Walking in the countryside is believed to be the best tonic to lift our spirits. Being exposed to nature has been linked to both emotional and physical well-being improvement. For some, the first choice is to stroll through a forest. However, when we are admiring the lush green trees surrounding us, it's noteworthy that they are doing more than just being pleasing things to look at.

We're already aware that trees are a natural healer. They produce oxygen, remove dust and clean the air we breathe by taking in harmful human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. Deforestation does no good to this, which is why so many people want to save them. But there's more to trees than we thought. A study has discovered that trees are actually an intelligent plant.

It's considered that trees do communicate and share resources among themselves. But how do they actually "talk" to each other? Below the surface of the earth are tree roots, and they are connected via an underground web of fungi(菌丝) that resembles the nervous networks in the brain. And research has shown that they are all interconnected. This network allows trees to share information which is important to the whole forest. They transfer carbon, nutrients and water to one another, and even warn each other of approaching threats.

Suzanne Simard, a researcher from the University of British Columbia, has named this network the Wood Wide Web. She discovered that mother trees help smaller trees to survive via this network. She said to the BBC," We discovered that the mother trees would prefer those seedlings of their own kin (同族) to those of the strangers" by passing them more nutrients. She also said that to survive in a changing environment, trees are clever enough to make changes and adapt themselves to the surroundings.

So it appears that trees really are the social stars in nature, and with approximately three trillion trees on our planet, it's high time to show them our respect if we expect them to thrive.

Improved mental health is on the agenda for many people in 2024 and being organized is the preferred method of realizing it. 

Disorganization is often considered to have a negative impact on the way we see ourselves and the lives we lead. The studied downsides of living in a disorganized environment include memory problems, poor eating habits, and decreased self-control. "There's an obvious link between increased stress and anxiety disorders and living in a messy space," says Daniel Levitin, a behavioral neuroscientist (行为神经科学家) at McGill University.

"Disorganization brings a loss of productivity that is difficult to quantify," says Levitin. He points to the amount of time people lose looking for lost items, missing appointments, or falling behind at work or school because of disordered living. "The average person likely loses 5 percent of their time due to disorganization," he says. "Take your annual salary, multiply that by 5 percent, and you can measure what disorganization may be costing you."

Joseph Ferrari, one of the most recognized scholars on disorganization research, says that nearly every mental health downside that comes from disorganization can be improved by getting organized. "You'll feel more energetic, enhance your productivity in the office, and greatly improve the quality of your life," he says.

Tidy homes have been found to be a predictor of physical health. "Those whose houses are cleaner are more active and physically healthy," says Libby Sander, an assistant professor of organizational behavior. Part of this is due to organized people being better at managing their time, but it's also because research demonstrates that less clutter (杂乱) can help improve one's diet. "Studies show an association between clutter and overweight," says Libby.

Getting organized has also been shown to decrease one's stress levels, increase personal efficiency, and even improve sleep. Another studied advantage of getting organized may be improving the quality of one's relationships. Libby explains that relationships can be negatively impacted when too much clutter affects communication or distracts one's brain from noticing important message from their partner. Research shows this can cause others to feel ignored, misunderstood, or unimportant.

Microplastics are “one of the greatest man-made disasters of our time”, according to the Natural History Museum. That's bad news, given they are also everywhere: in tap water, the food you buy, the clothes you wear and the air you breathe.

The largest microplastics can be seen by the naked eye and are anything under half a centimetre in size. But many of them are small enough to act like spots of dust which we can unconsciously breathe in or eat in food. The smallest particles are called nanoplastics and they are small enough to get their way deep into the human body.

New findings from the University of Portsmouth show that there is so much synthetic（合 成的） material in our homes that we might be breathing in up to 7, 000 microplastic particles a day. Using special equipment, researchers measured a typical family home and found the highest concentration of it was in the bedroom of the eight-year-old daughter, whose room was decorated with plastic-based bedding, carpet and soft toys.

Although research is in its early stage, the risks of these plastics could be serious-some studies have linked high exposure to cancer risk and disrupting our hormones（荷尔蒙）. In animal studies，the particles have been shown to affect metabolism（新陈代谢），gut bacteria and the immune system, among other things.

It is not yet known what a healthy level of microplastics might look like, but Dr Sabine Donnai, CEO of the Viavi clinic, thinks that many people in the West are over the limit. In tests at her clinic, patients often come back with dangerously high levels of plastic in their bodies, she says.