16-03-16 On an intuitive level, you'd expect a shark's skin to reduce drag. After all, the purpose of sharkskin-inspired riblets -- the micro-grooved structures found in aircraft wings, wind turbine blades and Olympic-class swimsuits -- is to do just that. S...
16-03-02 Philip Marlowe series by Raymond Chandler These top four Marlowe novels are what launched Raymond Chandler into the big leagues of hardboiled detective fiction: The Big Sleep, The High Window, Farewell My Lovely, and the Lady in the Lake. Anyone wan...
16-03-02 Jack Kerouac, On the Road Published in 1957, Kerouac's masterpiece captured the voice of America's 'Beat Generation', an iconoclastic group of writers that sprung up in the post-war US as a reaction against mainstream social values:materialism, capi...
16-03-02 Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848) This novel features probably the greatest anti-heroine in English literature, Becky Sharp, and a plot that revolves around class, social climbing and a financial crisis that will seem eerily familiar t...
16-03-02 Everyone Poops Author Taro Gomi illustrates how all animals and humans need to have a number two. Which, as an adult, is important and helpful to remember the next time you are in a tense and scary situation at work. All my friends are dead If you'r...
16-02-27 Chinese President Xi Jinping called for promoting innovation-driven development by grasping opportunities in the Internet era while visiting an expo themed Light of the Internet. 国家主席习近平在视察网络之光博览会时呼吁,要用好互联网带来的机遇,推动...
16-02-24 An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurel life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted...
16-02-23 You might think it's your colleagues or the pressures of work that's getting you down at the office, but new research suggests it could well be the air you're breathing instead. Scientists in the US have found that the concentration of carbon dioxid...
16-02-23 A job talker is either someone who only talks about their job with anyone, at any time and in any place, and who has nothing better to talk about than their job, or someone who cannot stop complaining about his/her work whenever there is someone aro...
16-02-22 The sun was unusually strong as it streamed across Michael's face, waking him gently. There was a surreal stillness filling the room as Michael lay still, trying to work out which day it was. It felt as if he had only just lain down, but the room wa...