Research shows that forming connections with your coworkers is good for your career and your overall happiness.

It’s a fact that as you get older, it becomes harder to make friends. It’s a natural progression, whether you work in an office or a remote area. As you get older and leave school, you often have more demands for your time and fewer opportunities to get to know those around you.

“Maintaining friendships takes effort, but it’s well worth it,” says CEO and Fast Company contributor Corey Weiner. “Studies show that a friend can make you a better collaborator (合作者), a more creative and productive worker and generally happier with your job.”

After all, most of you spend a huge number of your waking hours at work. Of course, it’s more fun to have someone to collaborate with and occasionally sympathize with. But how do you go about making genuine connections with coworkers or other like-minded individuals in your industry?

It might sound overly simplistic, but a big part of building friendships is just putting yourself out there. “If you’re not used to having a lot of friends any more, you may actually need to remind yourself to engage,” writes Professor Art Markman. “Set time on your calendar for a phone call or make plans to get a cup of coffee.”

“Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move,” says Keith Rollag, author of What to Do When You’re New. “If things go well during an initial coffee or activity, actively follow up to build on that connection.”

You’re not going to immediately bond with all of your coworkers or every person you meet at a networking happy hour. But making continual attempts to find connections with your non-annoying colleagues will eventually pay off. Last but not least, don’t call them work husband or work wife in the beginning.

Wildfires have captured headlines around the globe in recent years. These intense and widespread fires worry scientists. Besides causing billions of dollars in property damage, wildfires can erase the habitat of valued wildlife. They also fill the air with choking pollution. And when they burn near cities, they put the lives of whole communities in danger.

But scientists are interested in these fires for another reason. The black carbon-rich smoke from their flames is made of the ash from burned trees, grass and shrubs. The intense heat of some wildfires can cast this ash to high altitudes and it can travel around the globe.And the warming sunlight absorbed by dark particles(微粒)at high altitudes won't reach Earth's surface.

Scientists refer to those tiny particles of ash,dust and more as aerosols(气溶胶). One important trait is how well they reflect light. Snow and white ice reflect the most light. Dark things absorb the sun's light, mostly as heat. So the color of aerosols is important. Those aerosols can either warm or cool the air. Overall, researches showed that smoke aerosols cool the atmosphere. As intense fires cause dark ash aerosols high into the air, they mix with clouds and mostly prevent the sun's energy entering the earth.

The warming climate that can lead to wildfires may experience a temporary cooling when serious wildfires do erupt. Meanwhile, fire aerosols also can have bad effects when they fall back to Earth. And that fallout can sometimes be up to half a world away from where a fire took place.

Many studies show that intense wildfires are becoming more common, partly because of global warming. As the planet warms and new fires occur, scientists will continue to explore the big impact of tiny fire aerosols that temporarily occupy our atmosphere.

European Cities That Are Making Streets Become Car Free

The quality of life in cities would be so much better if they were car-free. So the following European cities are trying to reduce the number of cars in the streets.

● Copenhagen, Denmark

Beginning in the 1960s, Denmark’s capital pioneered walker-only zones and the city now has over 321 kilometers of bike routes. Over half of the people in Copenhagen ride bicycles to work. Denmark is building a superhighway of 28 routes for bikes that’ll connect the city to its surrounding suburban areas. The first of the routes opened in 2014.

● Hamburg, Germany

The German city is planning on making walking and biking the main forms of transportation by reducing the number of cars allowed in specific areas of the city by 2035. The project calls for a green network of places people can go to without cars, which will cover 40 % of Hamburg. The green network will include parks, playgrounds and sports fields.

● Milan, Italy

In this Italian city, for every day that drivers leave their cars parked at home during working hours, they’ll receive a 1.5 Euro ticket reward good for the use of public transportation. The city has buses, subways, trams (有轨电车) to choose from, so it pays to leave the driving to them.

● Paris, France

In 2017， the French capital announced it would ban diesel (柴油) cars by 2024. Cars that run on gas are expected to be removed by 2030. There’s already an older car ban from the city center for working hours on weekdays. “If you live in Paris and get rid of your car, you can claim benefits of around $ 700 to buy a bike,” according to Fast Company.