Facts about novel corona virus: Prevention and control

l Keep distance with people when talking

The novel corona virus can be transmitted via droplets and fly 1 to 2 meters in the air before falling to the ground. Droplets can be transmitted far longer when sneezing and coughing than speaking, so apart from keeping 1 to 2 meters of distance, also remember to wear a mask when you are close to someone else.

l Washing hands can reduce risk of getting infected

Please wash your hands promptly and properly after touching elevator buttons or using cash. Do not touch your nose or mouth or rub your eyes before washing your hands. Do not use smart phones while eating.

l Receiving delivered packages at home not dangerous

Though the virus might be attached to the packaging of delivered items, the possibility of transmission through express delivery is extremely low. Before going out to take your delivery, remember to wear a mask. After removing the packaging, please wash your hands.

l Sun exposure cannot kill the virus

The temperature of sun light cannot reach 56℃, and the ultraviolet rays in sunlight cannot reach the intensity of ultraviolet lamps, so the virus can’t be killed by the sunlight. If you want to go out to get some sun, please wear a mask and take other protective measures.

l Taking a hot bath or using air conditioning cannot kill the virus

Although the virus is vulnerable to heat. It can only be inactivated after exposure to a 56°C temperature for over 30 minutes.

l Woolen fabric doesn’t retain virus longer

It is believed that the virus prefers smooth, non-porous surfaces and stays on woolen fabrics for a shorter time. At home or before going out, it is not necessary to consider which kind of material has less chance to absorb the virus—choosing comfortable clothes is enough.

After returning home, please wash your hands, sterilize the clothes and dry the clothes.

People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It’s not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive.

Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents (倡导者) of each theory. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature/nurture”.

Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything to do with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts.

Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B.E. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists’ view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.

The social and political implications of these two theories are profound. In the United States, for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often deprived of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.

Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.

Stone tools and pieces of animal bone from about 16,600 years ago are the earliest evidence yet of human beings in the New World, scientists say.

The objects were found in the western United States. They were recovered from an archaeological site called Cooper Ferry on the Salmon River near the town of Cottonwood Idaho. Scientists used radiocarbon dating methods to find out how old these artifacts are.

The scientists say people lived in or passed through the area when ice covered large parts of North America. That period of time is known as Earth's Ice Age. During the period, big mammals like camels lived in North America. Loren D avis is an anthropology (人类学) professor at Oregon State University. He led the team of scientists working at Cooper's Ferry.

“The Cooper's Ferry site is the earliest radiocarbon-dated archaeological evidence in the Americas.” Davis said. The researchers said the artifacts suggest that people first lived in the area between 16,600 and 15,300 years ago and returned to live there many times after that.

Scientists say humans first appeared in Africa about 300,000 years ago and later spread throughout the world. There has been much scientific debate about when humans first entered the Americas. They are believed to have crossed into North America at a time when Siberia and Alaska were connected by land.

The new findings support the assumption that the first human migration into the Americas traveled down the pacific coast instead of an inland path. Davis said. “The Columbia river would provide the first Americans their first route to interior lands south of the continental ice sheet.”

The researchers noted details of some of the sharp objects that would have been used for hunting. These artifacts appear similar to those found in northern Japan from a somewhat earlier date. Davis said. “We assume that this may signal a cultural connection between early peoples who lived around the northern Pacific Rim.” “Traditional technological ideas spread from northeastern Asia into North America at the end of the last glacial period,” he added.