Amblyopia is the most common cause of vision loss in children. In all cases of amblyopia, there’s a stronger eye and a weaker eye, and it’s winner-take-all in the cortex (大脑皮层). The cortex learns to ignore the sign al from the weaker eye. By ignoring the weaker eye, the brain doesn’t fuse (融合) images from both eyes. As a result, people with amblyopia can have trouble seeing in 3D.
In an attempt to solve this problem, doctors start treating patients with amblyopia at a young age, while their brain pathways are still developing. The children, usually under 7 years old, are often told to wear an eye patch over their strong eye to force the brain to rely on the weaker. But whenever the eye pa tech is removed, the competition can start over. For lasting improvement, new treatments need to teach the brain to stop suppressing (抑制) key visual cues coming from the weaker eye, says neuroscientist Dennis Levi of the University of California.
Now, several research teams are taking a new way that aims to get the brain to make better use of the information coming from both eyes. Several companies are working on treatment s based on this new angle. One is called Luminopia.
Luminopia’s therapy involves having children watch videos through a virtual reality headset. As the children watch, the headset blocks out certain parts of the display for each eye, so the patients actually have to combine input from the two images to get the full video.
The company conducted a trial showing that children with amblyopia begin to see better on eye chart assessments after three months of one-hour sessions done six days a week. But they have yet to measure improvements in long-term effectiveness. It is believed that if people with amblyopia don’t learn to fuse signals from both eyes from a young age, they never will. So some scientists think attempting to treat adults, whose brains have suppressed signals from their weak eye for decades, is a lost cause.
【小题1】Why does a person with amblyopia have trouble seeing in 3D?A.His brain is unable to receive images. | B.His weaker eye fails to receive signals. |
C.His stronger eye can't send signals to the brain. | D.His cortex overlooks signals from the weaker eye. |
A.Temporary. | B.Ineffective. | C.Wonderful. | D.Comprehensive. |
A.Forcing the brain to rely on the weaker eye. |
B.Activating the weak eye to get the full video. |
C.Improving the situations with eye chart assessments. |
D.Blocking out the images received from the stronger eye. |
A.It has an instant effect. | B.Adults are its main targets. |
C.It has long-term effectiveness. | D.More trials need to be conducted. |
A Pen That Draws in Any Color
The Scribble is a magical pen that can scan colors and instantly reproduce the colors. Hold the Scribble’s scanner up to any color, and within a second that color is stored in its memory.
Who can use the Scribble?
Children will love the Scribble because it can create different colors, replacing even their biggest box of crayons (蜡笔). Besides, anyone working with color in their professional lives, such as artists, will be able to scan and reproduce colors instantly.
Green! One of the most important characteristics of the Scribble is that, since it can reproduce any color, it replaces marking pens, greatly reducing the huge amount of plastic waste.
What’s inside the Scribble?
There will be two different versions of the Scribble, the Scribble K and the Scribble S. The K will be able to reproduce exact colors on paper. It includes a color sensor and a rechargeable battery.
How did we create the Scribble?
We’ve been in the design process for two years and the Scribble has gone through various design changes to get it to where we are now. Because of its small size we have created some ideas never seen before in the color reproduction industry.
A.What’s the Scribble’s best color? |
B.What do we need the Scribble for? |
C.It’s the best birthday gift you may choose for your kids. |
D.Be grateful for your concern about the Scribble. |
E.There is 1 GB of internal memory that will store over 100,000 colors. |
F.We created the Scribble for YOU and want you to be a part of the process. |
G.Once stored, that color can be used to draw on paper or on a digital screen. |
Robots have taken over many of America’s factories. But can they pick a strawberry? “It’s really hard for robots to match what humans can do,” says Bob Pizter, an expert on robots.
Any 4-year-old kid can pick a strawberry, but machines can’t seem to figure it out. Pizter says the hardest thing for them is finding the fruit. Pizter’s strawberry-picking robot is rolling into a strawberry field. This well-designed device drives itself. It’s as big as a bus, long enough to straddle ( 跨 越 ) a dozen rows of strawberries at once. Powerful computers are sitting on top.
Underneath, there are high-definition cameras to find the berries, and robotic claws ready to pick them.
“Nobody’s telling it what to do,” explains Paul Bissett, the chief operating officer of Harvest CROO Robotics. “It’s remembering its path down the row. It’s remembering where all these plants are.” It knows all this, thanks to the super-accurate GPS. Its computer brain contains a map showing the locations of every strawberry plant in the field. The action of machinery is truly impressive, but the baskets are still practically empty. Pitzer says the robots are able to find and pick more than 50 percent of ripe berries. That’s not yet up to human standards. A typical worker, he says, manages to pick anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of the berries. Also, he admits, the machine is slower than human hands. On the other hand, it has some advantages. It can work right through the night. Two years later, he says, this machine will be in the fields working for real. “There are weaknesses to work out, but it’s getting there. We’re close.” he says.
Strawberry companies are putting millions of dollars into this project. The reason, Gary Wishnatzki, the owner of Wish Farms says, is that it’s getting more and more difficult to find enough people to pick his berries. “The fact of the matter is, if we don’t solve the problem of this labor shortage with automation, the industry is facing a big challenge ahead. The price of fruit is going to be much higher,” Jose Santos, the leader of the farm, says.
Jose is pretty convinced, though, that picking strawberries will always require people. The machines will break down, he points out. In fact, he’s looking on the bright side. “You could afford to give people a day off if you have machines behind you,” he says.
【小题1】According to the passage, the strawberry-picking robot ______.A.can work extra hours |
B.relies on GPS only to find berries |
C.runs on petrol just like a bus |
D.picks both ripe and unripe berries |
A.It will lead to the price of strawberries rising. |
B.It keeps human workers working through night. |
C.It is not very efficient at the moment but promising. |
D.It will completely take the place of human workers. |
A.The working principle of strawberry-picking robots. |
B.Farmers’ expectations for strawberry-picking robots. |
C.The present state of strawberry-picking robots. |
D.The differences between humans and strawberry-picking robots. |
Nature has the power to alter an element’s identity with time and space. This is evident by the transformative effect Britain’s deep coal mines have been showing after decades of being one of the biggest reasons for pollution. Now, they’re being employed to supply green energy to the town of Gateshead. The town is the first place to experience something like this in the country, but the success of the phenomenon has encouraged the authorities to apply it to other towns.
In 2021, coal was just producing 2% of electricity in the UK. Most of the electricity in the country is being supplied through oil and gas. This has resulted in massive abandoned coal mines all across the country. As years went by, these mines were flooded with water, making it a source of geothermal(地热的) energy, which is used to generate heat and electricity. Gateshead hosts such a mine in its town, whose council, therefore, launched a mine water project in March 2023.
The authorities put in a large central heat pump in the mine. Mine water can often sit with a temperature of 45℃. The water is then pumped using appliances to home heat pumps. The process increases the temperature further. The water then goes ahead and warms up the interior space and home water supply. After the heat from the water has been used, it’s sent back to the mine where it again goes through the same process. The project has been successful in supplying low-carbon heating to 350 high-rise buildings, a college and several office buildings.
“Recovering heat from mine water below the ground within abandoned coal mines provides an exciting opportunity to generate a low-carbon secure supply of heat, benefitting people living or working in buildings on the coalfields,” said Gareth Farr, head of heat and by-product innovation at the Coal Authority.
The water resources through the mines are estimated to be two billion cubic meters or half the amount of water in Loch Ness. Farr added, “With many millions of people living upon abandoned coalfields in Great Britain, the potential for mine water heat could be significant.”
【小题1】What does the town of Gateshead feature?A.It’s been one of the most heavily polluted areas. | B.It has the most deep coal mines nationally. |
C.It mainly relies on geothermal energy. | D.It is the first one to reuse abandoned coal mines. |
A.They were quite remote. | B.Prices of coal declined a lot. |
C.There weren’t enough miners. | D.The UK prioritizes cleaner energy. |
A.The number of abandoned coal mines is stably increasing. |
B.The future of sourcing energy from coal mines is promising. |
C.The dependence on water resources in the UK is decreasing. |
D.The technique to take advantage of mine water is impressive. |
A.An innovative way to obtain green energy. | B.A method of living in harmony with nature. |
C.A national project for abandoned facilities. | D.A discussion on the future of coal mines. |
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