The UK's planned ban on sales of new petrol, diesel (柴油) or hybrid (混合动力) cars could start as early as 2032, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said. Last week, the government raised industry concern after bringing the date forward from 2040 to 2035 in order to hit zero-carbon emission targets. But Mr. Shapps told BBC Radio 5 live it would happen by 2035, "or even 2032," adding there would be consultation.

The main car trade body had previously said the 2035 figure was "concerning".

The government is setting out its proposals in a United Nations climate summit in November. A Department for Transport spokesperson said, "We are consulting on a range of possible dates to bring forward the end to the sale of petrol and diesel cars."

"The proposal for this is 2035 — or earlier if a faster transition appears reasonable — as well as including hybrids for the first time." The UK has set a target of emitting zero carbon by 2050. Experts warned that the original target date of 2040 would still leave old conventional cars on the roads 10 years later. Once the ban comes into effect, only electric cars will be available. Hybrid vehicles are now included in the proposals, which were originally announced in July 2017.

Despite this, Royal Automobile club spokesman Simon Williams said, "While the government appears to be constantly moving forward for ending the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles, drivers should not be worried about choosing a hybrid car now." "They are potentially the perfect stepping stone for those who want to go electric but have concerns about range (续航), as they aren't as expensive as a battery electric vehicle. At the moment, they give drivers the best of both worlds."

How attached are British people to their petrol vehicles? How long until conventional cars go the way of steam engine cars and horse coaches?

The U. S. is in the midst of a "loneliness epidemic". For a lot of people, the feeling is even more noticeable during the holidays. In addition to the emotional impact of chronic loneliness, it has some dramatic health consequences: increased risk of heart disease and stroke, infections, cancer, even death. 

People may feel lonely when their social needs are not met by the people around them. Laetitia Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, a social cognitive neuroscientist at Princeton University, says loneliness epidemic captures two distinct groups: first, people with a low number of social connections; second, people who feel they have poor quality existing relationships. 

Elisa Baek, a social neuroscientist at the University of Southern California, co-authored a study that looked at whether lonely people view the world differently than non-lonely people, specifically among college freshmen. Baek found that while non-lonely people were all similar in their neural responses, lonely people had responses that were really different-not just from the non-lonely group, but also from each other. Baek says that these idiosyncrasies （特性） in how lonely participants process the world, "may pose challenges in how these people are able to achieve social connection and feel connected with others. "

To study these changes to the brain, Baek's team collected fMRI data-a measure of blood flow changes in the brain-while first-year college students watched short videos to measure how similarly participants' brains responded to the videos. The videos ranged from dramatic and comedic clips to instructional demonstrations in order to reproduce experiences participants might have in daily life. She says it's the closest they could get to study people's brain activity-and how they process the world-while they were going about their lives. 

Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, who is not involved in the study, says the research accurately highlights how individual differences affect people in experiencing loneliness. "Trying to connect more deeply with one or two or three other people may be more important than to try to get to know everybody and being on good terms with everybody. It doesn't have to be someone who is like-minded. It's more like: How can we get on the same page with people who we might not start off on the same page with, but that might form deeper connections afterwards?" she adds. 

Major Sports Leagues in the US

NFL 

Formed in 1920, the National Football League has a religious following in the US and around the world. It's one of the most profitable leagues in the whole world. The NFL consists of 32 teams, which are sub-divided into NFC and AFC, which compete against each other every year to win the Super Bowl, the halftime show of which features major hit musicians. 

NBA

Initially formed in 1946 as the BAA （Basketball Association of America）, it merged （合并） with National Basketball League in 1949 and changed its name to NBA. The National Basketball Association might not be the biggest sports league financially, but it has a larger international following than other leagues. The keyword "NBA" was among the most googled keywords in 2021, which indicates how popular it is in the world. 

MLB

Baseball is considered to be the national pastime activity of the US and the Major League Baseball is its highest level in the country. The MLB might not be popular as NFL in other parts of the world, but international supporters still make a large portion of the total fanbase. Formed in 1903, the MLB is the oldest US sports league and now has 30 teams, which was a merger between the National League and the American League. 

NHL

Founded in 1917, the National Hockey League is the second-oldest sports league in the US and Canada and consists of a total of 32 teams. Three of the best performing teams from each division make it to the playoffs plus two wild card teams. All teams compete to win the prestigious Stanley Cup. Most of NHL's revenue comes from TV and gate receipts with hockey-crazed Canadians being the primary market.