PTSD(战后创伤) is sadly a common affliction(折磨) for many soldiers who have witnessed conflict, an invisible wound that continues to cause incredible suffering long after the guns have fallen silent.

“A lot of us come home without realizing we are bringing the war home with us,"said Josh Marino, a veteran (退伍兵)of the Iraq war who suffered the effects of PTSD of suicide .

“i didn’t want to deal with it anymore,” Marino said. He wrote a goodbye note, grabbed a knife and went outside for a final cigarette in the rain. But then, from the deepest depth of despair came hope. Meowing out of the bushes next to him came a stray black and white kitten (小猫) which， according to Marino, “just walked up and started rubbing up against my leg and let me pet him. I came to life again and I broke down crying. I burst into tears.”

From this accidental encounter everything changed. Marino found a new purpose in life through the friendly cat, who he named Scout, and who he credits with saving his life. "I stopped thinking about all my problems, and started thinking about all his problems, and what I could do to help him, "Marino said. The bond between them was instant，but that wasn't the end of the story

Marino has made a video of his and Scout's remarkable story of healing and heartbreak which you can watch on the Internet. The story is dedicated to showing how animals can help humans through tough times, as well as humans can help them.It is a beautiful story that is sure to tug at your heart strings, showing just how powerful the bond between humans and animals can be. We love it, and we hope you do too!

It was a hot summer day a few years ago. I had just pulled into the local gas station to fill my tank. After pumping the gas I started to walk inside to pay. That is when I noticed them. Two elderly women were standing back from their car. There was a mixture of shock and fear on their faces. I looked and saw what they saw. Five wasps (黄蜂) had started to build a nest (巢) around their gas cap. My eyes widened. I shared the ladies’ fear.

Wasps had never been friends of mine. Several times they had attacked me while I was working in my backyard giving me stings (叮咬) each time I ran over their ground nests. They are the reason I never work in shorts anymore. The worst time, however, happened when I was a young boy. A friend of mine and me were running and playing in my backyard. I must have stepped on one of their hidden nests again because before I knew it both of us were being chased and stung over and over by the wasps while we ran away screaming. I ran to my Mom with tears in my eyes. She immediately ran a cold bath and put us both in it to lessen the pain before giving us medicine to fight all the poison in our little bodies from the stings.

Still, I knew I couldn’t let fear stop me now. I reached into my back pocket for a paper towel I had there, tore out the nest and stepped on it while the angry wasps buzzed around me. Both of the ladies thanked me and I said, “You’re welcome!” with a smile and a happy heart.

Bees seem to fly aimlessly as they search for the sugary liquid called nectar (花蜜). But their flight plans actually do have a pattern. Flowers act as the insects’ air-traffic controllers. And new research shows bees prefer flowers that aren’t too flashy.

Flowers give bees clues about how much a plant can offer. Those clues can be in the color of petals, in the type, in the smell or even in the electrical charge. All of these characteristics send signals to the bees, telling them whether to land or not, among which the colors play the most significant role. The insects keep track of the color of the flowers that are especially rich in nectar. They then visit more flowers of that color.

However, color can’t guarantee bees a good meal. It may change depending on the angle at which sunlight hits its petals. A yellow follower, for example, may look somewhat blue from one angle and red from another. Beverley Glover studies plants at the University of Cambridge in England. Glover and her colleagues showed that even when the color of petals looks similar, bees behave differently in searching for nectar. They started to guess that the strength of petals’ indescence (色彩斑斓) might be related to how bees find the petals.

Glover and her colleagues tested their hypothesis in the lab. In their experiment, they found that bees felt confused sometimes when the petals were very iridescent and that bees had no problem finding the flowers with more nectar when the petals were not very iridescent. The team shared its new findings in the March 21 Current Biology.

“At first glance, it’s very surprising because animals can usually detect a more vivid signal more easily,” says Klaus Lunau, a biologist in Germany, who was not involved in the study.