Experts believe that the best time to teach kids language skills is when they are babies. Most times the task is easily accomplished with parents reading or talking to their babies. However, in some cases that is not possible due to parents' busy work schedules or when kids are born deaf. Now, a blue-eyed robot, a human image, and some high-tech neuroscience may be able to assist parents with this important developmental task.

The Robot AVatar thermal-Enhanced system, or RAVE, is the brainchild of a team of researchers led by Laura-Ann Petitto, an educational neuroscientist. The learning process begins when the robot's camera, which is focused on the baby's face, notices tiny changes in his/her body temperature. This, combined with the baby's facial expression, causes the robot to turn its head and guide the baby's attention to a computer screen, on which a human image starts to communicate with the baby. For example, if the baby points towards the screen, the image might respond, "Are you pointing to me?" and follow that up with a nursery rhyme or fairy tale, all in American Sign Language (ASL). The "conversation" continues until the kid loses interest.

The researchers found that babies as young as 6 to 8 months old began to move their hands in a rhythm similar to ASL after communicating with RAVE for just a few minutes. Petitto says natural language, whether communicated through speech or sign, activates (激活) the same parts of the brain and believes the rhythmic motion proves the babies are learning the essential elements of communication.

What sets this technique apart from other methods, such as showing educational videos or television shows, is its interactive (互动的) nature and real-time response to the baby's actions. The researchers say that while it is too early to determine the system's long-term influence on baby communication, the initial response has been very encouraging. Next, they plan to introduce a robot that can both sign and speak to babies.

Consider a tale of two Army veterans (退伍军人), Jeff served two terms in Afghanistan, moved home to the Midwest, graduated from college and landed a secure job in a firm. Matt fought alongside Jeff, left the Amy at the same time and headed home to North Carolina. By the time he was in his 30, though, Matt was unemployed and dependent on government checks.

Why did Jeff develop so well while Matt lost his civilian footing? The answer, according to Daniel M. Gade, a retired office, and Daniel Huang, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—in particular, its strong disability system.

In their convincing description, the authors show in detail how a well-intended system can unintentionally lead fragile veterans, step by step, away from the worlds of work and community. The path typically starts just before separation from the service. Soldiers meet with VA representatives who emphasize opportunities to collect disability compensation (补偿). Jeff, for example, wanted to "get out and get on" with his life, while Matt took the VA agent's advice "and applied for every condition he could think of."

Mat's career plan had been to attain an ideal job in law enforcement (执行), but the field was highly competitive. So he took a job with his dad's construction company. But the physical damage of the job was too much for his knees and back. Deeply depressed, now out of work and living in his parents' home, Matt tried college but felt unbearable. Meanwhile, anxious about his future, he kept applying for higher disability ratings—receiving, eventually, a monthly tax-free check over $3, 000.

For many partially or fully disabled veterans, PTSD (创伤应急障碍) istheir primary diagnosis (诊断). The condition, can be very weak, but it is also treatable. A psychologist told the authors that, when it comes to PTSD, the agency "has been doing harm to millions of veterans by telling them that they're disabled. "

In Matt's case, remarkably, even after the VA determined him to be "housebound, "it didn't mandate (强制执行) treatment. "The natural athlete who had conquered his fear of heights to excel as an airborne (空降的) soldier, " the authors write, "had become a disabled man one year later. The VA's record on treatment in general looks poor: More veterans today, relative to their overall numbers, are compensated for disabilities than ever before in the VA's history. Under 0. 1% of the veterans who receive disability benefits for mental disorders have their benefits reduced over time because their condition has improved.

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