Your Internet experience is terrible when the net speed is too slow—it takes so long to open a web page and the film you’re watching stops every few minutes. That can be very annoying. But it could be a thing of the past. In the near future, major telecom carriers will start to provide 5G services.

What is 5G? What difference will it really make to our lives? The “G” in “5G” refers to the generations of mobile network technologies.

1G let us talk to each other, 2G let us send messages, 3G gave us mobile data and the Internet, and 4G made all of these things faster. Now 5G promises much faster data download and upload speeds, and more stable connections. This means that you will be able to download an entire HD movie in seconds and only experience a short delay between sending and receiving data. For example, when you have a video chat with your friend, there is generally a 200 milliseconds delay with 4G, but 5G will reduce the delay to 1 millisecond, which is almost real time.

5G will be able to improve many advanced technologies, such as driverless cars, wearable devices and entertainment. With a 5G network, the short delay in information exchange will allow driverless cars to run more safely, as they will be able to communicate in real time and avoid dangers. Meanwhile, 5G-enabled wearable devices will keep doctors updated on the health status of their patients, so doctors can give patients advice immediately if there’s something wrong. Besides, VR games will become more popular with 5G.The short delay of 5G will make the games feel even more real.

Though 5G will make our lives more convenient, it will not be perfect. For one thing, 5G will not “travel” far. On 4G networks, you can be 10 kilometres away from the nearest transmission base and barely lose signals. But 5G will only cover about 300 metres, meaning that we will need more transmitters so that we can get signals. And in order to use 5G, we will have to buy new products specifically designed for 5G that are currently expensive.

In my memory,winters always used to be really unpleasant. You had to dress like a bear just to keep warm when you went outside.You were often cold,wet and no more than one step away from the thin ice on the lake.If you worked over time and went home in the dark,you would arrive home to an ice-cold house. And that would mean turning on the heating and waiting.

Fortunately, things don't have to be so challenging any more.Technology,engineering and design have developed,giving us new solutions to old problems.It means dealing with winter needn’t be like skating on thin ice.

With a smart thermostat(恒温器), our homes can be toasty when we need them to be. Many models go with smartphone APPs that allow you to regulate temperature from a distance, so we can warm up the house before we arrive home. According to techradar.com, a large technology news and reviews website, Tado's model has a voice control function,while the Nest “learns” your habits and heats the house for you.

Clothes have been given an upgrade,too.Electronic heated jackets and trousers heat up when you turn them on.What better way to keep warm in the dead of winter? At the touch of a button,or through an APP on our phones,the clothes produce heat from materials placed inside.Many models offer three levels of heating which stay warm for over 12 hours.

Finally, there is the headgear(头部装备) - Hats that have speakers which are included in the cloth using Bluetooth technology,so we can listen to our favourite music or,in some cases,have a phone call using the in-built microphone.All while keeping the head warm and avoiding coldness.

For many, the thought of winter used to be enough to make their blood run cold.But using technology,life needn’t freeze up.There’s no reason why winter can’t be really,really cool.

Science and technology developed vigorously in China in 2020 despite COVID-19. These are the top 3 achievements.

Chang’e-5 Spacecraft’s Return with Lunar Samples

The Chang’e-5 lunar probe was launched on November 24 and its lander-ascender (着陆器和上升器) combination touched down on Moon on December 1. The return capsule landed in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China with about 2 kg of lunar samples on December 17. As China’s most complex and technologically advanced space project, it has laid the foundation for manned lunar and deep space explorations in the future.

Homegrown Global Navigation System Completed

With the launch of the 55th satellite of the BeiDou Navigation (导航) Satellite System (BDS) and the last one of the BDS-3 entering orbit on June 23, the homegrown global navigation system was completed. China has built the system in three steps since the 1990s, with the BDS-1 completed in 2000 and the BDS-2 in 2012, serving users across the Asia-Pacific region. The system was officially launched for world services on July 31.

New Records for Manned and Unmanned Submersibles

During a voyage completed on June 8, the unmanned submersible (潜水器) Haidou-1, developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation of CAS, set a new record by diving at a depth of 10,907 meters in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest area in the world.

Deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe sank 10,909 meters into the Mariana Trench on November 10, setting a new national deep-sea diving record. This put China in a leading position in the field of manned deep diving.