People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It’s not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.

Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect the two approaches are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The controversy is often (conveniently) referred to as “nature/nurture”.

Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our Instincts.

Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. Behaviorists see humans as being whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. Their view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.

The social and political implications of these two theories are profound. In the United States, for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence test. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often deprived of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that white enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.

Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.

One of the interesting things about China is that they love lists. There are sorts of things through Chinese history that are in list form, such as the Four Great Beauties the Seven Warring States, and the Three Kingdoms. It should come as no surprise that there is such a thing as the Four Great Inventions.

There are literally hundreds of inventions that were originally invented in China before they were introduced anywhere else. However, the Four Great Inventions in particular stands out as having greatly changed not just Chinese civilization, but the entire world.

However, what makes the Four Great Inventions such an odd list for China is that the list was created by someone British.The Four Great Inventions was actually invented by British historian and sinologist Joseph Needham. He spent much of his life travelling in China, collecting and documenting examples of Chinese inventions and technology. He published his first book on Chinese culture in 1954 where he listed many Chinese inventions which were originally thought to be European inventions.

In the 16* century, there was a version floating around called the Three Great Inventions which contributed to the greatness of Europe, or more specifically sometimes Germany. It might have been created by English philosopher Francis Bacon: the printing press, gunpowder, and the compass.

As explorers began more frequently visiting China, they realized that all of those great inventions had been around in China for centuries before they appeared in Europe.So, as part of his work and setting the record straight, Needham created the Four Great Inventions of China, a list that has subsequently gained widespread approval from scholars in China itself.

The four great inventions are the three listed before: the printing press, gunpowder, the compass, and the other being paper-making.

When you are lying in bed, every single noise-from the creak(嘎吱声) of the bed to a whistle in your partner’s nose-may keep you awake. You may find it hard to get a good night’s sleep. Actually, you may just need more noise. While it may sound strange, it is scientifically proven that certain types of noise can help you sleep well. Specially white, pink and Brown noise can mask(掩饰) these sounds, creating a more harmonious background.

White noise contains sounds of all frequencies(频率) that humans can hear. But it comes across as a high-pitched buzz(声调高的嗡嗡声). That’s because of the way your ears hear it. Basically, your brain strengthens sounds in higher-pitched frequencies. So while you are hearing sounds from a variety of frequencies, the highest frequencies tend to drown(淹没) the lower-pitched ones.

The pink noise balanced out the noise so that sounds of all frequencies are heard equally. The higher the frequency, the more its volume is decreased. To your ears, the sound is deeper and softer than white noise. Think of rain falling on the sidewalk or a gentle wind in the trees.

In a study at China’s Peking University, researchers found that when people hear either pink noise or no noise during the sleep, 75 % reported more restful sleep with the pink noise. Brain activity monitors proved that people had 23 % more restful brain activity at night with pink noise and 45 % more restful sleep during naps.

Brown noise takes this concept to the next level, further weakening higher frequency noise to produce an even deeper and richer sound.

The color of noise that will help you get more sleep is the one you like the best. While pink and brown noises are deeper and more balanced than white noise, your personal sleep preferences will decide which one gives you the best sleep.