Bananas and apples continue to ripen after being picked. Cherries and grapes do not. The difference between climacteric (后熟的) and non-climacteric fruits matters to fruit growers and greengrocers, who must ensures their products are in excellent condition when arriving at the marketplace. But how those differences originally came about remains unclear.

In a paper in Biology Letters, Fukano Yuya and Tachiki Yuuya of the University of Tokyo offer a suggestion. Fruits, they observe, exist to solve a problem faced by all plants - how best to spread their progeny around. Wrapping their seeds in a sugary flesh, to provide a tasty meal, serves as a way to got animals to do this for them. They do, however, need to ensure their fruits favour the animals most likely to do the distributing. They propose that climacterism or non-climacterism is a way to achieve this. If ground-living animals are the main distributors, then the continuing ripening of fallen fruit is beneficial. If, by contrast, those distributors are tree-living or flying animals, which can feed on unfallen fruit, then non-climacteric fruits will do well.

To test their idea, the two researchers combed through 276 papers about 80 sorts of fruits. They discovered 35 of these fruits were eaten by both groups of animals. But of those where one group or the other were the dominant consumers, 15 of the 19 eaten mainly by ground-living animals were climacteric.

Their assumption is strengthened by other evidence. They point out non-climacteric fruits tend to have vivid colors which may help them stand out amid the leaves, advertising their presence. Climacteric fruits are generally better hidden, making them harder to spot until they have fallen to the ground.

Earlier this year Rodney Smith Jr. made headlines when he drove eight hours from his home in Huntsville. Alabama, to cut the lawn for an elderly soldier in North Carolina who couldn't find anyone to help him with his yard work.

That wasn't the first time the twenty-nine-year-old Bermuda native had gained such attention. To do his good deeds, Rodney often finds leads for those in need through social media.

Back to one August afternoon in 2015, Rodney Smith Jr. was driving home. That's when Rodney saw an elderly man struggling to mow his lawn. He would take a couple of shaky steps, using the handle to stabilize himself, pause, then slowly push the mower again. Rodney decided to help. Mr. Brown thanked him greatly, and Rodney went home feeling satisfied.

Sitting at his computer to do his homework, Rodney couldn't get Mr. Brown out of his mind. There must be many Mr. Browns out there. He went online and posted that he would mow lawns for free for senior citizens. Messages flooded in.

One day a cancer-battling woman said she wasn't having a good day. Rodney decided to do more than mowing lawns. After he finished mowing, he knocked on her door. "You're going to win this fight, Madam", he said. Then he asked folks to pray for her on social media.

Word of Rodney's mission spread. A grandmother in Ohio said he'd encouraged her 12-year-old grandson to mow lawns. He got a letter from a seven-year-old boy in Kansas. "Mr. Rodney, I would like to be a part of your program, and I'll make you proud," he wrote.

That gave Rodney an idea. In 2017, he decided to establish a programme Raising Men Lawn Care Service to make a national movement for young people. The kids learn the joy of giving back.

Yard work seems like a small, simple thing, but taking care of the lawn means a lot to the people they do it for. "When we mow their yards for free, they can use the money for healthcare and food etc. It means more than you would think," Rodney said.

You are what you think. Whatever you are doing right now is determined by your thinking. All your emotions and desires are influenced by your thinking. The problem is that when you are not aware of your thinking, you have no chance of correcting it if it is poor. When thinking is subconscious, you are in no position to see any problems in it. And, if you don't see any problems in it, you won't be motivated to change it. What's worse, few people realize the powerful role that thinking plays in their lives, so they don't gain significant command of it. As a result, most people are in many ways victims of their thinking.

Consider your success as a student. The single most significant variable in determining your success as a student is the quality of your thinking. Your instructors will play a role in your learning, but even the best teachers cannot get into your head and learn for you. If you lack the intellectual skills necessary for thinking well through course content, you will not be successful in school.

Here is the key question we are putting to you in this book. If the quality of a person's thinking is the single most significant determinant of both happiness and success, why not take the time to learn from the best thinkers?

This book will inform you of the tools that the best thinkers use and will illustrate the activities and practice you can use to begin to emulate them, and take control of your destiny as a thinker. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of these thinking aids, helping you discover the power of your own mind and of your potential to think systematically about your thinking.

This book, as a whole, introduces you to the tools of mind that will help you reason well through various challenges you face. If you take these ideas seriously and practice using them, you can improve the quality of your thinking and ultimately, the quality of your life.