Avoiding a handshake may have been considered impolite a couple of years ago, but it is now getting more and more common, especially because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Health officials have expressed the importance of completely washing our hands and maintaining proper hand hygiene(卫生). As a result, people around the world are creating alternatives to handshakes such as fist bumps(碰，撞) and elbow bumps.

Let’s take a look at some of the common greetings that are used around the world in place of the famous handshake and more of the alternatives people are using instead of shaking each others’ hands.

If you have ever traveled to Asian countries like China, India, or Cambodia, you may notice that it is common to see people bowing to greet each other. Bowing is a traditional sign of respect in many Asian cultures and has been a custom for centuries.

Meanwhile, in parts of Europe like France, Italy, and Spain and countries in Latin America like Mexico, Peru, and Brazil, the air kiss is more common. Various rules regarding the gender, relationship, and form also exist within these different countries. Officials in countries including France are recommending people to avoid direct kisses.

Some other unique greetings include sniffing(嗅，闻) one another’s faces in native cultures in Greenland and Tuvalu, sticking out one’s tongue in Tibet (a region of China), and clapping one’s hands in the African countries of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

With the spread of COVID-19, people are getting creative with the ways they greet each other. A trend that has gained advantage is the “Wuhan Shake”, a greeting where two people gently bump each other’s feet with each foot.

Moreover, people, including famous figures like Prince Harry, US Vice President Mike Pence, and celebrities and athletes, have been giving up the formal handshake for elbow bumps.

Although officials have not clearly issued warnings against shaking hands, many doctors and health specialists have praised the handshake alternatives as a way to continue maintaining proper hygiene.

Constant notifications(通知)on your phone. TV news specials in place of your favourite sports show. WhatsApp and Messenger full of COVID-19 articles your out-of-touch aunt just “had to share”.Sound familiar? If our daily news intake was counted in calories, many of us would have put on even more weight in recent months.

While audience numbers for network television news shows remain much higher than usual in many countries, ratings are, in some places, starting to decrease. In the UK, news shows have recorded their lowest audience figures since the country went into lockdown. The Nieman Journalism Lab, part of Harvard University, recently reported that “news traffic to news sites, both in the US and around the world, is pretty much back to pre-coronavirus levels”.

There are also many people who are finding themselves consumed by the news cycle mole than usual. Journalists,communications professionals, doctors, scientist and,most recently. disinfectant (消毒剂) producers are among those having to stay on top of daily comments and data in a way they've never previously experience. For many, this is happening while they are working from home and managing blurred(模糊的)boundaries between their work and private lives.

So how should we balance news fatigue and anxiety with the need to remain informed on the latest news during the crisis? John-Paul Davies. a London-based expert, argues that for most of us, checking the headlines once a day is a sensible goal. This could be reduced to once a week for those with high levels of anxiety. He says it is also important to select “a trusted news site' or radio station with a focus on “facts rather than guesses”.

For those whose work is connected to the coronavirus crisis, experts accept it may be much harder to reduce news consumption. But John-Paul Davies says it's still important to make an effort to “put boundaries” around how much information you watch or read. Liz Martin, a therapist based in London, recommends regular digital check-ins with workmates doing similar roles. “It's really important to be a support to one another,” she argues.

A national engineering laboratory in Tianjin is the base of the world’s largest and most advanced sound source identification system for commercial use. At first sight, the equipment, known as a sound camera and consisting of a big wheel with a supporting frame, resembles a mini Ferris wheel that lacks seats and cannot turn around. A closer look at the 5-meter-diameter wheel reveals high-tech features like an array of 144 sensors used to capture, identify and analyze the source of noise on railways.“It is like a sound radar (雷达) for discovering noise,” said Hu Wenlin, vice head of the National Engineering Laboratory for Noise Control and Reduction at China Railway Design Corporation.

Hu said that the data produced by the machine allows engineers to better understand the sounds generated when a train passes by, e.g. which part produces the most noise. After analyzing the data, engineers can draw up precise plans to reduce noise and make construction plans accordingly. For example, if a railway passes a residential area with stricter noise abatement requirements, engineers can come up with a plan to minimize noise, usually at greater expense. But if a railway passes a place with more relaxed noise control requirements, designers can make a cheaper plan.

Noise control technologies have been applied to dozens of major railway projects across the country. The sound camera, fully developed in China, is advanced by world standards, said Wang Changjin, the director of the National Engineering Laboratory. Before the sound camera was available, engineers usually used a pole fitted with sensors to collect sound data along railway lines.“It cannot be compared to the technique we are using now, which is far more precise,” Wang said.

The machine is just one of many innovations developed by the laboratory. It has conducted many research projects on railways, leading to the development of key noise control equipment for high-speed railways and bringing quieter lives to people living near the lines.