Nowadays, countries are eager to get more electric cars on the road because moving away from gas-powered vehicles is vital to fighting climate change. China says that most new vehicles sold by 2035 will be electric. The United Kingdom will ban new gas-powered cars in 2030. One of the world's major automakers, General Motors (GM), announced that it would stop selling gas-powered cars by 2035.

The key to an electric future is batteries. Automakers are racing to pack the most energy into the smallest one. The lithium-ion (锂离子) battery is what powers our mobile devices, which can be recharged again and again. Making these batteries has an environmental cost. Lithium is taken from the earth, like the oil used to make gasoline. But the long-term cost is much smaller. "Once you burn gasoline, you can't recycle it, "says Jessika Trancik, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But when you use up a battery, you can still recycle the material."

It's up to governments to make electric cars accessible to everyone. National policies can help. In the United States, an electric Chevy Volt costs about $35,000. Trancik says charging stations must also be made widely available. As part of an effort to fight climate change, America plans to build half a million of them in the U.S. by 2030. She hopes enough charging stations will be built soon. "It's important to put chargers where many different people can have access to them, " she says. "Not just wealthier people."

Last year, almost 5% of approximately 67 million new cars sold worldwide were electric. For Venkat Viswanathan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, green electricity is part of the solution to climate change, and electric cars are just the beginning. He sees a future of solar-powered homes and electric flying cars. "Soon, a plug-in vehicle might be as cheap as a gas-powered car. It is now abundantly clear that electric is the future, "he says. "It will be a totally new world."

The Art Institute of Chicago

Visitor Information

• Museum Hours

Members: The first hour of every day, 10 a. m. -1la. m. , is reserved for member-only viewing. Monday-Wednesday Closed

Thursday                                        11a. m. -8p. m. 

Friday-Sunday                                11a. m. -5p. m. 

• Audio Guide

Audio guides can be rented at the admission counter, audio counter and outside some special exhibitions. The guide is free to visitors with visual or hearing disabilities. 

• JourneyMaker

With the digital interactive JourneyMaker, you can build custom family guides based on your child's interests-from superheroes to strange and wild creatures. Start your museum journey in the Family Room of the Ryan Leaning Center, and make your visit to the Art Institute an adventure for the whole family. 

• Official Mobile App

Your personal, pocket-sized guide to the collection, this new iOS app features podcast-style audio tours, location-aware technology, access to the digital member card, and so much more. Download it today from the App Store. 

• Photography

We encourage you to take pictures of the collection and special exhibitions for personal use. Signs indicate the few works that are not allowed to be photographed due to a lender requirement. 

• Phones

You are welcome to use your phone to take pictures, text, and use the museum's app-anything that does not disturb other visitors. If you need to make a phone call, please do so in a non-gallery space. 

• Valet Parking

Art Institute visitors can drop off their cars at the Modern Wing entrance（159 East Monroe Street） and walk right into the museum. The valet service is available daily from 10;30_a. m. until one-half hour after closing. 

• Admission

Adult: $ 32

Student: $ 26

Child（aged 13 and under）: Free

Help us protect the collection-please do not touch the art.

In 1992, Teen Talk Barbie was released with the controversial voice fragment, "Math class is hard." While the toy's release met with strong public reaction, this underlying assumption persists, spreading the myth that women do not thrive in science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) fields due to biological inadequacies in math aptitude. However, in 2019 Jessica Cantlon at Carnegie Mellon University led a research team that comprehensively examined the brain development of young boys and girls and found no gender difference in brain function or math ability.

Cantlon and her team conducted the first neuroimaging study to evaluate biological gender differences in math aptitude of young children. Her team used functional MRI (核磁共振) to measure the brain activity in 104 young children (3-to-10-year-old; 55 girls) while watching an educational video covering early math topics, like counting and addition. The researchers compared scans from the boys and girls to evaluate brain similarity. In addition, the team examined brain maturity by comparing the children's scans to those taken from a group of adults (63 adults; 25 women) who watched the same math videos.

After numerous statistical comparisons, Cantlon and her team found no difference in the brain development of girls and boys. In addition, the researchers found no difference in how boys and girls processed math skills and were equally engaged while watching the educational videos. Finally, boys' and girls' brain maturity were statistically equivalent when compared to either men or women in the adult group.

Cantlon said she thinks society and culture are likely steering girls and young women away from math and STEM fields, as previous studies show that families spend more time with young boys in play that involves spatial cognition（空间认知）. "Typical socialization can make worse small differences between boys and girls that can snowball into how we treat them in science and math," Cantlon said. "We need to be aware of these origins to ensure we aren't the ones causing the gender inequities."

However, this project is focused on early childhood development using a limited set of math tasks. Cantlon wants to continue this work using a broader scope of math skills, such as spatial processing and memory, and follow the children over many years.