Manta rays (魔鬼鱼)are some of the creatures in the ocean who allow divers to swim right up to and interact (互动) with them. Unfortunately, these gentle animals are in big trouble. Since 2011, manta rays have been listed as a threatened species worldwide.

Peru, a country in South America, recently took a big step to protect giant manta rays: It banned fishing for them. Although 12 other countries have passed laws to protect rays, Peru's may be the most important one yet. That's because there are more manta rays in the Pacific Ocean near Peru than in any other place in the world.

Giant manta rays are unusual — looking creatures. The giant, flat rays are typically about 4.5 meters wide and can grow up to 8 meters wide! "They're" sort of like giant flying carpets underwater, says Joshua Stewart of the Manta Trust, an organization that researches manta rays.

People catch rays for their meal. Overfishing is bad for any sea creature, but it's even worse for manta rays. Female manta rays usually have only one baby every two to five years. So every ray that's caught hurts the population in a big way. People who break Peru's new law can be fined or have their fishing licenses taken away. Even rays caught accidentally in fishing nets must be set free.

Earlier this year, the Manta Trust attached video cameras, called Crittercams, to manta rays off the west coast of Mexico. The footage(连续镜头)the cameras collect could help researchers predict where rays swim and when. The scientists could use the information to warn fishing boats to avoid these areas, helping reduce the number of accidentally caught rays.

Stewart says it's important to protect these unique creatures. "There's really no other animal that compares in size and that you can have interactions with in the wild.

A new study shows bee’s tiny insect brains may be able to connect symbols to numbers.

Adrian Dyer is a professor in the RMIT University. He said that the research showed brains which are far smaller than humans’ could know numbers. “Studies have shown primates (灵长类动物) and birds have this ability, but this is the first time we’ve seen this in insects.” Dyer says.

There are 86 billion neurons (神经元) in humans’ brains. Bees only have less than a million. If bees can learn something difficult to understand like human-made symbolic language, this will open up exciting new paths for future communication between humans and animals.

Studies have shown that a number of animals have been able to learn symbols of numbers, including parrots and monkeys. An African grey parrot called Alex was able to learn numbers and could do simple calculation. Monkeys were taught Arabic numbers and could order them correctly.

Understanding how tiny brains of bees manage information opens paths to technology, which is good for the future design of computing (计算) systems.

On September 25, 1999, then 47-year-old Murray went on one of her skydiving trips. Having gone skydiving more than 30 times before, she thought it felt like any ordinary skydiving. She jumped from a height of 14,500 feet, rushing to the ground at a speed of 80 mph, when she found that her main parachute (降落伞) would not open. Murray continued her free fall until her secondary chute finally worked when she was at a distance of 700 feet to the ground. However, with panic coursing through her, she spun out of control while in the air, causing the chute to go down, and began her fall again.

The impact of the fall shattered (粉碎) the right side of Murray’s body when she landed. To make matters worse, she landed on a fire ant hill, where she was attacked and stung (叮咬) repeatedly by the fire ants there. More than 200 stings later, she was found barely conscious by the ambulance workers and was immediately brought to the Carolina Medical Center.

She spent 2 weeks in unconsciousness. Unlucky as she was to have suffered injuries and fire ant attacks, her doctors thought that the fire ant stings actually saved her. They believed that the numerous stings from the ants gave enough nerve stimuli (刺激) and shocks to keep her heart beating and keep her alive.

After her near brush with death, Murray spent her “second life” more positively. As she shared in an interview, “I’ve learned to spend time on the important things.” However, 2 years after her full recovery, Murray was out skydiving again and that time, she landed safely.

Just to give you an idea of her pain besides the shattered right body, fire ants are among the top ten insects in the world with the most painful stings. More than 200 stings of this insect are truly annoying, but if it is what will keep you alive as in Murray’s situation, you’ll appreciate those fire ants too!