The United States rose to global power on the strength of its technology, and the lifeblood that technology has long been electricity. By providing long-distance communication and energy electricity created the modern world. Yet properly understood, the age of electricity is merely the second stage in the age of steam which began a century earlier.

It is curious that on one has put together a history of both the steam and electric revolutions." writes Maury Klein in his book The Pore Makers, Seam, Electricity and the Men Invented Modern America. Klein, a noted historian of technology spins a narrative (叙述) so lively that at times it reads like a novel

The story begins in the last years of the 18th century in Scotland, where Watt perfected "the machine that changed the world". Klein writes/'America did not invent the steam engine, but once they grasped its passwords, they put it to more uses than anyone else.

Meanwhile, over the course of 19th century, electricity went from mere curiosity to a basic necessity. Morse invented a code for sending messages over an electromagnetic circuit Bell then gave the telegraph a voice. Edison perfected an incandescent bulb (白炽灯泡) that brought electric light into the American home.

Most importantly, Edison realized that success depended on mass electrification, which he showed in New York City. With help from Tesla, Westinghouse's firm developed a system using alternating current (交流电), which soon became the major forms of power delivery.

To frame his story, Klein creates the character of Ned, a fictional witness to the progress brought about by the steams and electric revolutions in America during one man's lifetime. It's a technique that helps turn a long narrative into an interesting one.

    Parents complain that children outgrow their clothes so fast that it costs a fortune（￡12, 000 on average per year）, going through seven different sizes in the space of their first two years. There could now be a solution：a new high－tech fabric（织物）that expands as the wearer grows.

    Ryan Yasin, who is studying for a master's degree at the London Royal College of Art, came up with the idea after purchasing clothes for his newborn nephew, only to find the baby had outgrown them by the time they arrived. In addition to the expense Yasin was also concerned about the environmental influence. The process of making and distributing just l kilogram, or 2. 2 pounds, of new fabric results in an average of 23 kg, or 50 pounds of greenhouse gases. To make matters worse, the “fast fashion” trend worldwide has caused garment production to double since 2000, with more than half of the clothing ending up in landfills annually!

    To find a solution, Yasin used his previous experience designing satellites to invent a way to fold synthetic（合成的）material such that it stretches in all directions.

    The first design, a pair of tiny pants, not only fit his baby nephew, but also his 2－year-old niece! After spending a lot of time perfecting the process and testing the design, Yasin is now awaiting a patent for his design and seeking investors（投资者）to bring the clothing to market.

    For his new line of Petit Pli, the designer plans to produce outerwear that is both waterproof（防水的）and windproof. The clothing will be machine washable and fold small enough to fit in a jacket or pant pocket. Yasin plans to establish a take－back system so that worn－out Petit Pli clothing can be recycled into new fabric.

    The designer does not expect parents to dress their children only in his expandable clothing, particularly since the current designs use synthetic materials. But he plans to soon produce the wear in “a wider variety of garments” and hopes that Petit Pli will be able to have an “influence on over-consumption. ”We surely hope he succeeds!

    Artificial intelligence（AI）is making it possible for companies to monitor workers' behavior in great detail and in real－time（实时的）. Start to slack off（懈怠）and AI could talk to your boss.

    One company offering such services is London－based start－up Status Today. Its AI platform relies on a regular supply of employee data, including everything from the files you access to when you use a key card.

    From this, it builds a picture of how employees normally function and signals any unusual performance. The idea is to spot when someone might become a security risk by doing something different from their usual behavioral patterns. “All of this gives us a fingerprint of a user, so if we think the fingerprint doesn't match, we raise a warning, ”says Mircea Dumitrescu, the company's chief technology officer.

    The system also aims to catch employee actions that could accidentally cause a security breach（漏洞）, like opening malware（恶意软件）. “We're not monitoring if your computer has a virus。”says Dumitrescu. “We're monitoring human behaviors. ”

    But catching the security breach means monitoring everyone, and the AI can also be used to track employee productivity. “It seems like they are just using the reputation of AI to give an air of lawfulness to old－fashioned workplace surveillance（监视）, ”says Javier Ruiz Diaz of digital campaigning organization the Open Rights Group. “You have a right to privacy and you shouldn't be expected to give that up at work. ”

    Exactly how companies use the system will be up to them, but it's hard to shake the picture of an AI constantly looking over employees' shoulders. “It will bother people, and that could be counterproductive if it affects their behavior, ”says Paul Bernal at the University of East Anglia.

Phil Legg at the University of the West of England says it will never catch every security risk. “If people know they're being monitored, they can change their behavior, ”he says.