At the beginning of this century, medical scientists made an interesting discovery; we are built not just of flesh and blood but also of time. They were  (1)  to show that we all have “a body clock”  (2)  us, which controls the  (3)  and fall of our body energies,  (4)  us different from one day one to the next.

The   (5)  of “a body clock” should not be too  (6)  since the lives of most living things are controlled  (7)   the 24 hour night-and-day cycle. We feel  (8)  and fall asleep at night and become   (9)  and energetic during the day. If the 24 hour-cycle is  (10)  , most people experience unpleasant  (11)   . For example, people who are not  (12)   to working at night can find that  (13)   of sleep causes them to  (14)  badly at work.

  (15)   the daily cycle of sleeping and  (16)  , we also have other cycles which  (17)  longer than one day. Most of us would   (18)  that we feel good on some days and not so good on  (19)   ; sometimes our ideas seem to flow and at other times, they  (20)  ​do not exist.

     Now satellites are helping to forecast（预报）the weather. They are in space, and they can reach any part of the world. The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere（大气）, because this is where the weather forms（形成）. They send these pictures to the weather stations. So meteorologists（气象学家）can see the weather of any part of the world. From the pictures, the scientists can often say how the weather will change.

       Today, nearly five hundred weather stations in sixty countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive new pictures, the meteorologists compare（比较）them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds have changed during the last few hours. This may mean that the weather on the ground may soon change, too. In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.

         So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, the scientists could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for three or five days. Soon, perhaps, they may be able to forecast the weather for a week or more ahead（提前）.

Biologist Robert Pitman and his colleagues tracked orcas，or killer whales, and humpback whales off the coast of Western Australia. To research further, the scientists attached a tracker to a female orca, which allowed them to use satellites to monitor her movements. They followed her for six days. During that time, the orca attacked eight young humpback whales. During the seven attacks, the orca killed the humpback whale calf(幼兽) on three occasions.

But the story doesn’t end there. Humpback whales themselves are popularly thought to be large but generally, passive creatures. Pitman’s study findings may let people think otherwise.

When chased by orcas, humpback whales are known to try to outswim orcas. They are thought to do this at high speed so that the orcas can’t keep up. On some occasions, the humpback whales sought out protection. They swam to shallow water, nearby reefs, or even under the researchers’ boats. These ways often reduced the attack. But at other times, the humpback whales decided to stay and fight.

As the orcas approached, the mother humpback would sometimes move her calf to her side, or lift it out of the water using her head or flippers. She also blew huge breaths of air to disturb the orcas, and lunged or charged at them, slashing(劈) and slapping her tail and flippers. Perhaps most surprisingly, humpback whales also have adult escorts(护卫队) that try to protect calves that are not their own, joining the mother in defending the smaller whale. These escort whales either charged at the orcas, or placed themselves between the attackers and calves, slashing their tails and flippers.

Despite the efforts of the mother whales and escorts, the orcas were more often than not successful in their attacks. But the presence of the escorts did reduce how many times a whale calf was killed.

  Every now and then，a product comes along that proves itself a complete game－changer; as is the case with new British brand and invention，Eyejusters － the reading glasses that you can focus yourself － for less than ￡70！

      With 6 in 10 people wearing glasses in the UK，those with perfect vision are increasingly in the minority. And of those who do require glasses，many find themselves requiring two or three pairs of glasses in order to complete different tasks throughout the day. As well as being an added expense on top of everything else，this also means carrying around （and trying not to lose） those extra pairs！

      Evejusters allow you to instantly change the lens（镜片） strength of your glasses with hidden dials，tucked just inside the frames themselves. Eyejusters work by the wearer simply turning the concealed eyeDials to change the focus to fit your needs. The lenses adjust from ＋0.00 to ＋3.00 D，they also have anti－scratch technology and are lightweight in design so you aren't paying the price of comfort for convenience.

      The creator of Eyejusters，Owen Reading － who came up with the idea for Eyejusters with friend David Crosby，who studied physics at Oxford with him，explained: "Lots of people need reading glasses but they need glasses with lots of different strengths. They might have a pair with ＋l prescription－strength lenses for the computer，＋2s for reading and ＋3s for really close－up stuff. Eyejusters replace the need for multiple pairs of reading glasses，by covering the whole range from zero to ＋3，which is the strongest you will find in over－the－counter products."

      He added: "If you wear reading glasses，these are a much more flexible alternative. You can put them on and just turn the dial until what you want to see comes into focus. They are much like using binoculars（望远镜）."

Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.

The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations—major food sources(来源) for the wolf—grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation(植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.

As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.

The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolves. The U．S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.

There are an extremely large number of ants worldwide.Each individual(个体的)ant hardly weighs anything,but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind.They also live nearly everywhere,except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles.For animals their size,ants have been astonishingly successful,largely due to their wonderful social behavior.

In colonies(群体)that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions,they organize their lives with a clear division of labor.Even more amazing is how they achieve this level of organization.Where we use sound and sight to communicate,ants depend primarily on pheromones(外激素),chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tasted by fellow members of their colony.When an ant finds food,it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is.When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying,it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.

In fact,when it comes to the art of war,ants have no equal.They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves,attacking in large groups and overcoming their target.Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy. 

Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner,these little creatures have survived on Earth for more than 140 million years,far longer than dinosaurs.Because they think as one,they have a collective(集体的)intelligence greater than you would expect from its individual parts.

G

The days of having to carry a phone charger everywhere could soon be over.Michigan researchers have revealed a major breakthrough in harvesting energy from human motion. They say it could lead to smartphones powered for a week by the motion of a swipe(重击).

   Michigan State University’s low-cost device, known as a nanogenerator, has already been tested.Scientists successfully operated an LCD touch screen, a bank of 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard, all with a simple touching or pressing motion and without the aid of a battery. The groundbreaking findings, published in the journal Nano Energy, suggest “We’re on the path toward wearable devices powered by human motion,” said Nelson Sepulveda, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and lead researcher of the project.

“What I foresee, relatively soon, is the capability of not having to charge your cell phone for an entire week, for example, because that energy will be produced by your movement,” said Sepulveda, whose research is funded by the National Science Foundation.

   Electrical energy is created when the device is compressed by human motion. The completed device is as thin as a sheet of paper. The device used to power the LED lights was palm-sized, while the device used to power the touch screen was as small as a finger. Advantages such as being lightweight, flexible and low-cost could make it a promising and alternative method in the field of Mechanical-energy harvesting.

   The device also becomes more powerful when folded. Sepulveda said, “You can start with a large device, but when you fold it once, and again, and again, it’s much smaller and has more energy. Now it may be small enough to put in a specially made heel of your shoe so it creates power each time your heel strikes the ground.”

   Sepulveda and his team are also developing technology that would transmit the power generated by the heel strike to, say, a wireless headset.

For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.

As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify识别 with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation隔离. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.

Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.

Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No thanks, I’m amusic,’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”

Since the Internet has come into homes, the daily life has never been the same again. But the thing that worries most of us is that we can get viruses from the Internet. But can we catch viruses on our cell phones? A new study in the journey Science says yes, but the spread of such mobile software that can bring harm to our cell phones won’t reach dangerous levels until more cell phones are on the same operating system.

Computers are easily attacked by viruses because they share data, especially over the Internet. Of course, nowadays, more people are using their cell phones more and more frequently. They use them for emailing, text messaging and downloading troublesome ring tones, etc. so it is obvious that cell phone viruses are a threat , as well.

Scientists used nameless call data from more than six million cell phone users to help model a possible outbreak. And they concluded that viruses that spread from phone to phone by Bluetooth are not muc h concerned, because users have to be in close physical relation for their phones to “see” one another. However, viruses that spread through multimedia messaging services can move much faster, because they can come in disguise (伪装), such as a cool tune sent by a friend. The good news is that to be effective, these viruses need their victims to all use the same operating system, which not enough of us do. Because there is no Microsoft operating system for mobile phones, yet. Thank goodness.

An environmental group called the Food Commission is unhappy and disappointed because of the sales of bottled water from Japan. The water, it angrily argues in public, has traveled 10,000 “food miles” before it reached Western customers. Transporting water halfway across the world is surely the extremely stupid use of fuel when there is plenty of water in the UK. It is also worrying that we were wasting our fuel by buying prawns from Indonesia (7,000 food miles ) and carrots from South Africa (5,900 food miles).

   Counting the number of miles traveled done by a product is a strange way of trying to tell the true situation of the environmental damage due to industry. Most food is transported around the world on container ships that are extremely energy efficient. It should be noticed that a ton of butter transported 25 miles in a truck to a farmers’ market doesn’t necessarily use less fuel on its journey than a similar product transported hundreds of miles by sea. Besides, the idea of “food miles” ignores the amount of fuel used in the production. It is possible to cut down your food miles by buying tomatoes grown in Britain rather than those grown in Ghana. The difference is that the British ones will have been raised in heated greenhouse and the Ghanaian ones in the open sun.

What is the idea of “food miles” does provide, however, is the chance to cut out Third World countries from First World food markets. The number of miles traveled by our food should, as I see it, be regarded as a sign of the success of the global trade system, not a sign of damage to the environment.