Have you noticed the phenomenon of puppy dog eyes, the inner eyebrow raising movement of dogs? Do you believe it    41    for dogs to appeal to humans? Researchers dissected dog and wolf heads and found that the facial muscle anatomy of both animals was almost identical --    42    an eyebrow muscle, found only in dogs. The inner eyebrow raising movement makes the dogs’ eyes appear larger and more infant like,   43   prompts a “nurturing” response in humans. When dogs make the movement, it seems to elicit a strong desire in humans to   44   them. This would give the dogs that moved their eyebrows more a selection advantage over others, reinforcing the trait in   45   generations. The findings show how important faces can be in capturing our attention, and how powerful facial expression can be in social interaction.

     Australia is literally a land apart. While it is attractive and welcoming to visitors, from the perspective of     46      they are very keen to keep themselves separate. Australia has had some bad experiences    47    misguidedly importing rabbits and cane toads into the country.    48    hence has become a major concern. The government maintains a data base of about 20,000 materials that have the potential to cause trouble and must be declared at the    49    . If you fail to declare them upon arrival, it is almost certain they will be confiscated and you may    50    have to paya fine up to $66,000. If you have declared all the items in the Incoming Passenger Card, then even if the goods are not permitted and must be confiscated, you will not be liable for a fine. The authorities are not unreasonable, just strict.

How do you lose weight in the first place?—Mostly, through breathing. While the concept of “burning” fat is not altogether wrong, losing fat involves plenty of carbon dioxide leaving your body. As the Washington Post explains:Researchers found that to burn a pound of fat, a human needs to inhale about three pounds of oxygen and drink about a pound of water. Water can exit the body in plenty of ways—poop, pee, sweat, saliva and any number of bodily fluids—but your lungs handle the brunt of the weight loss.

Your fat “goes” into the atmosphere. (And no, it doesn’t contribute to global warming.) When it does go, you’re also releasing the extra storage of vitamins and toxins along with it. That might not sound like a good thing, but in the long run it’s far better to be rid of them. As Popular Science states, a kind of pesticides, among other pollutants, are known to get bound up in fat—they leak into our food supply: Bodies don’t seem to store enough of these to become toxic, but the constant build-up leaves you vulnerable to exposure. And they do start to re-emerge when you lose weight.

By losing weight at a healthy pace (1-2 pounds a week), the limited number of pollutants released will not overload your bloodstream. Your urine will make quick work of them. Extreme dieting is a different story. The more weight you lose, the more of these toxins enter your bloodstream.

Since we no longer face the same problem as our ancestors—most of us don’t have to worry about whether or not we’ll eat tonight, or tomorrow—fat storage plays a different role in our bodies than previously. Many avoidable health problems are due to this excessive storage of energy, hormones and toxins. Some researchers claim 70 percent of our medical problems can be addressed through a healthier lifestyle, which includes eating better and moving more.

       Honey is usually described as a sweet food substance. Corbezzolo honey, however, is surprisingly bitter, with notes of leather, liquorice and smoke. Born in the mountains of the Italian island of Sardinia, this extremely rare honey has a history that dates back more than 2,000 years.

       Corbezzolo honey is obtained from the flowering of the broadleaf corbezzolo shrub, known in English as the strawberry tree for its reddish-orange, strawberry-sized fruits. Despite the bitterness, it is often added to coffee to enhance the drink’s bitter aromas. The special taste also makes the honey pair perfectly with seadas, a typical Sardinian dessert, and pecorino sardo, a sweet sheep’s milk cheese. What makes the bitter honey even more special is that it is actually packed with nutrients. Rich in vitamins and minerals, it has been prized by many generations in Sardinia, known for the notably long lifespans of its inhabitants, many of whom live to more than 100 years old. It has been used in traditional medicine to suppress coughing and bring on sleep. What’s more, a 2019 study found that the honey might reduce growth of cancer cells.

      The corbezzolo’s fruits ripen slowly and the flowers’ petals unfold slowly, a delicate process that a heavy rain can easily bring to a halt. And because the flowering takes place in late autumn when the weather can be cold, rainy and windy, the bees sometimes have to struggle to make it out of their hives to collect that precious nectar. The flowers produce about half as much nectar as other flowers, so the bees have to work extra hard to collect enough. These factors make corbezzolo honey so precious that it’s hard to find outside Sardinia.

       Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American who emigrated to New York City in 1884, was a scientist and visionary who developed the basis for alternating current (AC) that most of us use today and pioneered numerous technologies that improve our everyday lives. Without his contribution to the AC electric power, we would be fifty years behind technologically than where we are today.

       In 1884, Tesla left Europe and worked for Thomas Edison, the developer of direct current (DC). It was said that Edison promised Tesla $50,000 to fix the problems with his DC system. When Tesla succeeded and demanded his reward, Edison claimed the offer was a joke, saying “When you become a full-fledged American, you will appreciate an American joke.” This prompted Tesla to quit and he ended up in a battle with Edison. Today, Tesla’s AC system is predominantly used to power most of the world’s electricity. DC motors are still used for some industrial machines, but often require more maintenance. 

         It is not just AC power that Tesla worked on. Motors, radios, X-rays, neon signs were advanced by his extraordinary mind. History often touts Italian entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi as the inventor of radio, but actually he was using technology from seventeen of Tesla’s patents. The two inventors became embroiled in a patent war. In 1943, the United States Supreme Court revoked Marconi’s radio patents in favor of Tesla. Unfortunately, Tesla and Marconi had already passed away by the time the court handed down their decision.

       Tesla also invented one of the world’s earliest remote control and was a pioneer of X-ray technology. He took some of the first X-ray images of the human body and was one of the first scientists to hypothesize that X-rays could be harmful. The brilliant inventor contributed to reusable energy as well. Nine out of the twelve patents used to build the world’s first hydroelectric station, erected at Niagara Falls, New York, belonged to Tesla. He helped pave the way toward clean energy because he understood the physics behind energy and what might be possible in the future.

       Often referred to as “the man who invented the 20th century,” Tesla was involved in many more discoveries and creations. When he died in 1943, there was so much interest in what he was working on that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided his hotel room within hours of his death. Experts say Tesla envisioned his inventions improving people’s lives. Indeed, his innovative ideas were milestones of technology. The great pioneer believed “Invention is the most important product of men’s creative brain.”