A research by Dr. Gail Heyman has confirmed 4- and 5-year-old children who understand people’s beliefs can be false are more likely to lie in experiments than children who still view minds as containing direct copies of reality. When researchers give children experiences to speed up the development of their understanding of the subjective nature of beliefs, these children begin to be untruthful when they would not yet otherwise do so. Although lying is something to be discouraged, the child’s underlying insight into how minds work is an important accomplishment.

In this study, we asked children to teach another child how to turn on a new toy. The toy would turn on when certain blocks— but not others— -were placed on top. Sometimes we asked children to teach the other child the whole truth of how the toy worked; for instance, that all red blocks— regardless of their shape— would turn it on. Other times we asked them to trick the other child into thinking something that was still accurate, but more limited; for example, that the red squares would start the toy (but not necessarily the other red shapes) .

Children in this study carefully considered both the other child’s beliefs and the message we asked them to communicate when deciding what to do. Children who were asked to teach the whole truth often chose to show the other child that a red circle and a red square would both turn on the toy. By choosing two different shapes, they communicated that red blocks would turn on the toy, regardless of shape. These children could have chosen two blocks of the same shape instead; showing that two red squares turn on the toy would also have been an accurate demonstration. But this information could have given rise to the mistaken belief that only red squares would work. The children cleverly avoided showing this type of misleading (though still accurate) information. Instead, they systematically chose the samples that conveyed accurate messages to their partners.

In contrast, when children were asked to lie, they often chose the two red squares. Children had no problem picking the blocks that efficiently conveyed the tricky message when their goal was to lie.

Being able to guess what someone else is thinking and being able to know how to influence someone else’s beliefs are at the root of lying, but of effective communication and social interaction as well.

Flextime is a flexible hours schedule in which employees choose their own working hours, usually working within approximate limits set by the employer or by the government. 【小题1】

For employees, flextime has a clear advantage. 【小题2】 For example, people can use flextime to create schedules which will allow them to go to school, handle childcare, assist relatives, and perform other tasks. Employees may also use their flextime to create a schedule which optimizes creativity, as in the case of someone who would prefer to work earlier in the day to get more accomplished.

【小题3】First, it tends to increase employees' satisfaction. This makes the company a better and more productive place to work. In addition, flextime can allow companies to serve clients for a greater portion of the day, as employees will be around at varying hours to answer phones, attend meetings, and so forth.

Most flextime schedules include core time. 【小题4】 Employees are also usually given an hourly, daily or weekly limit to ensure that they do not violate laws about working hours. Or the company is only willing to pay wages for so many hours of work each week.

A classic example of a flexible time schedule is that someone who works four 10-hour shifts a week can take three days off. Flextime can also be combined with flexplace, in which the environment is better than that of the office. 【小题5】 Employers may also allow people to work in untraditional settings such as coffee houses.

Scientists in China found a fossil（化石）from a giant panda that lived 22,000 years ago. Until they dug the fossil out, rebuilt it and analyzed its mitochondrial DNA, biologists had no idea this panda lineage（家系）even existed. It’s now considered the oldest DNA from giant pandas to date, the researchers said.

The panda fossil turned up in Cizhutuo Cave in Guangxi. No pandas live there today, the researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences wrote in a paper in the journal Current Biology. An unexpected giant-panda fossil find was exciting, they wrote, because researchers don’t have a good sense of the history of the 2,500 giant pandas alive in the world today. Researchers know that 20 million years ago, the current group of living giant pandas split away（分离）from all other bears. They don’t know much about their lineage since.

This fossil, the researchers showed, came from a creature that separated from living giant pandas much more recently: about 183,000 years ago.

Before the researchers could determine that timeline, though（and, in fact, before they were certain the fossil came from a different species）, they had to rebuild the tiny pieces of mitochondrial DNA that remained in the cave. To pull that off, researchers fit 148,329 pieces of DNA together like puzzle pieces, using a living giant panda’s mitochondrial DNA as a guide. All of the pieces came from one individual, and all together, the researchers were able to use them to analyze the animal’s lineage.

The DNA also had dozens of transformations（改变）that would have changed how the animal developed, the researchers said. They suggested those transformations may be the result of adaptation to the cooler climate during the ice age 22,000 years ago.