Scientists learned that our thoughts and behavior are influenced by the colors we see.

Colors are called “warm” (red and orange) and “cool” (blue and green) for a reason: When we’re in a space where the walls are painted in warm colors, we actually feel that the temperature there is warmer than we do in similar spaces painted in cool colors. This makes warm colors good choices for a vestibule (前厅) in a cool climate (气候). Cool colors are good choices for the entrance (入口) to buildings in warm climates, and in rooms that are warm.

Putting a light color on a wall makes that wall seem a little further away than it actually is, while darker colors on walls make them seem even closer than their true positions. So you can use colors to change the shapes of rooms.

The research has also shown the special “powers” of special colors. First, seeing the color green has something to do with creative thinking—so green is a good choice for homes, offices, art rooms, etc. The color pink is believed to calm and reduce aggression (攻击), particularly light or pale pink. In addition, using yellow in a home can be wrong. But yellow may be accepted in dining room because warm colors can help increase our appetite (胃口), encouraging us to eat much. People are more likely to tell you that blue is their favorite color. That makes it a very safe choice.

All in all, colors do have influences in our life and maybe, we may find more in the future.

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We’re eating more seafood than ever these days. Do you want to eat the “seafood” from Xinjiang? Xinjiang is far from the sea. In fact, 500 million years ago, the western part of Xinjiang was a sea. Now it is famous for its local “seafood”, such as shrimp (虾) and crabs (蟹). At the end of October last year, they hold a first-fishing festival in Fuye County, Xinjiang.

The most important thing for the “seafood” is water. Xinjiang has many rivers and lakes with cold, clear water. It is from the Tianshan Mountains.With the water, fishermen can build fish pools. As we know, land in Xinjiang has a lot of salt. This is not good for growing plants. But the land makes the underground water salty. People turn the salty water into “man-made seawater”. They then use it to feed shrimp and crabs and so on.

At present, some of Xinjiang’s “seafood” goes to many Chinese cities, like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian and so on. It also goes to countries in Southeast Asia.

Many people are afraid to eat the seafood because of sea pollution. Xinjiang’s “seafood” is becoming a new choice for seafood lovers.” “Fishermen” is becoming a new job for Xinjiang.

People have been making cheese for a long time. There are more than 1000 kinds of cheese. Each has a different flavor(风味). Parmesan tastes fruity or nutty. Cheddar is buttery. Brie and Camembert are a bit musty. But what gives each cheese its particular flavor? That’s been a mystery. Now, scientists have figured it out.

Morio Ishikawa is a food scientist. He works at Tokyo University of Agriculture. It is in Japan. What he and his team have just learned could help cheese makers. They could change cheese flavor to better match customers’ preferences. They might even develop new cheese flavors. The researchers shared their new findings.

The flavor of a cheese depends on many things. First, the type of milk decided the starter bacteria(细菌). It helps create the fermented dairy delight. Then, whole communities of microbes(微生物) move in as the cheese grows. These, too, play a role in developing flavor.

The researchers have studied many types of cheeses. They’ve compared cheeses made from pasteurized (巴氏消毒的) and raw cow milk. Some were made in Japan, others in France. The scientists used genetic analysis. They also used tools such as gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. These helped them identify(识别) bacteria and flavor compound (混合物)in the cheese. The new study directly linked individual bacteria to specific-flavored cheese. The team seeded each type of bacteria onto its own unripe sample of cheese. Over the next three weeks, the researchers observed how flavor compounds changed. The microbes produced esters, ketones and sulfur compounds. These are known to give fruity, moldy and oniony flavors to cheese. One kind of bacteria was Pseudoalteromonas, originally from the sea, this microbe has turned up in many types of cheese.

What’s next? Perhaps cheese makers will learn from the findings.