According to a study published last week in the journal Science，scientists have found a way to change a plant's genes（基因）in order to make it use sunlight more quickly. Someday，the results could increase the amount of food produced around the world.

By changing a plant's genes，the scientists were able to increase leaf growth on plants by 14-20 percent. Specifically，scientists changed the plant's protective（保护的）system. “Normally，this system is activated when a plant gets too much sunlight，”said scientist Krishna Niyogi，co-author of the study. “When the plant senses the light，it gets rid of extra energy and creates more leaves. When the plant is in the shade，the protective system is turned off. But the process is slow.”

Stephen Long is the lead author of the study. He compared a plant's protective system to light-adjusting glasses.“When a person wears the glasses outside during the day，the lenses（镜片）darken and lighten depending on how sunny it is. Plants do the same thing，”he said.“But in plants the adjustment can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. This makes it hard for plants to get the right amount of sunlight needed to create food.”

The new study sped up the process. By changing the plant's genes，it's more quickly than normal to turn on and turn off the protective system. As a result，leaf growth on the plants scientists used in the study increased. Leaf growth on two plants increased by 20 percent, while leaf growth on a third plant increased by 14percent. Scientists conducted the study on tobacco plants. But they thought the genetic modification would produce the same results in corn or rice.

   Government intelligence agencies have a plan to build computers that store information inside DNA and other organic molecules（分子）.

Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity（IARPA）announced plans to develop tabletop-sized machines that can store and retrieve（取回）data from large batches of polymers — a term that refers to a wide variety of long，string-like molecules. Polymers can store data in individual atoms or groups of atoms.

The project is an attempt to solve a basic problem of the modern era:the vast and growing costs of data storage. Datacenters around the world sucked up 416. 2 terawatt hours of electricity in 2016. That's about 3 percent of the global supply，and it accounts for 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A 2016 paper found that DNA，in particular，could store computer information more densely，require less energy，and survive higher and lower temperatures than conventional hard drives. The authors of that paper reported on the successes of prototype（雏形）DNA computers that used the genetic molecules for both long-term storage and random access memory（RAM）.

But no one has yet figured out how to handle DNA data storage on large scales.

IARPA officials said the new effort, called Molecular Information Storage, will be broken up into three periods:a two-year program to figure out how to store data in DNA or other molecules at high speed,a two-year program to figure out how to retrieve that data at high speed, and a two-year effort to develop an operating system that can run on that DNA.

Many of the technologies IARPA wants to develop are untested at these scales, so it's unclear how far away that proposed tabletop device really is.

Some taxi drivers often like to chat with passengers to kill time when the taxis are caught 【小题1】 traffic jams. The other day，I went home by taxi. Knowing I was a student，the driver told me that he was once a student twenty years ago. 【小题2】（fortunate），his family could not afford the school fees，so he dropped out of school at 【小题3】 early age. He encouraged me 【小题4】（work）hard and go to a good college. I 【小题5】 (move) by his kindness, but what really impressed me next was his honesty. After arriving home, I soon realized that I 【小题6】 (leave) my cell phone in the taxi. Greatly worried,I immediately called my number, 【小题7】 (pray) the driver would answer. Then came the driver's voice from the other end. He told me he had been expecting my call and that he would gladly return my phone 【小题8】 he dropped me off 【小题9】 (early) that day. Thanks to the driver, I got my phone back. I believe honesty is one of the greatest 【小题10】 (quality)a person should have.

What Is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of satisfying hunger.【小题1】Have you ever finished a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downed cookie after cookie while preparing for a big test? But when done a lot — especially without realizing it — emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.

Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings.

【小题2】One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it’s caused by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they’re stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine’s Day or the celebration of a holiday feast. Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. 【小题3】

Emotional eating patterns can be learned: A child who is given candy after a big achievement may grow up using candy as a reward for a job well done. 【小题4】It’s not easy to “unlearn” patterns of emotional eating. But it is possible. And it starts with an awareness of what’s going on.

We’re all emotional eaters to a degree. But for some people emotional eating can be a real problem, causing serious weight gain or other problems. The trouble with emotional eating is that once the pleasure of eating is gone, the feelings that cause it remain. 【小题5】That’s why it helps to know the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger.

Next time you reach for a snack, wait and think about which type of hunger is driving it.

Being responsible is actual not that difficult. I used to think it was hard to growing up into a responsible member of society. An incident happening in a rainy Sunday afternoon changed my attitude. I was on my way to the bookstore and was waiting for the green light while a girl was knocked down by passing car，which drove off quickly. A man immediately gave her first aid and I had joined in without hesitation. Soon many help was given to the girl. Because we sent her to the nearest hospitals in time, she was able to receive proper treatment. Not badly injured, he expressed gratitude to those giving help. Comparing with the escaped driver, I was proud of what I did.