Energy independence. It has a nice ring to it. Doesn't it? If you think so, you're not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession.

    “Energy independence” and its rhetorical (修辞的) companion “energy security” are, however, slippery concepts that are rarely though through. What is it we want independence from, exactly?

    Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil. But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere.

    The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running. Yes, there is a trickle（涓涓细流）of biofuel available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction.

    Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil. They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad. Vast areas of the United States are off-limits(禁止) to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection. To what extent are Americans really willing to endure the environmental impacts of domestic energy production in order to cut back imports?

    Third, there are benefits to trade. It allows for economic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs than we do, we benefit. And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries.

    There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to maintain its economy. When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices, At the same time, we derive(得到，获得) massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world.

    Last month, the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, held an underwater meeting. The purpose of the ocean floor conference is to highlight the effects of global warming on his island nation.

    The Maldives, located in the Indian Ocean, is the lowest-lying country on Earth. Melting glaciers and polar ice are causing sea levels to rise, putting the Maldives and other low-lying areas at risk of being swallowed by the sea within the next 100 years.

    What can be done? Scientists and leaders from 190 nations will try to figure that out at the United Nations climate change conference next month. The main goal of the meeting is to come up with a new climate agreement for 2012 and beyond. That is when the existing plan, the Kyoto Protocol will expire. The agreement was created in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. Since then, it has been ratified(正式批准) by 190 nations. The countries promised to limit the amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which they produced each year.

    The debate over who should cut greenhouse emissions has been going on for years. The US has been hesitant to reduce emissions unless fast-growing nations such as China and India also reduce their use of fossil fuels. In recent months, China has taken steps to be greener. But India has been unwilling to change. It argues that it is unfair for rich nations to ask poorer countries to cut down on emissions.

    While world leaders work on a plan in Copenhagen, there are many things you can do to help the planet. You can save fuel by walking or biking instead of riding in a car. You can start a recycling program in your community. You can plant trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and give off oxygen.

    In 2016, three viruses made news, and they present difficult problems for health officials in the New Year. One virus threatens babies in many parts of the world. Another has reappeared in an African nation. And a third is one of the deadliest viruses of modern times. The three viruses are Zika, polio and HIV. However, in 2016 scientists and researchers from all over the world worked to make progress against those viruses and to develop better ways to control them.

    The spread of the Zika virus caused public health officials in many nations to put in place strong measures to control its spread.

    Brazil, which hosted the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, was hit hard by the virus. Health officials warned pregnant women against traveling to the sporting event. Zika is usually a mild illness. It is so mild that most people who are infected do not know they have it. However, in the past two years in the Western Hemisphere, Zika has been linked to babies being born with extremely small heads. This condition is called microcephaly. The international medical community found that this link to birth defects makes Zika a very dangerous virus.

    Zika first appeared in Uganda more than 60 years ago. It is spread by mosquitos and by sex. The virus recently appeared in Brazil. Then cases appeared in other countries to the North. Cases were reported in the United States in the southern state of Florida. Health officials in Texas are also concerned the virus might be spreading there.

    Doctors can only advise women to be careful. They advise women not to travel to areas where the virus is spreading, to avoid mosquito bites or to delay pregnancy. Currently there is no vaccine against Zika. However, one could be available by 2018.

    Who is smarter? A human being or artificial intelligence?

The question swept the world last week when a Google-developed program called AlphaGo defeated the world top player, South Korean Lee Se-dol, 4-1.

    So, what comes next?

    Some people have been arguing that artificial intelligence, or AI in short, will be a bad thing for humans. In an interview with the BBC in 2014, UK scientist Stephen Hawking warned that “The development of full artificial intelligence could mean the end of the human race.”

    So are we really about to live in the world shown in the Terminator movies?

    “Not quite,” answered The Economist. After all, it's not hard to get a computer program to remember and produce facts. What is hard is getting computers to use their knowledge in everyday situations.

    “We think that, for the human being, things like sight and balance(视觉平衡), are natural and ordinary in our life.” Thomas Edison, founder of Motion Figures, a company that is bringing AI to boys, told the newspaper. “But for a robot, to walk up and down just like human beings requires various decisions to be made every second, and it's really difficult to do.”

    As The Economist put it, “We have a long way to go before AI can truly begin to be similar to the human brain, even though the technology can be great.”

    Meanwhile, John Mark off of The New York Times said that researchers should build artificial intelligence to make people more effective.

    “Our fate is in our own hands,” he wrote. “Since technology depends on the values of its creators, we can make human choices that use technology to improve the world.”

    Fish have different personalities which change as they experience life's highs and lows, according to British biologists.

    Researchers identified different "personalities" in their fish by observing the boldness(大胆) or shyness of individuals, according to The Nature. Like people, some fish are very confident in the face of novelty or conflict, while others are silent and fearful.

    The scientists selected particularly bold and shy rainbow trout(虹鳟鱼), and tested whether they changed their outlook depending on what life threw at them. They arranged some fish to fight and others to watch to see how both the participants and observers responded to victories and defeats. Winning or losing a fight, or even watching fellow fish overcome the difficulties influenced the future behavior of the creatures studied in the lab.

    The researchers made fish compete with much larger or smaller opponents(对手), to ensure that they would win or lose their fights. These bold fish that won their fights tended to be even bolder when later presented with a novel food item; losing their fight caused them to be much more cautious.

    Fish also learn by watching others. Bold fish watching a shy fish exploring a mystery object were much more nervous when later given a novel item for themselves.

    Predictably, shy fish that won a fight also gained more confidence, but surprisingly, shy fish that lost their fights also grew bolder when exploring strange new food, Sneddon said, adding that this could be due to what she calls a "desperado effect"(亡命徒效应).

    The new research suggests that animals can gradually adapt(使适应) their personalities. The results agree with the effects that life experience can have on humans.

    Thirteen hours later we just arrived in Paris after many dramas (戏剧性事件).

    I rented a car, filled it up and moved ahead to Bristol airport that morning. We set off at 8:00 a.m. and all was going well until we got to the turn for Bristol airport. The airport sign (指示牌) suggested we went out from the M5, but Suri asked me to continue going straight ahead, so against my better judgment, I let the airport turn pass us by.

    Next we left for South Wales, the car was back and we had a plane to Paris to catch in a couple of hours. It was about then that I realized we were heading for Wales on a six­road highway. I felt very bad. We turned off the highway and turned into a country road, as directed by Suri and there was a sign saying that the road to the airport was closed. I saw a lady watering her garden and asked her about the best way to the airport. She said we were at least 30 minutes from the airport, but she couldn't help us with the right directions (方向).

    I was so worried as we really were out in the country without any guidance. All I could think of was to turn Suri off and follow the signs myself.

    Then finally after many butterflies in the stomach and feeling like my heart was going to burst (爆裂) out of my chest, there was a proper green sign to the airport and we followed it with so much joy.

    Driving from the airport into Paris was a shock, Lots of homeless people were sleeping under the highways with rubbish everywhere.

Anyway we're now in Paris. The experience of getting lost is now almost laughable. In another 24 hours will be my 50th birthday. I have a big party planned for myself in Paris.