China’s Chang’e 5 space craft, tasked with bringing lunar(月球的) rock samples to Earth, successfully landed on the Moon on December 1st, 2020. The 8,200kg spacecraft, set off from China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on November 23,2020, entered the satellite’s orbit(轨道) on November 28th, 2020.

With 19 hours of landing, the probe(探测器) gathered about 2 kg of rocks and soil by digging almost 2 meters deep into the lunar surface using its robotic arm. The sample-filled jar was placed in the ascender vehicle (上升器), which left the Moon’s surface and entered the lunar orbit on December 3rd, 2020. Then, in a historic first, the ascender and Chang’s 5 orbiter(轨道器) spacecraft successfully came together on December 6, 2020 to complete the first-ever robotic rendezvous and docking(对接) in lunar orbit.

“In terms of the space tasks that humans have performed so far, only the Apollo program missions have complete the rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. However, unscrewed rendezvous and cocking have never been done before,” Peng Jing, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e 5 probe from the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), told Chinese media ahead of the attempt.

With the rock samples safely transported to the return capsule(太空舱), the Chang’e 5 spacecraft will continue to circle the Moon for a few days before beginning its 112-hour journey back to Earth.

One advantage of the Internet is shopping conveniently online for clothes; one disadvantage of the Internet is also shopping conveniently online for clothes.

“Nothing fits,” said Lam Yuk Wong, a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Rice University. “Everyone says this. They order clothes and they don’t fit. People get very unhappy.”

Wong and her design partner, Xuaner “Cecilia” Zhang, are Team White Mirror, creators of what they call a “virtual (虚拟) fitting room”. Their goal is simple and consumer-friendly: to let online clothing shoppers have a perfect fit and a perfect look when shopping every time.

Both women are from China, Wong from Hong Kong and Zhang from Beijing. They both order most of their clothing online. They got the idea from their own experience as consumers and from listening to the complaints of friends and relatives. “They say, ‘The color is wrong’ or ‘I got the right size but it still does not fit.’ We want to make it like you’re in the store trying on the clothes,” Zhang said.

Using a Kinect developed by Microsoft for use with its Xbox 360 video game player,

Zhang scans Wong and turns   her image into, in effect, a virtual model, keeping Wong’s dimensions (尺寸), and even her skin and hair color. “We put the clothes on the shopper’s 3-D body models and show how they look when they are dressed,” Wong said. So far, Wong and Zhang have adapted the software to show dresses and shirts, and they are now working on shorts.

Asked if she thought men as well as women might be interested in using their virtual fitting room, Wong said, “I think their wives will care about this, so it will also be important to men.”

Grammy Awards don’t only go to the people who produce and perform songs. For just over a decade, they’ve also been given out to those who teach others how to make music. The Music Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum, recognizes those who have made a “significant contribution and demonstrate devotion to music education”.

This year it went to Annie Ray, the performing arts department chair and orchestra director at Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. She was honored for her efforts to make music accessible to all students, particularly those with disabilities. Ray got to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, take selfies with pop stars and bring home both a $10,000 prize and matching grant for her school’s music program.

Ray created the Crescendo Orchestra (管弦乐队) for students with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as a parent orchestra that teaches nearly 200 caregivers a year to play the same instrument as their child.

She was inspired in large part by the diversity of the Annandale community, which she says represents over 60 countries, including many immigrants. “There’s a. lot of cultures that might typically clash, and they come together in this very beautiful harmony,” Ray explained. “And that’s really uniquely expressed in the orchestra classroom, where we’re just all music-ing together.”

Ray says the Crescendo Orchestra, which was born out of the pandemic, doesn’t necessarily share the social goals of a program like the Special Olympics. The focus is on teaching students how to play an instrument, through one-on-one instruction tailored to their needs. That involves tools like music scarves, egg shakers, rhythm sticks and cardboard instruments. Ray also works with a local charity to give damaged instruments a second life in her classroom.

The orchestra is about much more than just making music, however. Ray says the program gives students a chance to develop their collaboration skills, make mistakes and learn the art of refining something.