Researchers led by Associate Professor Naoto Hirano from Tohoku University have discovered a new petit-spot volcano（次点火山）at the oldest section of the Pacific Plate.

Petit-spot volcanoes are a relatively new phenomenon on Earth. They are young, small volcanoes that come about along cracks from the base of tectonic plates（构造板块）. As the tectonic plates sink deeper into the Earth's upper mantle（地幔）, cracks occur where the plate begins to bend causing small volcanoes to erupt. The first discovery, of petit-spot volcanoes was made in 2006 near the Japan Trench, located to the northeast of Japan.

Rock samples collected from previous studies of petit-spot volcanoes show that the magma（岩浆）erupted comes directly from the asthenosphere（岩流圈）-the uppermost part of Earth's mantle which drives the movement of tectonic plates. Studying petit-spot volcanoes provides a window into the largely unknown asthenosphere, giving scientists a greater understanding of plate tectonics, the kind of rocks existing there, and the melting process undergone below the tectonic plates.

The volcano was discovered in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, near Marcus Island. Japan's easternmost point. The volcano is thought to have erupted less than 3 million years ago due to the sinking of the Pacific Plate deeper into the mantle of the Mariana Trench. Previously, this area is thought to have contained only seamounts and islands formed 70-140 million years ago. The research team initially suspected the presence of a small volcano after observing data collected by the Japan Coast Guard. They then analyzed rock samples collected by the detector（检测器）Shnkai 6500, diving to depths of 6500 meters and observing the presence of volcano.

“The discovery of this new Volcano provides an exciting opportunity for us to explore this area further, and hopefully reveal further petit-spot volcano,” says Professor Hirano. He adds, “This will tell us more about the true nature of the asthenosphere.” Professor Hirano and his team will continue to explore the site for similar volcanoes in the future.

Fu Zai, a lovely corgi only six months old who has been trained to be China’s first corgi police dog, made his debut (亮相) during the opening day of a police camp in Weifang, Shandon g Province.

His debut once again hit people’s fixed idea that “little short legs” cannot join the police force. Unlike those long-limbed dogs full of strength and energy, Fu Zai quickly went viral online thanks to his symbolic smile, special short legs and excellent explosion device-seeking abilities.

As a reserve police dog, Fu Zai faces a “heavy workload”: training is scheduled for every morning and afternoon, involving a variety of subjects, such as obedience (服从) exercising, bomb search, sniffing techniques and so on. Throughout the whole process, Fu Zai stood out and outperformed many of his peers at two months old.

However, some have doubted whether this adorable police dog can actually be qualified. In the face of questioning, Fu Zai performed well thanks to its unique advantages in the training. “His strong environmental adaptability, his desire for possession (拥有) of items and his fondness of food are particularly beneficial to our training,” said Wang Yanan, head of the police dog base of the Weifang Public Security Bureau.

“Police dogs are cute, but trainers have done a lot of work and effort to train them,” said Wang. “After a period of further training to adapt to the complex environment, Fu Zai is sure to be appointed and given missions.”

Following four months of training, Fu Zai now can take advantage of his short legs to directly search beneath the car and easily search narrow spaces. He can also improve interactions between police dogs and the public because of his appearance.

Earlier this month, blogger Lisa Henderson announced that she and her husband John had decided not to have Christmas. The family, who lives in Utah, will still put up decorations, but presents from Santa are a no-go this year.

“John and I feel like we are fighting a very hard uphill battle with our kids when it comes to their rights,” Henderson wrote on her blog. “It is one of the biggest struggles as a parent these days in middle class America. Our kids have been acting so ungrateful lately ...” John said, “We shouldn’t just celebrate Christmas. And, so that’s what we did.”

Instead, the Hendersons are putting the money they would have spent on gifts toward service projects in order to teach their three sons the “pleasure of giving.” The children will still receive gifts from grandparents and other family members, but this year, she said, their letters to Santa will be asking him to find someone who needs presents more than they do.

In an interview with ABC News, 11-year-old Caleb Henderson admitted that he and his brothers had been behaving badly. “We would hit each other. We were fighting and crying,” he admitted, and Lisa said that when she broke the news to her sons, they cried pretty hard.

But so far, Henderson told Fox News last week, the family is having a sudden turning this into a different kind of gift. They have already held a clothing drive and sent boxes of clothes and candy to a village in the Philippines that was hit hard last year by Typhoon Haiyan.

“The children were excited and kept wanting to give more and more,” she reported on her blog.

Many readers responded positively to Henderson’s post. Some sharing their own stories of limiting Christmas in order to teach their children to be charitable(仁慈的) or grateful. “As parents you’re giving your kids something so much more special than a bunch of gifts on Christmas,” one wrote.

But Henderson received negative follow-ups as well on her blog. Responding to critics, she updated her blog with a statement that reads, in part:

I just wanted to explain a couple of things. First, my kids are in no way hurt for things.... They have reacted by making gifts for each other and packing them into each other’s stockings stealthily(偷偷地). They are learning exactly what we wanted them to learn, because they are not moving around feeling sorry for themselves. They are thinking of others.

The second thing I wanted to explain is why I wrote this post. Some people seem to think I wrote this for attention. Ummm, the attention you get from posts like this is not good and actually extremely difficult to deal with.... The reason I wrote this post is I want to empower parents to feel like it’s okay to take a stand. ... I wanted to share what we are doing, so any parents that feel they are struggling with the same issues in their home can see what others are doing and get ideas for their family. My intention is to help support other parents and to raise amazing kids.