Plant Gas Scientists have been studying natural sources of methane for decades but hadn’t regarded plants as a producer, notes Frank Keppler.a geochemist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. Now Keppler and his colleagues find that plants, from grasses to trees, may also be sources of the greenhouse gas. This is really surprising, because most scientists assumed that methane production requires an oxygen-free environment. Previously, researchers had thought that it was impossible for plants to make significant amounts of the gas. They had assumed that, microbes need to be in environments without oxygen to produce methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide. Gases such as methane and carbon dioxide trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere and contribute to global warming. In its experiments, Keppler’s team used sealed chambers that contained the same concentration of oxygen that Earth’s atmosphere has. They measured the amounts of methane that were released by both living plants and dried plant material, such as fallen leaves. With the dried plants, the researchers took measurement at temperatures ranging from 30 degrees ℃ elsius to 70 degrees℃. At 30 degrees ℃ , they found, a gram of dried plant material released up to 3 nanograms of methane per hour.(One nanogram is a billionth of a gram.)With every 10-degree rise in temperature, the amount of methane released each hour roughly doubled. Living plants growing at their normal temperatures released as much as 370 nanograms of methane per gram of plant tissue per hour. Methane emissions tripled when living and dead plant was exposed to sunlight. Because there was plenty of oxygen available, it’s unlikely that the types of bacteria that normally make methane were involved. Experiments on plants that were grown in water rather than soil also resulted in methane emissions. That’s another strong sign that the gas came from the plants and not soil microbes. The new finding is an “interesting observation, “ says Jennifer Y. King, a biogeochemist at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. Because some types of soil microbes consume methane, they may prevent plant-produced methane from reaching the atmosphere. Field tests will be needed to assess the plant’s influence, she notes.

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Bill Gates: Unleashing Your Creativity I’ve always been an optimist and I suppose that is rooted in my belief that the power of creativity and intelligence can make the world a better place. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved learning new things and solving problems. So when 1 sat down at a computer for the first time in seventh grade, I was hooked. It was a clunky old teletype machine and it could barely do anything compared to the computers we have today. But it changed my life. When my friend Paul Allen and I started Microsoft 30 years ago, we had a vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home, “ which probably sounded a little too optimistic at a time when most computers were the size of refrigerators. But we believed that personal computers would change the world. And they have. And after 30 years, I’m still as inspired by computers as I was back in seventh grade. I believe that computers are the most incredible tool we can use to feed our curiosity and inventiveness to help us solve problems that even the smartest people couldn’t solve on their own. Computers have transformed how we learn, giving kids everywhere a window into all of the world’s knowledge. They’re helping us build communities around the things we care about and to stay close to the people who are important to us, no matter where they are. Like my friend Warren Buffett, I feel particularly lucky to do something every day that I love to do. He calls it “tap-dancing to work“. My job at Microsoft is as challenging as ever, but what makes me “tap-dance to work“ is when we show people something new, like a computer that can recognize your handwriting or your speech, or one that can store a lifetime’s worth of photos, and they say, “I didn’t know you could do that with a PC!“ But for all the cool things that a person can do with a PC, there are lots of other ways we can put our creativity and intelligence to work to improve our world. There are still far too many people in the world whose most basic needs go unmet. Every year, for example, millions of people die from diseases that are easy to prevent or treat in the developed world. I believe that my own good fortune brings with it a responsibility to give back to the world. My wife, Melinda, and I have committed to improving health and education in a way that can help as many people as possible. As a father, I believe that the death of a child in Africa is no less poignant or tragic than the death of a child anywhere else, and that it doesn’t take much to make an immense difference in these children’s lives. I’m still very much an optimist, and I believe that progress on even the world’s toughest problems is possible—and it’s happening every day. We’re seeing new drugs for deadly diseases, new diagnostic tools, and new attention paid to the health problems in the developing world. I’m excited by the possibilities I see for medicine, for education and, of course, for technology. And I believe that through our natural inventiveness, creativity and willingness to solve tough problems, we’re going to make some amazing achievements in all these areas in my lifetime.

Plant Gas Scientists have been studying natural sources of methane for decades but hadn’t regarded plants as a producer, notes Frank Keppler.a geochemist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. Now Keppler and his colleagues find that plants, from grasses to trees, may also be sources of the greenhouse gas. This is really surprising, because most scientists assumed that methane production requires an oxygen-free environment. Previously, researchers had thought that it was impossible for plants to make significant amounts of the gas. They had assumed that, microbes need to be in environments without oxygen to produce methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas, like carbon dioxide. Gases such as methane and carbon dioxide trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere and contribute to global warming. In its experiments, Keppler’s team used sealed chambers that contained the same concentration of oxygen that Earth’s atmosphere has. They measured the amounts of methane that were released by both living plants and dried plant material, such as fallen leaves. With the dried plants, the researchers took measurement at temperatures ranging from 30 degrees ℃ elsius to 70 degrees℃. At 30 degrees ℃ , they found, a gram of dried plant material released up to 3 nanograms of methane per hour.(One nanogram is a billionth of a gram.)With every 10-degree rise in temperature, the amount of methane released each hour roughly doubled. Living plants growing at their normal temperatures released as much as 370 nanograms of methane per gram of plant tissue per hour. Methane emissions tripled when living and dead plant was exposed to sunlight. Because there was plenty of oxygen available, it’s unlikely that the types of bacteria that normally make methane were involved. Experiments on plants that were grown in water rather than soil also resulted in methane emissions. That’s another strong sign that the gas came from the plants and not soil microbes. The new finding is an “interesting observation, “ says Jennifer Y. King, a biogeochemist at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. Because some types of soil microbes consume methane, they may prevent plant-produced methane from reaching the atmosphere. Field tests will be needed to assess the plant’s influence, she notes.

Smart Window Windows not only let light in to cut down an electricity use for lighting, but the light coming through the window also provides heat. However, windows are not something people typically associate with being a cutting edge technology. Researchers are now working on new technologies that enable a window to quickly change from clear to dark and anywhere in between with a flip of a switch. “It took us a long time to figure out what a window really is, “ says Claes Granqvist. He’s a professor of solid-state physics at Uppsala University in Sweden. “It’s contact with the outside world. You have to have visual contact with the surrounding world to feel well. “ So, windows and natural light are important for improving the way people feel when they’re stuck indoors. Yet, windows are the weak link in a building when it comes to energy and temperature control. In the winter, cold air leaks in. When it’s hot and sunny, sunlight streams in. All of this sunlight carries lots of heat and energy. And all of this extra heat forces people to turn on their air conditioners. Producing blasts of cold air, which can feel so refreshing, actually suck up enormous amounts of electricity in buildings around the world. Windows have been a major focus of energy research for a long time. Over the years, scientists have come up with a variety of strategies for coating, glazing, and layering windows to make them more energy efficient. Smart windows go a step further. They use chromogenic technologies which involve changes of color. Electrochromic windows use electricity to change color. For example, a sheet of glass coated with thin layers of chemical compound such as tungsten oxide works a bit like a battery. Tungsten oxide is clear when an electric charge is applied and dark when the charge is removed, that is, when the amount of voltage is decreased, the window darkens until it’s completely dark after all electricity is taken away. So applying a voltage determines whether the window looks clear or dark. One important feature that makes a smart window so smart is that it has a sort of “memory“. All it takes is a small jolt of voltage to turn the window from one state to the other. Then, it stays that way. Transitions take anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the size of the window. The development of smart windows could mean that massive air conditioning systems may no longer need. “In the future, “ Granqvist says, “our buildings may look different. “

The First Four Minutes When do people decide whether or not they want to become friends? During their first four minutes together, according to a book by Dr. Leonard Zunin. In his book, “Contact: The first four minutes, “ he offers this advice to anyone interested in starting new friendships:【B1】______A lot of people’s whole lives would change if they did just that. You may have noticed that average person does not give his undivided attention to someone he as just met.【B2】______If anyone has ever done this to you, you probably did not like him very much. When we are introduced to new people, the author suggests, we should try to appear friendly and self-confident. In general, he says, “People like people who like themselves. “ On the other hand, we should not make the other person think we are too sure of ourselves. It is important to appear interested and sympathetic, realizing that the other person has his won needs, fears, and hopes. Hearing such advice, one might say, “But I’m not a friendly, self-confident person. Thai’s not my nature. It would be dishonest for me to at that way. “ 【B3】______We can become accustomed to any changes we choose to make in our personality. “It is like getting used to a new car. It may be unfamiliar at first, but it goes much better than the old one. “ But isn’t it dishonest to give the appearance of friendly self-confidence when we don’t actually feel that way? Perhaps, but according to Dr. Zunin, “total honest“ is not always good for social relationships, especially during the first few minutes of contact. There is a time for everything, and a certain amount of play-acting may be best for the first few minutes of contact with a stranger. That is not the time to complain about one’s health or to mention faults one finds in other people. It is not the time to tell the whole truth about one’s opinions and impressions. 【B4】______For a husband and wife or a parent and child, problems often arise during their first four minutes together after they have been apart. Dr. Zunin suggests that these first few minutes together be treated with care. If there are unpleasant matters to be discussed, they should be dealt with later. The author says that interpersonal relations should be taught as a required course in every school, along with reading, writing, and mathematics.【B5】______that is at least as important as how much we know. A. In reply, Dr. Zunin would claim that a little practice can help us feel comfortable about changing our social habits, B. Much of what has been said about strangers also applies to relationships with family members and friends. C. In his opinion, success in life depends mainly on how we get along with other people. D. Every time you meet someone in a social situation, give him your undivided attention for four minutes. E. He keeps looking over the other person’s shoulder, as if hoping to find someone more interesting in another part of the room. F. He is eager to make friends with everyone.

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Is Your Child’s Stomach Pain All in His Head? We all know there are times that kids seem to complain【C1】______a stomach ache to get out of chores or going to school. Don’t be so sure that the pain they【C2】______is all in their minds. We’re learning more now about a condition【C3】______“ functional abdominal pain“ that is experienced by millions of kids every day. Like many teenagers, Kyle Brust makes it a point to do his homework: as【C4】______as he gets home. Unlike most, Kyle often did his with a terrible stomach ache. In fact, the【C5】______often started while he was at school, but getting help there was getting harder. “Some of my teachers wouldn’t let me go, because I’d asked so many times before and they thought I was trying to get out of【C6】______, “ says Kyle. Kyle’s mom Marilyn says she couldn’t blame the【C7】______. After all, she’d taken him to the doctor several times herself, and even they couldn’t find anything【C8】______ “You know, you’re running the tests and nothing’s coming up. So, is it in his head, is he just an extremely stressful child? It’s just frustrating【C9】______we’re not finding any answers, “ says Marilyn. It turns out Kyle was suffering from a condition known【C10】______functional abdominal pain, that affects as many as one out of every ten kids in this country. Even【C11】______the cause of the pain may not be obvious, there are real consequences. “It really does hurt, and these kids really do suffer, “ says Dr. Campo, MD at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. To help【C12】______, Campo is looking into a new approach. He’s conducting clinical trials of an antidepressant that changes the way the body handles a chemical called serotonin. In a preliminary study, Dr. Campo found that in about eight out of ten【C13】______, the drug normally used to treat emotional pain worked to ease the pain in the【C14】______. “We think about it as being important in anxiety and depression and that’s all quite true, but what’s really interesting is that 95% of our body’s serotonin is in our gut, “ says Campo. Campo believes these kids have extremely sensitive intestines, and controlling the effects of serotonin may 【C15】______ease the pain. It seemed to work for Kyle, who is now completely pain free for the first time in years.

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What is the beneficial point of some microbes consuming plant-produced methane?