In the modern world，there is an unfortunate tendency to value profit over intelligence. People may know a practice is harmful，but continue to do it anyway because it produces an in-demand product. Fortunately，there are inventors who work tirelessly to develop more responsible solutions. Sally Fox is one such individual.

Before Fox's invention of Foxfibre cotton，naturally colored cotton could only be spun（纺线）by hand，which was such a long and laborious process that businesses chose to take white cotton，bleach（漂白）it，dye it and spin it on a machine. This produced the colored fabrics people wanted，but also created a lot of pollution through the bleaching and dying processes. Sadly，there weren't really any practical choices available until Sally Fox came along in the late 1980s and revolutionized the industry.

While working as a pollinator（传花粉者）for a cotton breeder looking to develop more pest-resistant plants，Fox began breeding brown and green cotton，picking out the best seeds that produced the longest fibres and replanting them year after year. Finally，she created two kinds of colored cotton that could be spun on a machine，and she purchased a small lot of land to grow them. Sally even received Plant Variety Protection Certificates for the new cotton.

By the early 1990s，Sally Fox had had a 10-million-dollar business that produced naturally colored cotton for major companies like Levi's，Esprit，Land's End and L. L. Bean. It was a more environmentally friendly product that was also turning a profit. After globalization forced most of the spinning mills（工厂）to South America and Southeast Asia，Fox's business took a hit，but she continues to make new naturally colored cotton to this day. Each new color takes about 10 years to produce—but，for Sally Fox，the patience is worth the payoff.

Can you imagine wear a pretty sweater made from garbages? It could happen! A few companies across the country are making clothes from things that are being thrown away by people. For example, company makes sweaters of old plastic bottles. First, the bottles are cut into small pieces. The pieces are melted. Then the melting plastic is made into long and thin threads. The threads are used to make sweaters which feels very soft and light.

Believe it or not, these sweaters sell good in spite of the fact which they are not cheap at all. Many people thought that these recycled clothes can help us cut down on garbage.

   Experts believe that the best time to teach kids language skills is when they are babies. Most times the task is easily accomplished with parents reading or talking to their babies. However，in some cases that is not possible due to parents' busy work schedules or when kids are born deaf. Now，a blue-eyed robot，a human image，and some high-tech neuroscience may be able to assist parents with this important developmental task.

The Robot AVatar thermal-Enhanced system，or RAVE，is the brainchild of a team of researchers led by Laura-Ann Petitto，an educational neuroscientist. The learning process begins when the robot's camera，which is focused on the baby's face，notices tiny changes in his/her body temperature. This，combined with the baby's facial expression，causes the robot to turn its head and guide the baby's attention to a computer screen，on which a human image starts to communicate with the baby. For example，if the baby points towards the screen，the image might respond，“Are you pointing to me？”and follow that up with a nursery rhyme or fairy tale，all in American Sign Language（ASL）. The“conversation”continues until the kid loses interest.

The researchers found that babies as young as 6 to 8 months old began to move their hands in a rhythm similar to ASL after communicating with RAVE for just a few minutes. Petitto says natural language，whether communicated through speech or sign，activates（激活）the same parts of the brain and believes the rhythmic motion proves the babies are learning the essential elements of communication.

What sets this technique apart from other methods，such as showing educational videos or television shows，is its interactive（互动的）nature and real-time response to the baby's actions. The researchers say that while it is too early to determine the system's long-term influence on baby communication, the initial response has been very encouraging. Next, they plan to introduce a robot that can both sign and speak to babies.

   Technological innovation（创新）may not give you a warm feeling. 【小题1】 Messaging apps are examples of technology that is helping bring people together. It’s ready to continue improving our lives as innovation allows technology to really understand how we live.

【小题2】

Some of the most popular and widely adopted innovations make things we’re already doing easier. A well-designed piece of technology can transform something that consumes time into a worry-free touch of your finger, giving you more time to spend with friends and family.

Developers keep finding new and brilliant ways to prove our identities online. With fingerprints and voice recognition, technology keeps getting better at proving we are who we say we are. 【小题3】 .The more trust we have, the easier it will be to fully welcome the aspects of fintech（金融科技）and have control of our financial data.

Crowdfunding（众筹）technology keeps breaking down walls that may have previously kept good ideas from being realized. Here’s how it works: You throw your project to people through an online platform. 【小题4】 . By connecting dreamers and inventors to a new type of capital, technology is giving more creative ideas the opportunity to become a reality.

As technology continues improving, it becomes easier to build and keep a connection with someone who isn’t in the same location as you. 【小题5】 . And think about how great it will be when you can communicate with your friends and relatives in virtual reality. It will be the next best thing to be together in person.

   The idea of being able to walk on water has long interested humans greatly. Sadly, biological facts prevent us ever accomplishing such a thing without artificial aid---we simply weigh too much, and all our mass pushes down through our relatively small feet, resulting in a lot of pressure that makes us sink.

But fortunately there is an alternative : cornflour. By adding enough of this common thickening agent to water (and it does take a lot), you can create a “non-Newtonian” liquid that doesn’t behave like normal water. Now, if the surface of the water is hit hard enough, particles(粒子）in the water group together for a moment to make the surface hard. Move quickly enough and put enough force into each step, and you really can walk across the surface of an adequately thick Liquid of cornflour.

Fun though all this may sound, it’s still rather messy and better read about in theory than carried out in practice. If you must do it, then keep the water wings handy in case you start to sink--and take a shower afterward!