We've been covering standing desks for a long time now because experts agree that sitting all day is killing us. We want to be productive while also keeping our bodies healthy. Over the years, there have been several solutions to this from fixed standing desks to adjustable ones, portable desks to ones that change into shelves.
However, the most hightech and elegant solution has to be this new smart desk called the Stir Kinetic Desk. The desk learns your daily behavior and moves between a sitting and standing height regularly throughout the day to keep you moving without interrupting your work flow.
You can program specific sitting and standing intervals or let the desk set the schedule. If you tend to sit while returning emails in the morning, but always want to stand during that afternoon conference call, the desk will learn those regular habits and adjust the schedule to fit them. Of course, the desk can always be manually lowered or raised by using the touch screen on the lower left corner of the desk.
When switching positions, the desk gently dips and rises to let you know that a change is coming up. If you're not ready to switch positions at that time, you can tap the touch screen to stay sitting or standing for a while longer.
The builtin touch screen also keeps track of your daily sitting and standing times and tells you how many calories you've burned. You can even set goals for how long or how often you want to stand. The desk also works with fitness devices like the Fitbit to track your movements.
All of that smart technology doesn't come cheap though. The M1 desk, which is the everyday model, runs a steep $2,990, while the more executive model with added features, the F1, goes for $4,190.
While expensive, it's worth that thinking of how much time we spend at our desks. Much like a good mattress (床垫), a good desk that works with you is worth the investment. Hopefully in a few years these smart, integrated desks will be more common and less expensive.
Humans' invention of zero was vital for modern mathematics and science, but we're not the only species to consider" nothing" a number. Parrots and monkeys understand the concept of zero, and now bees have joined the club, too.
Honey bees are known to have some numerical (数字的) skills such as the ability to count to four, which may come in handy when keeping track of landmarks in their environment. To see whether these abilities extended to understanding zero, researchers trained 10 bees to identify the smaller of two numbers. Across a series of trials, they showed the insects two different pictures displaying a few black shapes on a white background. If the bees flew to the picture with the smaller number of shapes, they were given delicious sugar water, but if they flew toward the larger number, they were punished with bittertasting food.
Once the bees had learned to consistently make the correct choice, the researchers gave them a new choice: a white background containing no shapes at all. Even though the bees had never seen an empty picture before, 64% of the time they chose it rather than a picture containing two or three shapes, the authors report today in Science. This suggests that the insects understood that" zero" is less than two or three. And they weren't just going for the empty picture because it was new and interesting. Another group of bees trained to always choose the larger number tended to pick the nonzero image in this test.
In further experiments, the researchers showed that bees' understanding of zero was even more complex: for example, they were able to distinguish between one and zero—a challenge even for some other members of the zero club. Advanced numerical abilities like this could give animals an evolutionary advantage, helping them keep track of predators (捕食者)and food sources. And if an insect can display such a thorough grasp of the number zero, write the researchers, then this ability may be more common in the animal kingdom than we think.
"How much money am I getting this year? That's the question I ask my mom every February. And every year she replies," You will see" in her Chinese accent.
February usually marks the month of the New Year according to the Chinese calendar. But for me, Chinese New Year is a payday. Usually I receive red envelopes ("hongbao") which are the equivalent (同等物) of Christmas presents. Instead of wondering what the present will be, it is the amount of money inside that is the mystery. I always have to wait weeks to find out how much money my parents have in store for me.
I never knew how the traditions of Chinese New Year derived, and I never gave it much thought, until my mom forced me to attend a special Chinese school where I learned about the origins of the traditions behind the famous celebration and had a knowledge of how the hanging of red lanterns or fireworks developed. But before that, the only part of the holiday that had ever concerned me was the" hongbao" and as selfish as it may sound.
But now Chinese New Year is a wonderful holiday for me not because of the" hongbao", but the profound Chinese culture I have learned from the special school.
The excitement that comes with expecting Chinese New Year is one I will never get tired of. While the real celebrations are taking place in China, my family holds its own traditions. I can always count on my mom to make delicious Chinese food every year, and there is consolation (安慰) in knowing that as my sisters and I open our" hongbaos", our cousins so many miles away are doing the same.
December 22 is a day to which I always look forward. It's winter solstice and a day for dumplings.
I often think about my adventure in a local restaurant last year that day. All day my Chinese friend at work talked about" dumplings", so I thought to myself,"Mmm… I'll go to my local dumpling restaurant for dinner. " It was usually not very busy, and it had about 30 types of dumplings on its menu.
But when I arrived at the restaurant later that evening, I was shocked. The whole neighborhood seemed to be inside, all shouting at once. The waiter pushed a menu into my hand. It had just six types of dumplings on it; he had crossed out four. The busy man gasped (喘息) to me," We're sold out!"
In the UK, we have turkey at Christmas, but in the weeks after, every sandwich is turkey and every soup is turkey, because it takes that long to eat up the leftovers. You never have to fight for Christmas food—it's everywhere, for days on end.
But on the Chinese winter solstice, everyone has dumplings on that one day alone. The waiter pushed me into a seat at the only free table, which was covered with broken chopsticks, chicken bones and oil." I don't mind what kind!" I said, desperate for dumplings.
An hour and a half later, 15 dumplings arrived—cold, almost empty shells, containing a little uncooked meat. Meanwhile, dumplings had been dropped on the floor and vinegar had been splashed (溅洒) everywhere. I ate, and then got out of there as fast as I could.
Anyone who loves to sing will probably tell you how good it makes them feel. But there are many different physical, emotional and social benefits associated with singing that you may not realize.
● Singing improves your memory and cognition (认识). For one thing, there is no question that singing requires you to use your memory in ways that you don't normally use even if you can't always remember all of the lyrics to your favorite songs. For another thing, singers and musicians typically have higher IQ than nonmusicians. Singing can improve your overall brain function and help you think a little clearer.
● A joint Yale and Harvard study showed that for some people living in New Haven, Connecticut, choral singing promoted healthy minds and hearts, which increased the length of life.
● Singing lowers your blood pressure. There have been several case studies that have revealed that singing can decrease blood pressure due to its calming and relaxing effect.
● Singing brings people together and creates a sense of community. Singing in a choir or singing in any sort of group environment with other people can be a fun, bonding activity. What's more, singing in a choir can decrease depression in many adults.
A. Singing leads to a longer life.
B. Singing can cure various diseases.
C. It gives you an opportunity to share an experience with a group of people.
D. This is one excellent way to keep your brain remember things well as you age.
E. Although singing is good for your health, it is not good singing loudly in public.
F. It's no secret that singing can reduce your stress and bring much fun into your day.
G. Patients are able to calm themselves down and lower blood pressure by singing songs.
In 2009 we were staying at our cousin's house in Triora, Italy. Settled just above a window was a bird's nest which my cousin said had been there for many years. Each year, different families of starlings (惊鸟) came back to make it their1.
We knew they were 2 because the chattering (鸣叫) of six newly hatched chicks woke us early every morning. Standing on a chair, I 3 to look into their nest. The first time I looked, the chicks were 4 and almost featherless. Their parents 5 backwards and forwards, bringing food to 6 their hungry and noisy chicks.
Being 7 parents, whenever they saw me they screamed and flew at the window. So I could only see the chicks when they weren't around.
8 the chicks were only a few days old, I realized the parents were teaching their young to fly. One brave chick beat its wings a few times and then 9 across the street landing on the roof of the house 10. Well done, I thought. The next day, my husband and I left for a tour and I was 11, thinking of how I would miss the rest taking their first 12.
Two weeks later, on our return, the first thing I did was look in the nest. It was 13. Then, suddenly, I heard the beating of wings and all eight of them were flying towards me. They 14 a semicircle, singing to me. I felt as though they were saying," Thank you for not harming us. " Then they flew off 15 into the blue sky.
In 2019 big companies like China Mobile and China Unicom will start to deliver 5G. According to the Verge, 4G was about speed and 5G will be about size of networks. These 5G networks will allow many more people to get information (quick) and much more of it. Speaking to CNET, analyst Dan Bieler said that in the United States, there will be" so much bandwidth (带宽) available that we will have pretty much unlimited access data". Due to the increased size of networks, data transfer will be much more (rely). The capacity (容量) will be large enough for everyone (chat) on social media and watch movies on the phone.
Experts say 5G (aid) the development of selfdriving cars and health and pollution sensors (传感器) as well. There is no doubt the infrastructure (基础设施) needed for 5G will be expensive. According to CNET, in the (follow) 12 years until 2030 the industry will be spending nearly $2. 5 trillion dollars worldwide. But if the smart, artificially intelligent world we read so much about is to become a (real), this is an investment that will have to (make).
