Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying “curiosity killed the cat.” It’s a phrase that’s often used to warn people — especially children — not to ask too many questions. 【小题1】 In fact, research has shown that curiosity is just as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school. Curiosity can also lead us to make unexpected discoveries, bring excitement into our lives, and open up new possibilities. 【小题2】 For example, one day in 1831, Michael Faraday was playing around with a coil and a magnet when he suddenly saw how he could produce an electrical current. At first, it wasn’t clear what use this would have, but it actually made electricity available for use in technology, and so changed the world.

【小题3】 On one level, this is because technology has become so advanced that many of us are unable to think too deeply about how exactly things work anymore. While it may be possible for a curious teenager to take a toaster apart and get some sense of how it works, how much do you understand about what happens when you type a website address into a browser? Where does your grasp of technology end and the magic begin for you?

In addition to this, there’s the fact that we all now connect so deeply with technology, particularly with our phones. The more we stare at our screens, the less we talk to other people directly. 【小题4】 Then we feel we know enough about a person not to need to engage further with them.

The final — and perhaps most worrying — way in which technology stops us from asking more has to do with algorithms, the processes followed by computers. As we increasingly get our news via social media, the big data find out what we like and push more of the same back to us. 【小题5】 Perhaps the real key to developing curiosity in the 21st century, then, is to rely less on the tech tools of our age.

Many Americans are busy preparing lists of what to give friends or loved ones. This season, people will be able to buy a cargo-carrying（载货）robot that follows them around like a dog. But it is unclear if the robot will be a popular gift.

Large companies like Amazon, FedEx and Ford have already been experimenting with sending delivery robots to homes across the United States. Now an Italian company is offering robots directly to consumers（顾客）. The new robot, called "the Gita", weighs about 23 kilograms and costs $ 3,250.

The robot's creators had short trips in mind when they designed it. "The Gita" is a "hands-free carrier" that can hold fruits, vegetables and other things as it follows its owner down the street. "The Gita" does not require use of a telephone；it also does not use GPS technology or facial recognition.

Whether the robot will be a success is not yet clear. Tech experts say "the Gita" may fail. They hope the company finds more purposes to contribute to its success. Examples include carrying tools around hospitals, factory floors or places where products are stored. The robots can carry up to 9 kilograms. So far, the best places to find the company's six-wheeled robot are US colleges：The University of Houston and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sadie Garcia is a student at the University of Houston. "I love them. I think they're so cute," she said, as one of the machines arrived carrying a sandwich for her in the dining hall. Garcia said she was so cold that she did not want to leave her room. Starship co-founder Ahti Heinla said his company once thought about selling the machines directly to consumers. But the business dropped the idea after discovering it would have to sell them for more than $ 3,000 each.

Listen carefully to the footsteps, and you can work out who is walking. The features commonly used to identify people are faces and fingerprints. But the way they walk is also a giveaway.

Researchers have used video cameras and computers to analyze people’s gaits. But translating such knowledge into a practical identification system can be tricky. Cameras are often visible? require good lighting and may have their view blocked by other people. A team led by Dr. Ozanyan and Dr. Scully have been looking for a better way to recognize gaits. Their answer: pressure-sensitive mats.

Such mats are nothing new. They have been part of security systems. But Ozanyan and Scully use a complicated version that can record the amount of pressure applied in different places as someone walks across it. The researchers turn to an artificial intelligence system to recognize such patterns. In a study in 2018, they tested the system on a database of footsteps of 127 people. They found its error rate in identifying who was a mere 0.7%. And Scully says even without a database of footsteps, the system can determine someone’s sex and a subject’s age.

One application of the mat-based gait-recognition system might be in health care, particularly for the elderly. A mat placed in a nursing home or an old person’s own residence could monitor changes in an individual’s gait that indicate certain illnesses. That would provide early warning of someone being at greater risk of falling over. Gait analysis might also be used as a security measure in the workplace, monitoring access to restricted areas, such as parts of military bases, server farms or laboratories dealing with dangerous materials. Perhaps the most interesting use of the mats, though, would be in public places, such as airports.