Online programs to fight depression are already commercially available. While they sound efficient and cost-saving, a recent study reports that they are not effective, primarily because depressed patients are not likely to engage with them or stick with them. The study looked at computer-assisted cognitive (认知的) behavioral therapy (CBT) and found that it was no more effective in treating depression than the usual care patients receive from a primary care doctor. Traditional CBT is considered an effective form of talk therapy for depression, helping people challenge negative thoughts and change the way they think in order to change their mood and behaviors. However, online CBT programs have been gaining popularity, with the attraction of providing low-cost help wherever someone has access to a computer. A team of researchers from the University of York conducted a randomized (随机的) control trial with 691 depressed patients from 83 physician practices across England. The patients were split into three groups: one group received only usual care from a physician while the other two groups received usual care from a physician plus one of two computerized CBT programs. Participants were balanced across the three groups for age, sex, educational background, severity and duration of depression, and use of antidepressants (抗抑郁药). After four months, the patients using the computerized CBT programs had no improvement in depression levels over the patients who were only getting usual care from their doctors. “It’s an important, cautionary note that we shouldn’t get too carried away with the idea that a computer system can replace doctors and therapists,“ says Christopher Dowrick, a professor of primary medical care at the University of Liverpool. “ We do still need the human touch or the human interaction, particularly when people are depressed. “ Being depressed can mean feeling “ lost in your own small, negative, dark world,“ Dowrick says. Having a person, instead of a computer, reach out to you is particularly important in combating that sense of isolation. “ When you’re emotionally vulnerable, you’re even more in need of a caring human being,“ he says.

People have grown taller over the last century, with South Korean women shooting up by more than 20cm on average, and Iranian men gaining 16.5cm. A global study looked at the average height of 18-year-olds in 200 countries between 1914 and 2014. The results reveal that while Swedes were the tallest people in the world in 1914, Dutch men have risen from 12th place to claim top spot with an average height of 182. 5cm. Latvian women, meanwhile, rose from 28th place in 1914 to become the tallest in the world a century later, with an average height of 169.8cm. James Bentham, a co-author of the research from Imperial College, London, says the global trend is likely to be due primarily to improvements in nutrition and healthcare. “ An individual’s genetics has a big influence on their height, but once you average over whole populations, genetics plays a less key role,“ he added. A little extra height brings a number of advantages, says Elio Riboli of Imperial College. “Being taller is associated with longer life expectancy,“ he said. “This is largely due to a lower risk of dying of cardiovascular (心血管的) disease among taller people. “ But while height has increased around the world, the trend in many countries of north and sub-Saharan Africa causes concern, says Riboli. While height increased in Uganda and Niger during the early 20th century, the trend has reversed in recent years, with height decreasing among 18-year-olds. “One reason for these decreases in height is the economic situation in the 1980s,“ said Alexander Moradi of the University of Sussex. The nutritional and health crises that followed the policy of structural adjustment, he says, led to many children and teenagers failing to reach their full potential in terms of height. Bentham believes the global trend of increasing height has important implications. “How tall we are now is strongly influenced by the environment we grew up in,“ he said. “ If we give children the best possible start in life now, they will be healthier and more productive for decades to come. “

According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being good political leaders as men. The same can be said of their ability to dominate the corporate boardroom. And according to a new Pew Research Center survey on women and leadership, most Americans find women indistinguishable from men on key leadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation, with many saying they’re stronger than men in terms of being passionate and organized leaders. So why, then, are women in short supply at the top of government and business in the United States? According to the public, at least, it’s not that they lack toughness, management talent or proper skill sets. It’s also not all about work-life balance. Although economic research and previous survey findings have shown that career interruptions related to motherhood may make it harder for women to advance in their careers and compete for top executive jobs, relatively few adults in the recent survey point to this as a key barrier for women seeking leadership roles. Only about one-in-five say women’s family responsibilities are a major reason why there aren’t more females in top leadership positions in business and politics. Instead, topping the list of reasons, about four-in-ten Americans point to a double standard for women seeking to climb to the highest levels of either politics or business, where they have to do more than their male counterparts to prove themselves. Similar shares say the electorate (选民) and corporate America are just not ready to put more women in top leadership positions. As a result, the public is divided about whether the imbalance in corporate America will change in the foreseeable future, even though women have made major advances in the workplace. While 53% believe men will continue to hold more top executive positions in business in the future, 44% say it’s only a matter of time before as many women are in top executive positions as men. Americans are less doubtful when it comes to politics: 73% expect to see a female president in their lifetime.

Most kids grow up learning they cannot draw on the walls. But it might be time to unlearn that training—-this summer, a group of culture addicts, artists and community organizers are inviting New Yorkers to write all over the walls of an old house on Governor’s Island. The project is called Writing On It All, and it’s a participatory writing project and artistic experiment that has happened on Governor’s Island every summer since 2013. “Most of the participants are people who are just walking by or are on the island for other reasons, or they just kind of happen to be there,“ Alexandra Chasin, artistic director of Writing On It All, tells Smithsonian. com. The 2016 season runs through June 26 and features sessions facilitated by everyone from dancers to domestic workers. Each session has a theme, and participants are given a variety of materials and prompts and asked to cover surfaces with their thoughts and art. This year, the programs range from one that turns the house into a collaborative essay to one that explores the meaning of exile. Governor’s Island is a national historic landmark district long used for military purposes. Now known as “ New York’s shared space for art and play,“ the island, which lies between Manhattan and Brooklyn in Upper New York Bay, is closed to cars but open to summer tourists who flock for festivals, picnics, adventures, as well as these “ legal graffiti (涂鸦)“ sessions. The notes and art scribbled (涂画) on the walls are an experiment in self-expression. So far, participants have ranged in age from 2 to 85. Though Chasin says the focus of the work is on the activity of writing, rather than the text that ends up getting written, some of the work that comes out of the sessions has stuck with her. “One of the sessions that moved me the most was state violence on black women and black girls,“ says Chasin, explaining that in one room, people wrote down the names of those killed because of it. “ People do beautiful work and leave beautiful messages. “

What does the recent study say about online CBT programs?

What has made online CBT programs increasingly popular?

What is the major finding by researchers at the University of York?

What is Professor Dowrick’s advice concerning online CBT programs?

What is more important to an emotionally vulnerable person?