At one time or another, everyone has to deal with both emotional highs and emotional lows.↵
Unfortunately, we generally consider our emotions to be mysterious and beyond our understanding.↵
However, emotions are a natural product of the human mind.↵
Like everything else, it is the law of cause and effect that they follow.↵
So don't be confused by your emotions.↵
If you accept them as a natural part of life, you will be more comfortable with them.

Volcanoes can be very dangerous, causing massive damage when they erupt.↵
However, not all creatures fear them.↵
In fact, one species of bird, the maleo, depends on them for its survival.↵
It seeks out volcanic areas when making a nest and uses their heat to help hatch its eggs.↵
The maleo needs this extra help because its eggs are unusually large, meaning the female maleo is unable to keep them warm on her own.

It is the weakening of leg veins that is one of the biggest problems for astronauts.↵
Because blood flows differently in zero gravity and the circulatory system doesn't have to work hard, the veins become thin and weak.↵
NASA studied baby giraffes to see how they deal with this.↵
They are able to stand as soon as they are born because their leg veins rapidly inflate.↵
With this in mind, NASA created tubes that fit around astronauts' legs and use vacuum pressure to expand their veins.↵
As a result, astronauts can keep their veins strong and healthy.

Known for his devotion to each of his paintings, Protogenes was an ancient Greek painter and a rival of Apelles.↵
He was born in Caunus, on the coast of Caria, but lived most of his life in Rhodes.↵
Little else is known of him.↵
But there are some accounts of his paintings.↵
The lalysus and the Satyr were the most well-known among his works.↵
Protogenes spent approximately seven years painting the lalysus, a depiction of a local hero of a town in Rhodes.↵
After remaining in Rhodes for at least 200 years, it was carried off to Rome.↵
There later it was destroyed by fire.↵
Protogenes worked on the Satyr during Demetrius Poliorcetes' attack on Rhodes from 305 to 304 B.C.↵
Interestingly, the garden in which he painted the Satyr was in the middle of the enemy's camp.↵
Protogenes is said to have been about seventy years of age when the Satyr was completed.

The cucamelon is an unusual fruit that tastes like a sour cucumber.↵
Native to Mexico and Central America, it is also called a Mexican sour gherkin or a mouse melon.↵
It resembles a tiny watermelon.↵
It can be purchased at farmer's markets, but many people plant it in gardens because it is easy to grow.↵
It is best to start growing it indoors in April and May.↵
It can take three or four weeks for the young plants to emerge from the soil.↵
Once they are big enough, replant them in your garden.↵
When the cucamelon fruit is about the size of a grape, it is ripe enough to be picked.↵
There are many different ways to eat it, but the best way is to put it directly in your mouth.

Naked mole rats are small rodents found in East Africa.↵
They are extremely ugly animals, with large teeth, no fur, and pink skin.↵
They are only about 150 millimeters in length, and there is no difference in size between males and females.↵
Despite their name, they are neither moles nor rats, and their social behavior more closely resembles that of ants or bees.↵
They live and breed underground in large groups of up to 300 individuals, with soldiers, workers and a queen.↵
Rarely do they come up to the surface of the earth, so their eyes are very small.↵
Mole rats also seem to feel little pain, and they can live in places with very little oxygen.

The above graph shows who Australian girls and boys aged eleven consulted if they had problems.↵
Mothers were the most consulted source if girls and boys had problems.↵
For boys, fathers were the second most consulted source, followed by friends.↵
The percentage of girls who consulted teachers was 20 percentage points higher than that of girls who consulted fathers.↵
The percentage of boys who consulted teachers was lower than that of girls who consulted teachers by 4 percentage points.↵
More girls went to their friends than to their brothers or sisters if they had problems.

Jaime Lerner, a well-known architect and urban planner, was born in Curitiba, Brazil in 1937 and was elected mayor of the city in 1971.↵
He was re-elected twice, serving as mayor for eight additional years.↵
During his time as mayor, he came up with numerous low-cost projects that turned Curitiba into a model community.↵
It was the city's efficient public transit system that had the biggest impact on the residents' quality of life.↵
Now copied in more than 100 countries around the world, it is efficient, comfortable, and inexpensive.↵
Lerner also installed waste management, recycling, and green space preservation programs.↵
What's more, he seldom ignored the needs of the city's poor and built low-income housing near the city center.

Clipperton Island, located 1,000 kilometers off the Mexican coast, isn't a very appealing place.↵
It is covered in sharp coral and aggressive crabs.↵
It rains hard and continuously there from May to October, and the island smells of ammonia during the dry season.↵
Therefore, it's not surprising that the island is uninhabited.↵
In the past, however, France, the U.S., Britain, and Mexico all fought for the island.↵
They did so not only because of its strategic position but also for its surface layer of guano, valuable seabird waste that was sold as fertilizer.↵
Attempts to colonize Clipperton Island were made from 1858 to 1917, but all failed.↵
When a group of Mexican settlers finally succeeded, they were soon forgotten and left stranded.

Tomas Luis de Victoria, the greatest Spanish composer of the sixteenth century, was born in Avila and as a boy sang in the church choir.↵
When his voice broke, he went to Rome to study and he remained in that city for about 20 years, holding appointments at various churches and religious institutions.↵
In Rome, he met Palestrina, a famous Italian composer, and may even have been his pupil.↵
In the 1580s, after becoming a priest, he returned to Spain and spent the rest of his life peacefully in Madrid as a composer and organist to members of the royal household.↵
He died in 1611, but his tomb has yet to be identified.

The graph above shows how the calorie count and the portion size of the average American fast food meal have changed between 1986 and 2016.↵
All parts of the meal increased in both portion size and calorie count, with desserts showing the greatest increase.↵
The main dish, the largest in portion size of the three categories, had an increase of 39 grams with 90 extra calories.↵
Portion sizes of sides only increased by 4 grams in 30 years but increased by 42 calories.↵
The portion size of desserts went up by 71 grams while the calorie count increased more than twice.↵
A total meal in 1986 had 735 calories while 2016 meals had 1,053 calories.

Johannes Vermeer was a 17th-century Dutch artist known for painting scenes from the daily life of the middle class.↵
He painted slowly and with great attention to detail, favoring bright colors such as blue and yellow.↵
However, it is his skilled treatment and use of light that is most renowned.↵
Although Vermeer gained moderate fame during his lifetime, he was later forgotten for nearly two centuries.↵
One reason for this may be that he painted a relatively small number of paintings.↵
His total artistic output is estimated at 45 paintings.↵
It wasn't until the 19th century that his work was rediscovered.↵
Since that time, appreciation of his genius has grown, and he is now considered one of the greatest Dutch painters of his time.