The best advertisement for public transportation is seeing a bus whoosh past lines of cars stuck in traffic. When transit is convenient, comfortable, affordable and faster than driving, the service practically sells itself. That’s why a recent bus-lane boom in Los Angeles is so welcome.

Since 2019, Metro and the city’s Department of Transportation have rolled out nine new segments (路段) for a total of 40 miles of bus lanes on some of the most crowded streets with high bus ridership, such as La Brea Avenue, Venice Boulevard and Alvarado Street. The goal is to have 100 miles in place before the 2028 Olympics.

The result has been faster, more reliable service for passengers—and for drivers stuck in traffic, maybe even a little bus envy. Better bus service is essential to get people to jobs, schools and opportunities, and to entice drivers out of cars to help reduce planet warming emissions.

Great transformation has taken place since. Transit advocates have pressed Metro and elected officials to stop treating bus riders as an afterthought. Former Councilmember Mike Bonin, who also sat on Metro’s governing board, pushed for the creation of the Bus Speed and Reliability Working Group. With a clear goal—to speed up the buses—and a mandate (授权) from political leaders, staff at the two agencies were able to cut through bureaucratic barriers that often stymie (阻碍) public works projects.

Bus Rapid Transit, or busways, with dedicated lanes and special stops, have faced resistance from some residents and business owners, who worry about losing car lanes or parking. The compromise is that most bus riders get the benefit of bus lanes only during rush hours, from 7 to 10 a. m. and 4 to 7 p. m. These rush-hour lanes will demonstrate the benefits of giving people fast, convenient bus service, so L. A. ‘s political leaders will wholeheartedly support more dedicated busways and even 24-hour bus lanes.

As we all know, most animals only perform tricks when given treats. However, Kim, the world’s first spider to learn a skill, needs no stimulus (刺激物) to do what she loves—jumping from different heights and distances— upon the instruction of a team of scientists from the University of Manchester.

While the idea of training a spider might sound evil, the researchers’ motives were purely scientific. They are trying to unlock the secrets behind the jumping spiders’ extraordinarily high leaps to catch prey (猎物) or to escape their enemies. A better understanding of the spiders’ leaps would help experts develop more efficient flying and jumping robots.

The scientists found that Kim could gather enough force in her legs to jump more than six times the length of her own body from a stationary position. What was even more amazing was that she always landed perfectly. For shorter distances, Kim used a lot of energy, resulting in quick leaps, which the researchers believe probably increases her chances of catching fast-moving prey. The farther the distance, the less extra energy was used, resulting in slower but precise leaps.

Previous studies have indicated that spiders use both their muscles and hydraulic (液压的) pressure—a mechanism by which blood is transferred to their extended legs—to push them off the ground. However, in Kim’s case, her leg muscles alone appeared to be generating enough force for the liftoff. The researchers now intend to do further research to comprehend fully not just the spiders’ jumping technique, but that of other insects as well. “We are familiar with robots that are aimed at taking over human functions, but there are millions of insects in the world that perform specific functions that we have interest in adapting to robotics,” says Nabawy, the leading engineer of the researching team.

On July 23, 2020, China successfully set off its first fully home-grown Mars mission, the Tianwen-1 on to a month- long space voyage toward the red Planet, marking a new era in a space exploration long controlled by NASA, USA.

Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter (轨道器) and a lander. It’s the first attempt by any country to achieve orbiting, landing and roving all in one go. “If successful, it would mean a major technical breakthrough, ” scientists of the China National Space Agency (CNSA) wrote in a recent paper.

The orbiter, lander and rover probe (巡视器) combination lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island Thursday morning at 12: 41 a.m. American space and Mars enthusiast Elon Musk praised the mission on the website Thursday morning, calling the “launch” impressive.

In the Nature astronomy paper, CNSA researchers gave five scientific aims of the Tianwen-1 mission Map the geological structure of Mars, investigate surface soil characteristics, analyze surface material composition and study the Martian climate and environment at the surface, as well as the physical fields and internal structure of Mars. If all goes according to plan, the Tianwen-1 probe will reach Mars orbit in February next year. The orbiter will settle into a polar orbit that will allow it to observe the planets surface from a height between 165 miles and 7, 500 miles.

The Tianwen-1 mission is China’s second attempt at the Red Planet 2011 orbiter mission called Yinghuo-1 failed China is also the first country to land a probe on the far side of the moon. Last January, CNSA successfully sent a robotic lunar rover called Yutu-2 to the moon as part of the Change-4 mission. The rover is still roaming on the dark side of the moon studying the lunar composition.