Could your cellphone give you cancer? Whether it could or not, some people are worried about the possibility that phones, power lines and Wi-Fi could be responsible for a range of illnesses, from rashes to brain tumors.

Some say there is evidence to support the growing anxieties. David Carpenter, a professor of environmental health sciences at the university at Albany, in New York, thinks there’s a greater than 95 percent chance that power lines can cause childhood leukemia(白血病). Also there’s a greater than 90 percent chance that cellphones can cause brain tumors. “It’s apparent now that there’s a real risk,” said Carpenter.

But others believe these concerns are unjustified. Dr. Martha Linet, the head of radiation epidemiology(流行病学)at the US National Cancer Institute, has looked at the same research as Carpenter but has reached a different conclusion. “I don’t support warning labels for cellphones,” said Linet. “We don’t have the evidence that there’s much danger.”

Studies so far suggest a weak connection between EMFs(电磁场)and illness—so weak that it might not exist at all. A multinational investigation of cellphones and brain cancer, in 13 countries outside the US, has been underway for several years. It’s funded in part by the European Union, in part by a cellphone industry group. The final report should come out later this year, but data so far don’t suggest a strong link between cellphone use and cancer risk.

The new social robots, including Jibo, Cozmo, Kuri and Meccano M.A.X., bear some resemblance to assistants like Apple’s Siri, but these robots come with something more. They are designed to win us over not with their smarts but with their personality. They are sold as companions that do more than talk to us. Time magazine hailed (称赞) the robots that “could fundamentally reshape how we interact with machines.” But is reshaping how we interact with machines a good thing, especially for children?

Some researchers in favor of the robots don’t see a problem with this. People have relationships with many kinds of things. Some say robots are just another thing with which we can have relationships. To support their argument, roboticists sometimes point to how children deal with toy dolls. Children animate (赋予…生命) dolls and turn them into imaginary friends. Jibo, in a sense, will be one more imaginary friend, and arguably a more intelligent and fun one.

Getting attached to dolls and sociable machines is different, though. Today’s robots tell children that they have emotions, friendships, even dreams to share. In reality, the whole goal of the robots is emotional trickery. For instance, Cozmo the robot needs to be fed, repaired and played with. Boris Sofman, the chief executive of Anki, the company behind Cozmo, says that the idea is to create “a deeper and deeper emotional connection ... And if you neglect him, you feel the pain of that.” What is the point of this, exactly? What does it mean to feel the pain of neglecting something that feels no pain at being neglected, or to feel anger at being neglected by something that doesn’t even know it is neglecting you?

This should not be our only concern. It is troubling that these robots try to empathize with children. Empathy allows us to put ourselves in the place of others, to know what they are feeling. Robots, however, have no emotions to share, and they cannot put themselves in our place. No matter what robotic creatures “say” or squeak, they don’t understand our emotional lives. They present themselves as empathy machines, but they are missing the essential equipment. They have not been born, they don’t know pain, or death, or fear. Robot thinking may be thinking, but robot feeling is never feeling, and robot love is never love.

What is also troubling is that children take robots’ behavior to indicate feelings. When the robots interact with them, children take this as evidence that the robots like them, and when robots don’t work when needed, children also take it personally. Their relationships with the robots affect their self-esteem (自尊). In one study, an 8-year-old boy concluded that the robot stopped talking to him because the robot liked his brothers better.

For so long, we dreamed of artificial intelligence offering us not only simple help but conversation and care. Now that our dream is becoming real, it is time to deal with the emotional downside of living with robots that “feel.”

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To have a comfortable and functional living room, it is important that it should be designed simply. A typical 3D design software gives you options to decide the layout, floor plan and overall appearance of your living room.

【小题1】 Once you have started using a 3D interior design software, you need to ask yourself a few basic questions. Do you want to remodel an existing living room, or are you designing a living room for a house that is yet to be constructed? In each case, the challenges and opportunities will be different.

The next thing you need to do is to come up with a floor plan. To do this, enter the measurements of the floor and walls of your living room into the program, which becomes the basic blueprint for your creative living room design. 【小题2】 With some information about electrical points, lighting sources, doors and windows entered, the workable space can be clearly defined.

【小题3】 Simply select the furniture type and specify its measurements by selecting the required size option. The image will increase or decrease and show you how much space it will occupy in your living room. There is no end of how many versions you can create at this stage since there is no need to physically move your couch or TV set. 【小题4】 Within minutes, you can see your revamped (翻新的) living room taking shape right before your eyes.

In the fourth step, add a personal creative touch. You can experiment with different types of customization (定制) to achieve the overall look you want. For example, you can try multiple colors for the walls and different types of flooring and lighting. 【小题5】