It’s always exciting to receive a letter in the mail. Even today, when the world is digitally connected, receiving an actual letter in your mailbox from a distant land is a great way for children to make new friends.

The Peaceful Pen Pals Project is a beautiful initiative that combines global connection and self-expression. The project is part of the nonprofit Kids for Peace, founded by Jill McManigal and Danielle Gram in California, in 2006. Letter writing is most certainly hands-on and helps strengthen relationships throughout the world.

The Peaceful Pen Pals Project is open to all children, ages 2 through 17. To date, there are 1500 children from 17 countries participating in the program. Each child is assigned a pen pal of a similar age. This establishes a point of connection right off the bat for the children and promotes a stronger bond. If the letter writers are in the same grade, they can chat about their schools, teachers, and what they are studying. They can also compare and contrast what different states or countries learn about and how the dynamics of the classroom are, whether socially or academically.

Children may be more inclined to write about their issues if they feel like they are speaking to a peer in a similar situation. They also write about the local weather, who the letter writer lives with, and their favorite things to do at home. This will give the pen pal a good sense of the writer’s home life, and they may relate to certain aspects, such as their parents, the number of siblings, or if they share a room. Although pen pals may live in different countries, they may find common ground according to this information.

“Hearing first-hand stories from an international pen pal can encourage teens to take someone else’s perspective and to think outside of themselves,” writes Rebecca Fraser-Thill on Very Well Family. “It can also encourage interest in geography, politics, and history, and promote many key skills, including reciprocation, empathy and mutual concern.”

For centuries, humans have wondered whether there is life on Mars. Scientists have asked why Mars is losing its atmosphere. Last week, the question was answered with a song. “The answer is blowing in the wind,” said Michael Meyer, taking a line from a Bob Dylan song. Meyer is the lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. It turns out that solar winds from the sun are slowly blowing away Mars’ atmosphere.

Today, Mars has a thin atmosphere. It is cold and dry, with a desert-like environment. Jakosky says it used to be much more different. “When we look at ancient Mars, we see a different type of surface. One that had valleys looked like they were carved by water, lakes that were standing for a long period of time. We see an environment that was much more able to support liquid water.”

Recently they found a kind of liquid water that flows with salt down a mountain area of the planet. But it is not always there. Scientist Michael Meyer describes what they found: “We’re seeing water, with the salt that’s able to flow down the sides of the cliff. Why is this important? That means there is water on Mars, on the surface of Mars today.”

Scientists already knew that ice exists on Mars. So why is it important to find liquid water? Meyer explains: “It means that we have a resource. And when we're looking at sending humans to Mars, water is one of the key things that we need to have, not only for astronauts to drink, but also to make oxygen, to make fuel.”

Sending humans to Mars is still in the distant future. NASA is aiming for the 2030s. Both US government and private industries are developing rockets and spacecraft to get people to Mars.

Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socializing and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories to produce heat.

Living in an exciting social environment was found to reduce fat in mice’s belly by half over four weeks, even if they ate more. US researchers say that social excitement catalyzes weight loss by turning white fat into brown. White fat stores calories and makes us fatter, while brown fat burns energy to produce heat. Turning white fat into brown is extremely difficult, normally requiring long-term stay in cold conditions or exciting part of the body’s nervous system.

However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and they lost far more weight aver the course of the study than their “couch potato” fellows.

Study’s author, Dr Mattew During, whose team’s findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism, said “I’m still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs.” Explaining how new technology had threatened face-to-face socializing, he added, “It’s not just a sedentary (久坐的) lifestyle and high calorie foods, but an increasing lack of social activities.” Co-author Dr Lei Cao said, “Loneliness is a potential factor for cancer and death; it’s equal to cigarette smoking to a certain extent. Social activities are vital.”