For the first time, researchers have discovered that some plants can kill insects in order to get additional nutrients. New research shows that they catch and kill small insects with their own sticky hairs near the roots and then absorb nutrients through their roots when the insects are killed and fall to the ground.

Professor Mark Chase, of Kew and Queen Mary, University of London, said: “The cultivated (改良的) tomatoes and potatoes still have the hairs. Tomatoes in particular are covered with these sticky hairs. They do trap small insects on a regular basis. They do kill insects.”

The number of these carnivorous plants is thought to have came up to 50 percent and many of them have until now been wrongly regarded as among the most harmless plants. Among them are species of petunia(矮牵牛), some special tobacco plants and cabbages, some varieties of potatoes and tomatoes, etc. Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, which carried out the study, now believe there are hundreds more killer plants than previously realized.

It is thought that the technique was developed in the wild to get necessary nutrients in poor quality soil ­ and even various plants grown in your vegetable garden still have the ability.

The researchers, publishing their finding in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, said: “We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think.” “We are accustomed to thinking of plants as being immobile and harmless, and there is something deeply frightening about the thought of meat­eating plants，” they added.

Are you unhappy about your nose? Or you feel that your ears are too big or your eyes too small? They can all be put right by a surgeon. Surgeons are doctors who make sick people well by operating on them. But some surgeons today are really beauty specialists. Their job, which is called plastic surgery, is to make ugly or plain people beautiful.

    Plastic surgeons are very popular in some countries. They make lots of money by selling beauty to persons, especially women. Plastic surgery is very expensive. Suppose I can afford to pay so much money and want to change my ugly nose for a more handsome one, I must consult a plastic surgeon.

    First of all, he will ask me to enter a nursing home（护理院）. I shall have to spend about three weeks there. The surgeon will give me an anesthetic（麻醉药）. Then he will operate on my nose. He will put a plaster case to keep its new shape. I shall have to spend the next week or two anxiously wondering whether the operation has been successful or not. “Will my nose really look better or leave scars? What shall I do if my nose is not the shape I wanted?” And so on. Then the surgeon will take off the bandages and the plaster, I shall see my expensive new nose! Will it be worth all the trouble and expense? Sometimes these operations go wrong, and then patient comes away looking worse than before.

           A

       The idea of fighting a noise by making more noise sounds strange, but What's exactly that motor engineers are doing in Germany and some other countries．

　　Carmakers' research and development laboratories have already proved that mixing in more noise with the help of loudspeakers can reduce the unwanted noise．

　　 Physicists have known about the technique for a long time．Sound is make up of pressure waves in the air．If two sound waves of the same frequency(频率)mix so that the highest point of one wave happens at the same time with the lowest point of the other wave, the result is no sound．Therefore, by producing a perfect copy of the noise and delaying it by half a wave cycle(周期), we can kill the unwanted noise．Using this technique many carmakers are racing to develop noise-killing systems both inside and outside the cars．Another good thing about the use of noise-killing systems is that it saves the need for a silencer, which not only reduces the weight of a car, but also makes the motor bum less oil and work better．

　　 Some engineers believe that the noise-killing system will be used in most cars in 1996．But the carmakers haven't decided if they will put it into production because it would add several hundred dollars to the cost of their ears．

    For visitors, Teller Lake looks like a delightful fishbowl filled with thousands of beautiful goldfish floating around. However, to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department they are a group of invasive (入侵的) species that could finally destroy the lake's entire ecosystem if not removed soon.

    The problem lies in the fact that these fish have no enemies. This allows them to reproduce in large numbers. In fact, park officials believe that the 3,000~4,000 samples floating around are all the result of a few unwanted pet goldfish that were dumped into the lake. They estimate the incident occurred about three years ago.

    As this non-native species grow in numbers, they compete with the existing fish for food sources. Given that there is only a limited supply of resoureas, this could result in the goldfish overpowering the native fish species. In the ease of Teller Lake, the officials are particularly worried that the goldfish will move downstream and affect the population of some of the endangered native species that live there. Another major cause for concern is the diseases the goldfish may be bringing. This could be fatal (致命的) to the native species since they can't fight new illnesses.

    Fish are not the only unwanted pets that are thrown away. Florida has been fighting an invasion of Burmese pythons (巨蟒). But one of the worst cases recorded is that of the Red Lionfish. They are currently swimming their way to the Atlantic Ocean's ecosystem all the way.

    According to experts, the best way to get rid of unwanted fish or any other animal is to get advice from the people that originally sold them the pet. However, saving one pet often results in destroying the area's ecosystem and hurting other innocent animals.

       What will man be like in the future——in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.

　  　Let us take an obvious example. Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches(英寸) taller. Five hundred years is relatively short period of time, so we may assume（设想）that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity(容量）. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change to the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.

　   　Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger.

　 　On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.

　　But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald（秃头的）.

　　Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. All the same, in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.

C

  A new study showed that one of the best ways to control greenhouse gas emissions(温室气体排放) is to eat less meat. In fact, the study showed that meat consumption(食用量) in developed countries should be cut by 50% per person before 2050.

  Meat production and consumption are expected to rise very quickly to a high level by 2050. That’s because the global population is expected to grow from the present 7 billion to 9 billion. But also, the diets of people in many developing countries are changing. Countries that are developing rapidly are seeing a fast rise in protein consumption, especially red meat.

Dr. Eric Davidson, the president and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, said changing the way people eat can have a great effect on greenhouse gas emissions. People in developed countries, he said, already eat much more protein than the daily requirement.

“In the developed world, there is large room for us to manage the frequency with which we eat meat. If there is a growing need for meat, that is going to end up requiring use of more nitrogen fertilizer(肥料) and production of more livestock manure(家畜粪肥), both of which end up resulting in release of various forms of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere,” he said.

Davidson said farmers should be encouraged to use fertilizers and manure in a more careful way. “ If we want to meet the greatest goal of making harmful climate change under control, we need to improve the efficiency(效能) with which we use fertilizers in agriculture. We need to improve the efficiency of the management of manure. And we also need to consider changes in dietary patterns(饮食方式). And that means hopefully better diets in the developing world and better balanced diets in the developed world,” he said.

Even if it were possible to turn off all harmful greenhouse gas emissions today, he said climate change would continue. “ But that does not mean that we can do nothing for it now, because the sooner we start to take action, the more choices our children and grandchildren will have in terms of being able to feed themselves and have comfortable lifestyles without environmental degradation(退化),” he said.

A

Prince William kept the best for last. After two days of his visit, his third and final day of activities in China included feeding carrots to a 13-year-old Asian elephant.

   In Yunnan province, the prince heard about the dangers to China’s remaining 250 wild elephants. He also heard the story of Chang Zongbo, a policeman, who has spent his life trying to protect what remains of Yunnan’s rainforest and elephants.

   For 27 years, Chang Zongbo has climbed every one of the mountains. “We go for days, following the poachers and then waiting till they are sound asleep. That’s the safest time to arrest them, he says. A person killing an elephant can be sentenced to death in China, a powerful reason for the poacher to resist arrest.

   And that has worked. China is one of the safest place for an elephant these days.

   The major problem in China is the disappearing forest. Once their reserves were surrounded by natural forest in which elephants could travel freely. Now the reserves are completely cut off from each other by rubber farms. The elephants often walk into farms and villages. They eat up bananas and sugar cane. Occasionally they trample farmers to death.

Mr Chang is here to protect the elephants and at the same time he is doing what he can to prevent elephants from damaging crops and lives.

Before ending my interview, he tells me, “Every piece of forest, I work to save it. Every elephant, I work to save it. So when I look my grandchildren in the eye, I can tell them I did my best.” It’s also a message Prince William would like to send.

C

    It is widely acknowledged that cities with some kind of functioning ecosystems make for better places for humans to live．More plants and animals in cities make for happier，healthier people．

    A study conducted on green spaces in Sheffield，England，for instance，revealed that the greater the biodiversity(生物多样性)，the greater the psychological well-being(健康)of the city’s citizens．In Paris，researchers found that getting citizens to take part in day-long activities involving urban wildlife opened their eyes to the natural world for a time，at least．

    Few cities have been associated with urban ecology for as long as Berlin．“Slow economic recovery after the Second World War meant that reconstruction would take a long time．This provided local ecologists with the ideal conditions to develop an ambitious ecological research program in the bombed-out wastelands of West Berlin，”said Jens Lachmund，a sociologist at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands．

    The pioneering work in Berlin had several consequences，especially the formation of significant natural spaces within the city，such as the Sudgelande Nature Park．“Berlin has indeed benefitted a lot from being a case study in urban ecology，”said Lachmund．

    The recent research conducted by Mark Goddard，a biologist at the University of Leeds，and his colleagues confirmed the importance of natural spaces within an urban setting．Goddard and his team conducted a striking global analysis of bird and plant diversity，quantifying the influence of urbanization on levels of biodiversity around the world．“Functioning urban ecosystems will be extremely important to human health and well-being，”said Goddard．

    Cities take up just 3％ of the land surface area，yet according to the most recent figure from the United Nations，some 3.6 billion people(just over 50％ of the globel population) now live in urban areas．By 2050，this figure is expected to rise to 6.3 billion．Without animals and plants to keep us company，it is a dark future．

D

     American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special“language protein(蛋白质)”in the brain.

     The study, conducted by neuroscientists (神经学家) and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed(声称)that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day—over 13,000 more than men. “This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof. Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends.

    They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic（超声波的）range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the baby rats were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be connected with vocal(声音的) calls showed the male baby rats have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female baby rats and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them. In contrast, males became less“talkative”.

    The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.

    “Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp 2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp 2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are connected with the more communicative sex,”said Prof McCarthy.

“Our results imply Foxp2 as a component (成分) of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals(哺乳动物).”