If you look outside, you probably will see some kind of insect. If your first instinct is to kill it, take a moment to think about all of the benefits insects provide to the environment.

  Entomologists, scientists who study insects, estimate that there are more than 800,000 species of insects found throughout the world. Only a few hundred of these insects are considered harmful. Mosquitoes, for example, are considered harmful. They bite humans and other animals, and their bites can cause skin pain and spread disease. Desert locusts also are considered harmful because they destroy crops causing billions of dollars in damage each year.

  However, the number of helpful insect species far outweighs the number of harmful species. Some insects make up a vital part of the food chain. Many different birds, reptiles, fish and even plants eat insects. There are also about 500 insects that people in various parts of the world eat. These insects are considered delicious food and prized for their high protein, mineral, and vitamin content. Other insects produce valuable commercial products such as silk, wax, and honey.

  Of all the insects, perhaps the most important are those that travel from flower to flower and pollinate(授粉) the plants they visit. Agriculture around the world would be very different without the bees, butterflies, moths, flies and wasps that pollinate many crops. In fact, nearly one-third of the food you eat depends on plants that are pollinated by insects!

  While it is true that some species of insects harm or annoy us, you should not automatically reach for the bug spray when you come across an insect. You may be destroying one of the hundreds of thousands of insects that provides many benefits to human beings.

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Learning to read and write is a complex process, which can be disrupted in various ways, leading to disorders known as dyslexia and dysgraphia（读写障碍）. Two new studies, published in a recent special issue of Elsevierˈs Cortex provide evidence of this variety, suggesting that effective treatment needs to take it into account.

A group of researchers from the Universities of Bari and Rome in Italy studied the reading and writing abilities of 33 Italian dyslexic children, comparing their performance with that of children with normal reading ability. Italian is an "orthographically transparent" language, meaning that letters tend to correspond to the same sounds, whereas many letters in the English alphabet change their sound from word to word (like the "c" in car and city). However, the new study showed that even in Italian, in which it is relatively straightforward to convert sounds into letters, children still have difficulty in spelling. Younger children with dyslexia generally performed worse than proficient readers; however, the older ones showed a more selective impairment when spelling words, suggesting that knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought.

The other study, from Tel Aviv University, Israel, provided the first systematic description of a type of reading disorder called "attention dyslexia" in which children identify letters correctly, but the letters jump between words on the page, e.g., "kind wing" is read as "wind king". Teachers and neuron-psychologists often notice that children substitute letters when reading, but in this type of dyslexia the substitutions are not caused by inability to identify letters or convert them into sounds; they result from migrations of letters between words. The findings showed that letters would mostly migrate to the same position in another word, so the first letter of one word would switch places with the first letter of another word. Awareness to the existence of this type of dyslexia is important, because it suggests a straightforward way to assist these children in reading ——by presenting a ‎single word at a time, e.g., with the help of a word-sized window cut in a piece ofcardboard.

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“Inspector Sands to the control room, please.” If you ever hear that at a British train station, don’t panic. But you might appreciate knowing that this is a codeword meant to inform staff that there is an emergency somewhere in the building. The idea is to avoid causing alarm among commuters（通勤者）, but still get the message out to those trained to deal with the problem.

The subject of secret codewords like this was raised this week on Reddit, and the discussion has attracted thousands of examples. But what codewords and signs are really out there in the wild?

A good place to start is hospital emergency codes. These are often colour-coded, and one health centre in Canada has published its list online. “Code red” announces a fire, “code white” indicates a violent person while “code black” means a bomb threat is active. It’s been reported that hospital staff sometimes refer to the morgue as “Rose Cottage”, in order to avoid upsetting relatives of a patient who has recently died.

“I can see very good reasons for having these codes,” says Paul Baker, a linguist at the University of Lancaster. “It may be that people are unsure when they’re giving the code so there’s no point upsetting members of the public.”

Not all codes are alphanumeric(字母数字的). Some are visual, intended to be hidden in plain sight. As BBC Future discovered earlier this year, many banknotes feature a specific pattern of dots placed there to prevent people from photocopying money. Many copiers and scanners are programmed to spot it.

And finally, the spray-painted squiggles(波形曲线) you see on pavements in towns and cities all over the world are codes understood by construction workers and engineers. For example, in UK, different colours are related to different types of cable or pipe. Blue meant a water system while yellow indicated gas lines and green labelled CCTV or data wiring.

All of these codes have a purpose --- to avoid causing panic, to transmit subtle signals in social groups, or to provide technical information quickly and easily. “People don’t like secrets, do they?” says Baker. “There is a drive to have as much information as possible --- we do live in the information age,” he adds.

In 1994, a new mother took her sick baby to the doctor. After being examined, the child was diagnosed (诊断)with CF (包囊纤维化),a serious disease. The girl would be lucky to survive into her twenties. The woman and her husband did not know what to do.
     She rushed out to a friend —Boomer Esiason, a football star and his wife Cheryl, who knew a lot about CF, since they had a son with it. They’ve been trying to raise money for the CF Foundation (基金会),and now are heading their own foundation. The woman contacted the Esiasons right away, and they shared with her everything they knew about the illness.
     The woman put her whole heart into understanding CF. She learned how to apply the treatments that would give her daughter hope. Though 30,000 Americans suffered from the illness, the number was too small to motivate (催促)drug companies to do research. The small CF drug market could not bring enough investment (投资)to make up the money needed to develop new drugs.
     So she quit her job and jumped into the CF business full-time. She now takes part in events organized by the CF Foundation, and gives speeches wherever she goes. The money she raises goes to the CF Foundation, which spends the money employing scientists to do research. Her name is Angela Kinney. Thanks to many people just like her, the average lifespan of a child born with CF has jumped to 36.5 years.

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     Many people have long dreamed of being able to fly around as simply as riding a bicycle.  Yetthe safety and strength of a flying bike was always a big problem.Over the past 10 years, developments in technology have moved the dream of personal flying vehicles closer to reality. Now, two groups of inventors say such vehicles may be available very soon.

      Grant Stapleton from Malloy Aeronautics says the Hoverbike, which is able to get in and out of small spaces very quickly, will be a truly personal flying vehicle.  "It can be moved across continents very quickly because it can be folded and packed," he adds.

      Mr. Stapleton says safety was the company's main concern when developing the Hoverbike. He ays the designers solved the safety issue by using overlapping rotors  (折叠旋翼)  to power the vehicle. The company is testing both a one-third size model and a full-size prototype  (原型)  of the Hoverbike.

     Inventors say their Hoverbike will most likely be used first by the police and emergency rescue teams.

     In New Zealand,  the Martin Aircraft Company is also testing a full-size prototype of its personal flying bike, called Jetpack. It can fly for more than 30 minutes, up t0 1,000 meters high and reach a speed of 74 kilometers per hour.

     Peter Coker is the CEO of Martin Aircraft Company.  He said Jetpack "is built around safety from the start, " In his words, "reliability is the most important part of it.  We have safety built into the actual structure itself, very similar to a Formula One racing car. "

     Jetpack uses a gasoline-powered engine that produces two powerful jet streams.  Mr. Coker says it also has a parachute (降落伞) that can be used should there be an emergency. "It opens at a very low altitude and actually saves both the aircraft and the pilot in an

emergency," he adds.

For decades, archaeologists have wondered : Who or what killed the most famous boy king in history? Some experts thought that 19-year-old Tutankhamen had died in a hunting accident. Others said that he was murdered by a blow of the head.

    Two years of DNA testing and CT scans may have finally solved the mystery of Tut's death. The teen pharaoh(法老），), scientists in Egypt now believe, was the victim of malaria(疟疾）, complicated by a bone disorder.

    Even at his best, King Tut was no symbol of strength. "He was a weak boy who had a deformed foot and who needed a stick to walk," researcher Carsten Pusch told National Geographic.

    Shortly before Tut died, in about 1324 B. C. , he may have broken his leg in a fall, the study's authors say. Because of a weak immune system, the pharaoh's leg couldn't heal, and a malarial infection (感染)）finished him off.

    Tut was forgotten soon after his death. So why does he attract us today? In 1922, an archaeologist uncovered a group of royal tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Thieves had stolen most of the graves.

    Only Tut's was untouched. Egypt fever swept the globe as workers unloaded the dazzling treasures, hidden for more than 3,200 years, which had been meant to accompany the young pharaoh to the afterlife. In 1972, Tut's treasures began a series of tours around the world, giving millions of people a chance to view his golden burial mask and other relics up close.

   Through it all, Tut's star will continue to bum bright, experts say. As author Jon Manchip White wrote, "The Pharaoh who in life was one of the least respected of Egypt's kings has become in death the most famous. "

Banks view online banking as a powerful “value-added” tool to attract and keep new customers while helping to eliminate costly paper handling or teller（出纳员）interactions in an increasingly competitive banking environment.

    Today, most large national banks, many local banks and credit unions offer some form of online banking, variously known as PC banking, home banking, electronic banking or Internet banking. Online banks are sometimes referred to as “brick-to-click” banks, both to tell them from “brick-to-mortar” banks that haven’t yet offered online banking, as well as from “virtual”（虚拟）banks that have no physical branches or tellers whatsoever.

    The challenge for the banking industry has been to design this new service channel in such a way that its customers will readily learn to use and trust it. Most of the large banks can now offer fully safe , fully functional（功能的）online banking for free or for a small cost. As more banks succeed online and more customers use their sites, fully functional online banking will likely become as commonplace as automated teller machines (ATM).

    Online banking has a lot of advantages. Unlike your corner bank, online banking sites never close; they’re at hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week and they’re a mouse click away. If you’re out of state or even out of the country when a money problem appears, you can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business. Online bank sites generally carry out and confirm deals at or quicker than ATM processing speeds. Many online banking sites now offer fashionable tools to help you manage all of your valuable items more effectively.

It was just over five years ago that we were waiting with decreased breath for Apple’s table!computer(平板电脑)．The company delivered．released its new creation，and set about redefining what a “tablet”could be．Remember?Table computers used to be heavy，folding laptops that ran Microsoft Windows and much terrible sofeware．The release of the new creation helped redraw that too1 in consumers’minds．No．this wasn’t the weighty thick of steel powered by UPS(不间断电源)any more；this was the future of the computer．

    I was always doubtful about them．Sure．they seemed wonderful and light and perfect for bed-based computing．But they weren’t the right type for a lot of the ways I used a computer．They were great for a meeting but less so for my desk．When I needed to finish a report carefully or design a page，I needed the accuracy of my otherwise anachronistic(过时的) mouse．And，most important of all，I already owned a laptop．like most people．Buying another computer seemed more of a“nice to have”than a“must have．”

    New figures from IDC，the market research firm，suggest that we’ve reached an upper limit for the modem tablet computer．According to the firm，shipments(发货)of the tool in the second quarter of this year dropped 7％worldwide compared to the same time last year．Apple and Samsung，the market leaders(41％ combined market share),each experienced a drop year over year as competitors like LG and Huawei exploded．

    But the overall market is minishing，just five years after it appeared．For good reason：Laptops continue to decrease—have you seen the latest Macbook?——and smartphones continue to grow,even as both get lighter and longer-lasting in terms of battery life．Tablets．stuck in the middle,still have their place．But the meaning of that place is decreasing.Not very encouraging for a young，new computing type．

    Are tablets dead?I don’t think so．They remain important to specialized uses，from hospitals to delivery trucks to sales meetings．Hundreds of millions continue to be sold every year．And some of their best qualities have been absorbed by the latest generation of laptops．(What is the new Macbook if not a touchscreen-lacking iPad with a keyboard and IOS X，Apple’s desktop operating system?) But from the looks of these numbers．tablets have an identity problem that can’t be ignored．

  If you see a group of people dancing and singing on the street or in the railway station, you don't need to feel surprised. They are a lash mob(快闪族),which is a group of people who come together suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a short time, and then quickly break up. They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other digital communication network. At a pre determined(提前决定的) time, they gather and perform some distractions(消遣) such as waving their hands and exchanging hooks. Then, they quickly break up before the police can arrive. Using mobile phones. the flash mob can change its location if the first one has been replaced for any reason.

       Bill Lasik. senior editor of Harper's Magazine, organized the first flash mob in Manhattan in May 2003 and the first successful flash mob came together on June 3,2003 — after the first attempt was foiled at Macy's department store, Lasik claimed that the activity was designed to make fun of hipsters(赶时髦的人) ,and call attention to the cultural atmosphere.

       Flash mob gatherings can sometimes shock people. Such an activity might seem amusing and untrue, hut it also might frighten people who are not aware of what is taking place. Undoubtedly, flash mobs can serve as good political tools in any direction. They also have great economic potential, such as using flash mobs to advertise a product.

       The flash mob is now becoming more and more popular. People use it to do many things. For example, in 2009,Michael Jackson's fans took part in a flash mob to remember him. Hundreds of his fans gathered singing and dancing Michael's famous song "Beat It" together. Flash mobs give people from all walks of life an opportunity to come together to create a memory.

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    Here’s a good deed you can do without parting with a single thing. Synthetic (合成的) voices for people who have lost the ability to speak only come in generic (一般的) types ­—think of Stephen Hawking’s voice—but one amazing project wants to build custom voices for each person. To do that they need your help: specifically, recording of your voice.

      VocalID is the brainchild of two speech scientists, who are turning their research into a much larger project. Voice is very personal and, like a prosthetic (假体的) leg or arm, it makes sense it should be customized to each person.

       Here’s how it works—and don’t worry, this does not mean someone will be walking around with the same voice as you out there:

         After recording a couple of hours of audio in, say, a quiet room with an iPhone, you send it to VocalID, where a program called ModelTalker cuts it up into the basic units of speech that can be recombined as new words and sentences. In that same step, characteristics of the patient’s voice—based on what limited sounds they can make—are mixed with the donor’s to create a whole new one.

        VocalID is still in its beginning stages, and they’re looking for help from everyone including voice donors, financial support, and programmers. A priority (优先的事物)  is making voice donation even easier, cutting down recording time, especially for kids. But as it stands already, your voice is just about the easiest thing to donate.