Mediterranean ecosystems globally are experiencing intensified water shortage due to climate change. A critical case is Chile’s Aculeo Lagoon, the largest natural freshwater body in central Chile’s biodiverse hotspot. Formed 18,000 years ago, it supported local agriculture and tourism until its complete disappearance in 2018. Despite refilling in 2024 after two extremely wet years, scientists warn this recovery may be temporary. This study quantifies the roles of declared water rights and nondeclared water extractions in the lagoon’s demise, using a novel water balance approach.

Researchers identified water sources through geospatial mapping, including:

•Declared uses: Officially permitted water rights.

•Undeclared uses: Unregulated swimming pools and farm dams.

•An annual water balance analysis(accounting for runoff and efficiency scenarios) was combined with statistical correlation tests.

•No significant correlation found between lagoon area and runoff(p>0.05)

•Strong negative correlation with total water use(p=0.017)

•Post-2024 risk remains extreme:

◆Water demand still exceeds 450 L/s

◆Climate models predict 30% less runoff by 2030

As a key biodiversity refuge, the lagoon’s potential re-drying threatens 17 endemic species. This case demonstrates how climate change intensifies anthropogenic (人为的) pressures, urging immediate policy interventions on illegal extractions.

Jammed roads, loud noises, suffocating (令人窒息的) smog. For some people, living in the city can be stressful. But a growing body of research shows some city birds can be more aggressive than their rural twins, suggesting they too feel the pressures of city life.

Generally, animals that live in cities tend to be bolder and more aggressive — both characteristics that enable them to survive in such complex habitats. “Individuals that can’t deal with constant disturbance, such as noise, people, cars, etc., would be unlikely to thrive in an urban habitat,” says Jeremy Hyman, a professor and department chair of biology at Western Carolina University.

Some birds may become more aggressive because cities are rich in food sources — and so there’s strong competition to establish a foothold. “Only the most aggressive males can manage to hold a territory in this place where lots and lots of birds would like to have a territory,” says Hyman.

But food scarcity may also make some urban species more aggressive, and so birds have to fight an awful lot in order to maintain a large enough territory to get the resources that they need. High levels of stress caused by noise and other factors might also play a role in making birds more aggressive, notes Hyman.

In some cases, aggression seems to be “a worthwhile cost,” says Sarah Foltz, a behavioral ecologist at Radford University. However, a big unanswered question is whether birds learn to be aggressive during their lifetime. But what scientists do know is that some birds can be highly adaptable. “Aggression definitely has a genetic component to it,” says Foltz. “But also, we know that when we change environmental factors, birds change their aggression.”

Overall, Foltz says scientists are still trying to understand just how much urban density (密度) different species can tolerate and which characteristics of an urban environment influence aggressiveness the most. “We’ve got all these little pieces,” she says, “But it’s still coming to gather to make a bigger picture, so it’s sort of an unfinished puzzle.”

In a revealing experiment, researchers placed fleas in a glass jar sealed with a lid. The insects repeatedly jumped toward freedom, striking the unyielding barrier above them. After 72 hours, the scientists removed the lid. Remarkably, the fleas continued to jump — but never again reached the height necessary to escape their transparent (透明) prison. This phenomenon, known as the flea effect, offers profound insights into human psychology.

Consider the case of a secondary student named Elena. After receiving low marks on two writing assignments, she concluded, “I’m hopeless at composition.” This belief appeared in avoidance: skipping writing practice, dismissing vocabulary building, and performing worse on subsequent tasks ultimately. Like the fleas conditioned by the jar’s lid, Elena internalized (内化) artificial restrictions that bore little relation to her true capabilities.

Neuroscience suggests that breaking free from such psychological limitations requires a deliberate strategy that includes three phases. Individuals must identify their limiting beliefs, much like Elena eventually acknowledged, “I avoid writing because I fear criticism, not because I lack ability.” The second phase involves systematic desensitization through manageable challenges. Elena started by writing three-sentence journal entries daily — a task too small to spark significant anxiety. Successively, she expanded to paragraphs, then full essays. The final phase celebrates increasing progress; each completed writing session strengthened her growing competence. Within four months, Elena earned her first distinction in English composition.

The journey from self-imprisonment to liberation parallels the fleas’ unrealized potential. Behavioral scientists emphasize that the most solid barriers are often those we construct in our minds. As researcher Dr. Karen Hughes notes, “The ceiling above us exists only until we stretch beyond yesterday’s reach.” Both fleas and humans possess the inborn capacity for extraordinary leaps — if only they dare to rediscover the height of their own potential.

The strength of Earth’s magnetic field (磁场) seems to rise and fall hand-in-hand with the amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, a study of geological records spanning the last half billion years has found. Published in Science Advances, this correlation puzzles scientists. Benjamin Mills, a co-author of the study from the University of Leeds, admits, “We don’t really have a good explanation for it.”

While oxygen only began to slowly accumulate in the atmosphere after photosynthetic organisms (光合生物) began to evolve, around 2.5 billion years ago, breathable concentrations for most animals emerged only in the last 540 million years.

There is no direct way to measure the composition of the atmosphere in the deep past, but geochemists can use indirect clues (e. g. wildfire frequency traced through ancient charcoal deposits) to reconstruct oxygen levels and paired this with geomagnetic data from volcanic rock containing “frozen compasses” — magnetic crystals aligned with Earth’s field during eruptions.

To better compare two long records, Mills teamed up with NASA scientists, discovering oxygen levels and geomagnetic intensity have increased over the past million years, and some of the major fluctuations in both measures occur in the same geological eras.

Several possible explanations are also proposed. One possibility is the magnetic field’s shielding effect, deflecting solar wind to prevent oxygen escape into space. Another links plate tectonic movements — formations and breakups of supercontinents, which release nutrients that boost oxygen-producing algae (藻类) — to disturbances in Earth’s liquid core where magnetism originates. “If things like the spreading rate [of the oceanic crust] influence the magnetic field, the tectonic cycle could be driving oxygenation — but also the magnetic field,” Mills says.

Sanja Panovska, a geophysicist at the Helmholtz Centre for Geoscience in Potsdam, Germany, says that the study is convincing, but it introduces more questions than it answers.

Yet, the discovery could feed into a long-standing debate on whether a strong magnetic field is essential for complex life to evolve on a planet. “It’s very expensive to observe exoplanets, and you need to choose which ones to observe,” says Mills. “What this kind of work would inform is the kind of places you’d look.”

Fathers cherish reading stories to their children, sharing worlds of elephants, dinosaurs, and knights (骑士). 【小题1】 Beyond reading, when fathers share their own childhood stories — their friendships, favorite toys, victories and failures — they offer a unique gift. It allows children to know their fathers intimately, expanding the child’s own life story.

Research shows children who hear family stories develop richer storytelling skills, stronger self-esteem, and better coping (应对) abilities. Renowned pediatrician, Donald Woods Winni-cott, author of The Child, The Family and the Outside World, maintained that mothers provided children with the inside emotional story and fathers, the outside world story. 【小题2】 — with best friends, school struggles, and childhood incidents. Stories become co-created in the listener’s mind, made unforgettable by the emotional connection between parent and child.

Family members often reveal fragments of a father’s past: “【小题3】” When others share these moments, fathers should embrace them. Children crave these details and will ask. “Dad, is that true?”

Secrets can distance us from loved ones and what is not said, but acted upon, questions and impacts children. One clinician shares that it was only when her father gave her the written version of his story of the Holocaust that her father’s emotions and behavior made sense to her. 【小题4】

On Father’s Day, ask your child: “【小题5】” The answer may surprise you. For children who’ve lost fathers, stories from loved ones become precious reminders — keeping memories alive at any age. In giving and receiving these stories, fathers and children create bonds that endure.

Three months into my job at QuickBites, I’d learned to fear apartment deliveries — especially in this aging complex with its broken elevator and twinkling hallway lights.

Mrs. Chen’s order ________ immediately. Hers was congee (粥), a 30-minute drive away. The delivery notes ________: “Ring bell 3x — I move slow. Will tip cash.”

When I finally reached her door, I followed the ________. The woman who appeared was ________ five feet tall — one hand ________ a walking stick; the other trembled reaching for the food. “Come in, come in,” she ________. As I stepped inside, a wall of framed photos caught my eye — a younger Mrs. Chen in a nurse’s uniform, standing beside a man at a ceremony.

She noticed my ________. “My husband,” she said. “He passed last winter.” Then, she ________ the congee into two portions. One she placed on the dining table; the other she pushed toward me. “Eat, you are too ________ for carrying heavy bags.” she said. When I protested about my next delivery, she waved a ________ hand. “Five minutes won’t kill anybody.”

Her congee order became our ________ every Thursday. Through her, I met others the orders never showed me: the night-shift gatekeeper who ________ in subway tokens (代币), the single dad who’d order one burger to split between three kids.

Now in ________ school, when classmates complain about “difficult patients”, I tell them about the woman who taught me that ________ isn’t just in the diagnosis (诊断) — it’s in the five extra minutes you take to hear the story ________ the symptoms (症状).