Driverless technology will soon enter another major global industry: shipping. Several companies recently announced plans to launch self-sailing ships to improve safety and efficiency.

One of them is the Norwegian chemical company Yara International. Yara has teamed up with another Norwegian company, Kongsberg, to build an autonomous goods ship expected to be launched next year. Kongsberg developed the ship’s electrical technology and autonomous control systems. The ship is fully electric to reduce air pollution. It is designed to carry goods containers normally transported by truck. This means the ship will also improve road safety by replacing about 40,000 truck trips a year. The company plans to operate the ships by far-away control beginning sometime next year. By 2020, the ships should be loading and sailing themselves. While Yara’s ships will be limited to Norway at first, the company plans to greatly expand its autonomous shipping operations in the coming years.

Another company putting a high priority (优先) to self-sailing ships is the world’s largest mining company, Australia’s BHP Billiton. The company’s Vice President of Freight, Rashpal Bhatti, recently spoke about the technology in a website post. Bhatti believes automation will be one of the biggest changes for shipping in the future. He said, “Autonomous ships offer important opportunities to improve safety and provide more effective results to the supply chain of the sea.” He added that self-sailing ships could become a reality within the next decade.

Rolls-Royce, the British automobile and engine manufacturer (制造商), is also developing unmanned (无人驾驶的) shipping technologies. Oskar Levander is the company’s head of operations at sea. He said in a conference last year, “This is happening. It’s not if, it’s when.”

Levander said these autonomous ships could be controlled by far-away operators from anywhere. He added, “Because these ships will be designed to be unmanned, they can be built smaller, more efficient and environmentally friendly.”

   What makes us human？Is it our thoughts？Our emotions？Our behavior？

All of these things make us who we are，but at the center of it all lies the genome — the genes inside our bodies that determine everything from our hair color to our intelligence. But if we could change our genome，would we still be human？

Recently，a group of scientists from the US and South Korea worked together to successfully“edit”a human embryo（胚胎）and remove a genetic mutation（变异）that would have led to heart disease. This was achieved with the help of CRISPR-a gene — editing tool that allows scientists to edit the genome by cutting，changing or adding to parts of it.

Scientists involved in DNA editing are certain about the good of their work，and hope that in the future，diseases could simply be“edited out”.

However，others aren't so sure. People are worried that the science could be used not only to remove life-threatening illness，but also to make a“perfect”baby whose DNA has been chosen to improve its intelligence or other qualities. They say that this is a shallow way of thinking about raising children.

“It makes you think about who we are as people，and it makes you ask if humans should use the kind of power…that is changing human evolution（进化），”Jennifer Doudna of the University of California said.

Still，others worry that DNA editing could be turned into an expensive service that would only be available to the people who could afford it. That might mean the rich would be given another advantage in a world where they already have plenty of them.

“You could find wealthy parents buying the technology for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,”Marcy Darnovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics and Society, said.

   Nature has its own way of balancing itself out，but when we humans get involved，we tend to throw things out of control. Forests and oceans are natural carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but since we’ve been pumping too much into the air, those sinks can’t keep up. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Advancement of Science in Germany, led by biologist Tobias Erb，have figured out a way to supercharge plants to make them better at absorbing carbon dioxide, which could be a key defense against climate change.

Erb and his team figured out a way to make plants more efficient（效率高的）at absorbing carbon, so that they consumed more carbon in a shorter amount of time. “If you think about plants, they are efficient carbon dioxide -fixing filters, but they are not fast,” Erb said. “I think there is a chance to improve existing biology with synthetic（人造的）biology.”

Erb’s team identified 17 enzymes（酶）from nine different organisms, re-engineering three of them, which had enlarged carbon consumption. When those enzymes worked together as a team, they worked better at not only plants’ natural enzymes, but also themselves individually.

Existing enzymes in plants consume about 5 to 10 molecules（分子）of carbon dioxide per second. The team of enzymes that Erb used consumed 80 molecules per second.

So far, these enzymes have only been tested in test tubes in the lab, but the next step is real world testing where the enzymes would be introduced into plants to see if the same result occurs. If those tests show that plants really can be supercharged, we will have a new tool in the fight against climate change where not only do we protect the amazing carbon-absorbing forests we have, but we also apply these super plants or an artificial leaf technology using the enzymes into other fields.

   Virtual reality is no longer a concept of the future. 3-D technology can now change a desktop computer into an interactiveworld of adventure, fashion, fun and entertainment.

Using the Internet as an entry platform, the new technology is blurring the lines between the real and virtual worlds.

In contrast to a traditional two-dimensional（二维的）interface, the 3-D environment provides a very large and highly social world, enabling access to people and places that would be impossible in the real world.

Through the use of avatars（虚拟替身）, a virtual replica of yourself, or whoever you want to be, life can take on new dimensions in cyberspace.

Shopping online is not such a new world to most people, but the 3-D experience is completely different. Via avatars, shoppers can pick up, try on and test out products in virtual shopping centres. The avatar, set with real-life measurements, can try on a new pair of jeans, get a trendy haircut and see if certain accessories suit.

Avatars can also join with like-minded people as they travel, take on adventures and socialize.

From a businessman’s point of view, interactive 3-D experiences allow him to exactly judge consumer demand via instant feedback and requests.

Buying property and taking a holiday in the real world also presents great virtual opportunities. Before buying a home, renting an apartment or booking a hotel, you can walk through a digital version of the property, making sure that it meets all your needs.

For people short of time and money in the real world, virtual tourism allows adventures in a virtual dimension. A virtual tourist can step inside the Louvre, trek into the Sahara, or go bungee jumping in New Zealand.

“3-D technology will influence many aspects of human life in that we can entertain ourselves from similar cyber games and experience exciting 3-D tourism,” explained Martin Tong, marketing director of The 1st Virtual Business and professional creator of a vitual world.

“Our understanding of the virtual world is to give customers a strong interactive experience; it is not only a game, but also life itself,” he added.

The new way of traveling will not necessarily meet everyone's satisfaction. Dong Lifen, an engineer in China Unicom commented that while the virtual world gives the freedom of traveling to popular destinations, it is not the same as the real thing.

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.