what the deal was, and we didn't talk about it. Ours was a relationship that didn't need a lot of words.

    Hotshot jet pilots are no match for cliff swallows. The birds rocket over bridges and skim over lakes, rushing forward at accelerations that would knock an Air Force. By tracking these contests with high-speed cameras, a new study gives the first, in-depth peek into avian aerodynamics (鸟类空气力学) in the wild. "The findings may even provide insight into how to design better micro air vehicles-tiny drones. This technology will be brilliantly useful," says biomechanics expert Jim Usherwood of the United Kingdom's Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield. "High-resolution field studies like this have never been done before for birds."

    For cliff swallows, the trouble starts when they return from wintering in South America to their summer homes in North America. After arrival, they seek out their old mud nests—usually located under concrete bridges and freeways-and start rebuilding their homes. But rather than hunt down a fresh supply of mud, some swallows prefer stealing supplies from their more hardworking neighbors. Others take things further and will even lay an egg or two in their neighbor's nest before taking off.

    Battles in the air follow if the invaders are caught in the act, and a new study takes advantage of these fights to learn how birds perform high-speed maneuvers (演习). The team placed three cameras along a North Carolina lake crossed by a highway bridge that houses several cliff swallow nests and waited for the battles to commence.

The team was surprised to learn that most of the time, chasers copied the move of fleeing invaders. Swallows also pull very hard turns to escape an enemy, with one extreme case reaching 7.8 gravity. Fighter pilots usually pass out at about 5 or 6 gravity, which is why these experiments have earned interest, and partial funding, from the Office of Naval Research. The Navy may use the findings to build better guidance systems for micro air vehicles. However, the swallows' biomechanics are complex, and now the team is simply trying to collect a few tricks.

More and more teenagers are becoming unwilling to exercise worldwide. Australia, a nation that prides itself on its outdoor culture, is doing particularly poorly. It is currently ranked (排名) 140th out of 146 countries for teenage exercise levels. The data shows that 85%of girls are physically inactive compared to 78% of boys. In Australia, less than 1 in 10 teenagers aged 12 to 18 are meeting the recommended levels of physical activity. 

The current guidelines and evidence show that teenagers should be doing at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. This should include muscle and bone strengthening activities on at least three days per week, meanwhile limiting recreational screen time to a maximum of 2 hours per day. 

Not being active can cause a range of health conditions leading to early adulthood and beyond. Adolescents may have decreased bone and cardio-metabolic (心脏代谢的) health which leaves them facing an increased risk of chronic disease (慢性病) in later life, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and decreased fitness. If you're not moving enough you're also at an increased risk of being overweight or obese, with data already showing that 29.8% of teenagers (14-17) are classified as overweight or obese. 

So how can we get teenagers to exercise more? Firstly, high schools should place more importance on lunchtime and allow 1-hour breaks that increase physical activity. We should also encourage teenagers to be active on their lunch break. Parents and guardians also have an important role to play and should aim to devote 1 hour a day to moving more. This does not need to be 1 full hour and can be broken down into two 30-minute parts. The most important factor is to identify your teenager's interests and needs surrounding their physical activity.

Don't be afraid to ask for help in finding a safe and fun exercise program. A qualified exercise physiologist or exercise scientist can help your child find a way to be more active that is suited to their needs, age of development, and interests.

As we all know, the United States is full of cars. There are still many families without cars, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} some families have two or more. However, cars are used for more than {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（pleasant）. They are a necessary part of life.

Cars are also used for business. They are driven to offices and factories by workers {#blank#}3{#/blank#} have no other way to get to their jobs. When salesmen {#blank#}4{#/blank#}（send）to different parts of the city, they have to drive in order to carry their products. Farmers have to drive into the city in order to get {#blank#}5{#/blank#}（supply）.

Sometimes small children must be driven to school. In some cities, school buses are used only {#blank#}6{#/blank#} children live more than a mile away from the school. If the children are too young to walk too far, their mothers take turns {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（drive）them to school. One mother drives on Mondays taking her own children and the neighbors' as well. Another mother drives on Tuesdays, another on Wednesday, and so {#blank#}8{#/blank#}. This is called forming a car pool. Men also form car pools, with three or four men taking turns driving to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} place where they work.

In spite of this, more car pools should be formed in order to put fewer cars on the road and use {#blank#}10{#/blank#}（little）gas.