Tai-phoon, Diamond Rain, YouBike Capital

News Bites

In today's news, with Trevor and Clifford:

Taiwan's lack of typhoons, making gems from plastic, and the city with the most YouBikes in Taiwan.

We'll tell you more about these stories, coming up next.

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台灣今年獨有的【台】風困擾

Taiwan's Tai-phoon Dilemma

When was the last time you had a typhoon day off from school?

While some places in Taiwan had to take a few days off due to heavy rain and strong winds, it's been a long time since the majority of Taiwan all had a typhoon day off!

That's because there hasn't been a typhoon that has made landfall (登陸) for a few years!

The most severe effects have only been from the periphery (外圍環流) of a typhoon affecting Taiwan with heavy rain and strong winds.

This trend has been noticed not only by people living in Taiwan, but also by meteorologists (氣象學家) in Japan!

They discovered that typhoons in the months of July, August, September, and October all swerved (急轉彎) right before they got to Taiwan and went to Japan or Korea.

Also, typhoons in the months of June, November, and December all coasted by (掠過) the southernmost tip of Taiwan and went straight into the South China Sea.

When this report came out, many people shared the discovery all over the internet and many others created memes (迷因) about this unique situation.

Some people said, "It should be called the power of tai-phoon with the 'T-A-I' from Taiwan, not the regular 'T-Y' from typhoon."

Luckily for Taiwan, despite having no typhoons making landfall, enough rain has fallen over the years, saving Taiwan many times when water levels were at a critical point.

幸運的是，台灣雖然沒有颱風登陸，但仍然帶來豐沛雨量，在水庫快見底時多次拯救台灣。

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科學奧秘：回收寶特瓶能製造奈米鑽石

Making Nanodiamonds out of Bottle Plastic

Have you ever heard of diamond rain (鑽石雨)?

If you've never heard of this, it's okay, it doesn't happen on Earth.

Diamond rain happens on the planets Neptune (海王星) and Uranus (天王星), where the environment is very extreme.

鑽石雨發生在環境非常極端的海王星和天王星上。

Temperatures reach many thousands of degrees Celsius (攝氏數千度) and the pressure is millions of times greater than the Earth's.

A German research team successfully recreated (模擬) the conditions needed to create very tiny diamonds here on earth.

The scientists fired an extremely powerful laser at a very thin layer of plastic and then they studied what happens to the plastic.

科學家對著非常薄的塑膠片發射極其強大的雷射光，然後研究塑膠發生了什麼變化。

During the laser blast, the plastic was heated to over 6,000 degrees Celsius, and a shockwave (震波) was created that equals a million times our Earth's atmospheric pressure (大氣壓力).

Although the entire recreation happens in just a few nanoseconds (十億分之一秒), it is enough to create tiny diamonds that the researchers are calling "nanodiamonds".

The plastic the researchers used is actually the same plastic you most likely use every day, from plastic bottles!

The researchers chose this specific kind of plastic, also known as PET, because it has a good combination and balance of carbon (碳), hydrogen (氫), and oxygen (氧).

It makes it very similar to the atmosphere (大氣層) of Neptune and Uranus.

Because of this new discovery, scientists are trying to see how to produce more nanodiamonds sustainably (永續發展的) and at scale (量產).

Diamonds can be used in many industrial (工業) areas and technologies.

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台灣的YouBike首都究竟是哪一個城市？

Which City is the YouBike Capital of Taiwan?

YouBike started in Taipei in 2012, and is a common form of transportation for many people.

But surprisingly (讓人驚訝), Taipei is not the YouBike capital city of Taiwan.

That honor goes to Kaohsiung!

YouBike 2.0 was launched in Kaohsiung in 2019, and in the beginning, many people had doubts that it would be a success.

YouBike 2.0 於 2019 年在高雄推出，一開始很多人都覺得它不會成功。

That's because motorbikes and scooters are so common in Kaohsiung.

Despite how common motorbikes are, YouBike has taken Kaohsiung by storm (席捲高雄市) in the two years since its launch.

Now, people are calling Kaohsiung "the 15-minute city" because of it!

That means people living in Kaohsiung can get to almost anywhere they need to in their daily lives within 15 minutes of walking or biking.

這表示高雄人可以步行或是騎自行車，在15分鐘之內抵達日常生活中所需要去的幾乎任何地方。

Many Kaohsiung citizens (高雄市居民) are replacing their cars, motorbikes, and scooters with YouBike.

Not only is YouBike very convenient (方便) and available almost anywhere you go, but it is also an eco-friendly and non-polluting option that has won the hearts of many Kaohsiung citizens.

So, the next time you're in Kaohsiung, or if you already live in Kaohsiung, remember to give YouBike a try!

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So, in today's News Bites:

There hasn't been a typhoon that has made landfall in Taiwan for a few years.

Meteorologists in Japan noticed this trend and made reports.

Many people shared the reports all over the internet and created memes about this unique situation.

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And,

Diamond rain happens on the planets of Neptune and Uranus, where the environment is very extreme.

A German research team successfully recreated the conditions to create very tiny diamonds using PET plastic.

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And,

The YouBike capital of Taiwan is Kaohsiung!

People are calling Kaohsiung "the 15-minute city" because they can travel anywhere within 15 minutes of walking or biking.

It makes visiting and living in Kaohsiung very convenient.

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And that's today's episode of News Bites!