Do we remember by Google?

The Internet is becoming our main source of memory instead of our own brains, a study has concluded.

In the age of Google, our minds are adapting (适应) so that we are experts at knowing where to find information even though we don’t recall what it is.

The researchers found that when we want to know something we use the Internet as an “external memory” just as computers use an external hard drive (外接硬盘).

Nowadays we are so reliant on our smart phones and laptops that we feel at a loss when we can’t find out something immediately. And we depend on the Internet connection so much that without it, we feel “more and more like losing a friend”.

The researchers carried out four tests to check their theory. The tests involved giving participants a trivia quiz and then seeing whether they recognized computer-related words more quickly than other words. The other tests involved seeing if people remembered 40 pieces information they would later have normally looked up. The third and fourth parts of the study involved checking how well people remember where to look up information on-line and whether or not they remembered the location more than the actual data.

The results showed that when people don’t believe they will need information for a later test, they do not recall it at the same rate as when they do believe they will need it.

“People don’t make the effort to remember when they think they can look up information later,” says the study.

The other results showed that when they have Internet access , people are better at remembering where they can find it than the details.

Everyone likes living in a clean and comfortable environment. If the environment (环境) is bad, it will affect our body, and we have to stay in bed and rest at home. So the environment is very important to us.

It’s germs (微生物) that makes us ill. There are germs everywhere. They are very small and you can’t find them with your own eyes, but you can see them with a microscope (显微镜), we shall see them in it. Germs can also be found in air and dust (灰尘). If you cut your finger, and you will have much pain in it. Sometimes the germs will go into all of your bodies, and you will have pain everywhere.

To keep us healthy, we should try our best to make our environment cleaner and tidier. This needs us to work together.

One day, you open the fridge and find some moldy (发霉的) food. But before you can throw it away, your mother stops you. She doesn't want to waste food. She cuts off the moldy part and eats the rest. Is it safe to do this?

Mold (霉菌) can grow on almost all kinds of food. Mold is usually green, white, black or gray. Mold makes food soft and changes its color. Moldy food tastes quite bad—and it's not safe to eat.

If you find mold in soft food, just throw it away. Bread, tomatoes and hot dogs are soft food. This kind of food allows mold to easily grow below its surface.

But it's easy to remove mold from hard food. The mold can't grow very deeply inside this kind of food. According to the BBC, you should cut about 2.5 cm around and below the mold and remove it.

It's OK to cut the moldy parts out of hard food and eat the rest. But if the food is completely covered with mold, you should still throw it away.

Most kinds of mold are bad for us. But some kinds of mold can be used to make food. For example, peniciliium (青霉菌) can be used to make many types of cheeses, such as blue cheese. These cheeses are safe to eat and they're quite delicious as well.