A designer is recently creating floral installations (花篮) on the streets of Manhattan, New York, that are meant to brighten the days of healthcare and other important workers.

Lewis Miller’s most recent creation is an arrangement popping out of a rubbish can at the corner of W 58th Street and 10th Avenue. “They were very simple. It was just cherry branches.” Miller said. “We didn’t disclose the location, so nobody could necessarily go and find them.” But plenty of people did find them and then they found his Instagram information. A post with pictures of the “flower flash” as Miller calls them has gotten more than 16,000 likes in less than a day. “U listen. Pm kind of bored. I’m a creative person. I did something new and it took off, ’’ Miller said. “It still surprises me reading the comments from yesterday like really how much it feeds peopled souls.”

Miller has been dotting Manhattan with floral sunrises for a few years with his arrangements popping out of those New York City hot dog carts (推车）and even construction equipment.

“And the combination of which is so hard aggressive, compared with flowers which are the exact opposite of that,” Miller said.

Vogue magazine once wrote about him but it’s the reaction from the public many of whom have been restricted inside for weeks that he values most.

“If you can just stop, pause and just have one second of joy — that’s amazing because that’s one of the things that’s so lacking and it’s hard,” Miller said.

As one person on Instagram put it, New York City rubbish has never looked so pretty.

A team of Japanese scientists has discovered genes that enable rice to survive high water, providing hope for better rice production in lowland areas that are affected by flooding.

The genes, called SNORKEL genes, help rice grow longer stems to deal with higher water levels. Deepwater rice generally produces low-yield rice plants. But the researchers report they have succeeded in introducing the genes to rice varieties that are higher-yield.

According to the report, as water levels rise, accumulation of the plant hormone（激素）makes the SNORKEL genes stat working, making stem growth more rapid. When the researchers introduced the genes into rice that does not normally survive in deep water, they were able to rescue the plants from drowning.

Motoyuki Ashikari, who headed the project, aid his team is hoping to use the gene on long grain rice widely used in Southeast Asia to help stabilize production in flood areas where rice with the food-resistant gene is low in production--about one-third to one-quarter that of regular rice.

"Scientifically the gene that we found is are but clear proof of a biological ability to adapt to a difficult environment, " he said. "It's a genetic strategy specifically to survive flooding. "

High water levels in rice field can be a serious problem. In some areas, rains can cause water levels to rise dangerously high during the growing season and flash flooding can fully submerge plants for days or even weeks.

Rice is a main food for billions. and while productivity has increased dramatically since the 1960s, yields must be doubled to meet projected requirements by 2050. More than 30 percent of Asian and 40 percent of African rice land is either lowland field or deep water field.

Laurentius of Utrecht University said the study is significant because high-yield rice varieties cannot survive extremes of foods. "The introduction of these genes into high-yield varieties, using advanced breeding strategies, promises to improve the quality and quantity of rice, "he said.

Three minutes of looking at red light once a week may help our eyesight (the ability to see), new research suggests. The findings show that red light might be a cheap and easy treatment for declines in color vision (色觉减退) as we get older.

Last year, researchers from University College London did a study on red light therapy (疗法). 24 healthy volunteers, aged between 28 and 72, were asked to look at red light for three minutes every day for two weeks. Tests later found that the eyesight of people over the age of 40 improved.       

To test the possible weak points of their therapy, they did a new study this year. Instead of using the light every day, they used it once a week. The new study included 20 volunteers, aged between 34 and 70, all with healthy vision. Some received red light therapy in the morning, and others received it in the afternoon. They were then tested on their color vision up to a week later.       

On the whole, those who got the treatment in the morning showed a 17% improvement in their color vision, even a week later. Those who got the treatment in the afternoon did not have any improvement.       

“We’ve found that one single exposure (暴露) to red light in the morning can greatly improve declining vision,” said lead author Glen Jeffrey.       

The findings do support their earlier work, and they might make the treatment more practicable, since a once-weekly treatment is easier to stick to than a daily one. But the team’s promising results are still drawn on small numbers of healthy volunteers. Larger studies would be needed to show the benefits of red light therapy.       

“In the near future, a once-a-week three-minute exposure to deep red light could be done while making a coffee or listening to a song, and such a simple thing could change eye care and vision around the world,” Jeffrey said.

Given its low cost (as little as $15) per device (设备), and simplicity, theteam is excited about the future of their therapy.