Some people say that the planet is getting smaller, that there are few places left to explore, and that the age of exploration will be over soon.

I would argue instead that there has never been a greater need to explore. That’s because the stage for all exploration is the natural world, and nature is experiencing a rapid decline. It is by exploring that we understand and when we understand we develop an appreciation for what is found. Ultimately, only the things we appreciate are worth protecting.

As the golden age of exploration weakens, so does the richness of life on Earth. It isn’t just that there are fewer blank areas on the map; it is that wild places and spaces have been progressively carved up (瓜分). Visiting the Okavango Delta or Kalahari Desert, for example, no longer implies a self-supported expedition. Field stations pop up in important national parks and remote sensing by satellite becomes commonplace.

In the next century, I believe we will need larger and wilder areas. We will need the wilderness, not just for the protection of it, but because it is an important part of the ecosystems from which we gain our necessities like clean water, food and materials. If we succeed, then expeditions — brief travels into the wild that seek to answer questions, monitor populations, and inspire action — will have a renewed sense of purpose. More importantly, they greatly help the public experience, understand and appreciate nature.

Based on my own research expedition which aims to understand “edge effects” — how the changes in temperature at forest edges impact animals, I find it important that today’s scientists continue to spend time in the field. It is here that they begin to understand how seemingly unrelated environmental interactions influence their study system. Sometimes, it’s difficult to know which is important to measure until you stand out there on the forest edge.

It is the young generation that is the main force to lead the next wave of expeditions. The measure of their success will be whether there are still well-preserved wild places for expeditions in the future. Their leadership is needed now, more than ever.

The recent spread of “fake news” may make it seem like misinformation is a relatively modern invention. But falsehoods (假话) and wild claims have been part of human culture for about as long as it’s existed. This is because misinformation originates with, and is spread by, fellow humans.

When you’ve ever had to communicate an important, but complex, issue to a general audience, you may have a sea of the most reliable data, the most elegant PowerPoint slides and the full backing of every famous expert in the relevant field. And yet, you can still be less persuasive than someone whose entire argument is: “A guy I met down the pub told me something different.”

In a perfectly sensible, logical world, someone who is loosely connected with a certain field or industry wouldn’t have the same influence as actual data, or the leading experts in the field. But humans aren’t perfectly sensible, logical creatures and neither is the world we live in.

The ability to think rationally and analytically is a relatively recent addition to our mental abilities (in the evolutionary sense). And it costs our brains a lot of energy and effort, The more established, fundamental systems in our brain, which shape memory and learning, are heavily reliant on emotion. The more emotionally stimulating something is, the easier it is to remember. That’s why we can spend months revising the material for a crucial school exam, but struggle to remember any of it once we’ve passed. Meanwhile, the embarrassing tine we slipped and landed on our backside in the school canteen. that memory will last until our dying day.

The most determined sceptics (无神论者) will often say, “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” which is correct. But feelings don’t necessarily care about facts either. And ultimately, feelings have more of a say in what we think and do. And that’s why your mate down the pub can seem more believable than a pile of published research.

Some of the recent scientific studies have found that people who receive higher education live longer than those who do not. According to a new study, reading books extends lifespan(寿命) by up to two years, and the more often you read, the better.

Back in 1975, economists concluded that longer lifespan is linked to the wealth of a person, and that wealth itself increases longevity. It seemed self-evident: everything people need to be healthy from food to medical care costs money. But soon it was realized that the data didn’t always fit that theory. Economic success didn’t always mean longer lives.In the 1980s, researchers found gaining higher education is connected with a greater increase in lifespan than gains in wealth.

One fact is of teachers and college professors: they live longer than the rest of the population. The reason is that they engage in research most of their lives for teaching or publishing, which increases their lifespan and most importantly also retards their aging process.

Let’s look at what benefits educated people. Educated people get routinely involved in social networks, they get access to information because of their ability to understand information. They can easily navigate (导航) the health care system; they have more social support.

Reading helps us understand how other people think and feel. Reading improves our emotional intelligence. This understanding can improve the quality of a person’s life as it would allow the person to act with better judgment and have more insight into the feelings and thought patterns of others. Research has shown that reading changes certain areas of the brain and causes certain other parts to be active. This effect can also be observed in adults who learn to read much later in life. Learning has no age bar. Each and every human is born with the right to be educated. So, don’t hold back your urge to learn. The goal of education is to improve intelligence as well as the lifespan.