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.

   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.

   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.

   Leon，12，was born without fingers on his left hand. That didn't stop him from being able to do many tasks. But Leon could not grasp more than one object at a time. So Leon's father，Paul，created a prosthesis（义肢），using a3-D printer. Now Leon has fingers that can open and close. "It was a do-it-yourself，father and son adventure，" says Paul.

When Leon was a baby，his doctor advised his parents not to give him a prosthetic hand until he was in his early teens. "The doctor said Leon should first learn to get full use of the hand he was born with，"says Paul. As Leon got older，his father considered buying a prosthetic hand，which can cost as much as $30，000. Then Paul found a more affordable solution.

One day，Paul discovered a video on the Internet about Robohand，a prosthesis created by a 3--D printer. He downloaded the free instructions and called Robohand's creators for advice. They told him all he needed was a 3-D printer-which costs around $2，000 and some materials.

Luckily，Leon's school had recently bought a 3-D printer and it offered to help Paul build the hand for Leon. "We used a soccer shin pad（护胫），cardboard，and tape. They cost about $10，"says Paul.

With his new hand，Leon can do things better. "I can help my mom more，because now I can carry two grocery bags，"he says.

Leon's father has already built several hands for Leon. Leon helps design each one. He says there's one thing in particular that he wants to do with a future prosthesis. "The goal，"he tells the reporter from the local evening paper，"is to be able to tie my shoelaces（鞋带）".

   Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.

But when we asked our readers whether they would clone their beloved animals，the responses（反应）were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it，108 would clone their beloved animals，111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.

Clearly，from readers’responses，this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and eventual sadness of owning a pet. It also shows people’s widely different expectations over the developing scientific procedure.

Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original；many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side，however，held little hope that cloning could truly recreate a pet；many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.

Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned“the dog/cat in the world”.They thought of their pets as their“best friend”，“a member of the family”，“the light of their life”.They told moving stories of pets’ heroism，intelligence and selfless devotion.

Few wonder the loss is so disturbing（令人不安的）and the cloning so attractive.“People become very close to their animals，and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies，”says Gary A. Kowalski，author of Goodbye Friend：Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me，cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away... It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with it. It’s hard to accept.”

But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.