Hello everybody, and welcome to a new episode of News Bites!

I'm Trevor Tortomasi…

And I'm Nancy Sun.

In today's news:

Students break records, human communication evolves, and a big star is leaving an action series.

All that and more, coming up next.

________________________________

成大學生製造破紀錄的電動車

NCKU Students Set Records With Electric Car

More and more people around the world are starting to use electric vehicles (電動車).

That's because most electric vehicles don't have to use oil (石油), which means they are quieter, and make less pollution (汙染).

And one group of students has shown their support (支持) for cleaner technology!

Every year, there is a competition for students to design their own cars, and then race them against each other.

每年都舉辦比賽，讓學生自己設計製造電動車參賽。

Teams have between eight months and one year to build and prepare their vehicles for the competition.

Because of the pandemic, most universities in Taiwan didn't have enough time or resources (資源) to be part of it.

But a group of students at National Cheng Kung University (國立成功大學), also called NCKU, were the first to develop a car powered by electricity!

The car they made this year was much lighter than last year's, and they also made it more aerodynamic (更符合空氣動力學).

Now, the car can go from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in just three seconds!

目前這台車能在三秒鐘之內，從時速零飆到一百公里！

Their team's captain (隊長) got to drive the car, and she even set some new records (創了新紀錄)!

If the pandemic situation improves, they hope to be able to compete (參加比賽) in Japan next year.

Of course, making a project like this can be pretty expensive…

They said it was also much more difficult to get computer chips (晶片) and electric motor parts (電動引擎零件), because of the pandemic.

And so the NCKU team had to spend about 2 million NT (兩百萬台幣) to build this car.

But if it's for a healthier future, with more electric cars… then at least they're making it for the right reasons!

________________________________

研究顯示 人類辨認表情符號的能力超強

Research Shows Humans Understand Emojis More Than We Thought

Sometimes when we type (打字) to people, we might not know which words to use.

But that's why more and more computers and phones can type something called an "emoji" (表情符號).

An emoji is a small face or picture that we can type onto our screens (螢幕).

The first one was created in Japan in the 1990s, to help people communicate (溝通) in a more interesting way…

And now, more than 20 years later, they're all over the place!

Recently, researchers in Germany set up an experimental test (實驗).

Test subjects (參與實驗的人) had to read new sentences, one word at a time.

But then, the researchers started to replace words in each sentence with emojis.

然後，研究人員開始用表情符號來代替句子裡的字。

For example, instead of the word "happy", they would use a happy face emoji.

And there was almost no change in how fast people could understand the sentences!

Then, for a second test, researchers used emojis that sounded like other, different meanings.

For example, to talk about a computer mouse (滑鼠), they used an emoji of a real mouse (老鼠).

And the second test had slower reactions (第二項實驗的反應時間比較久).

Researchers are using these two tests to study the connection between people seeing some emojis literally, and seeing other ones to have a second meaning.

科學家透過這兩個實驗，研究看到表情符號的反應，以及看到那些符號第二層意義的反應，兩者之間的關聯。

They hope they can use this research to help people with learning disabilities (學習障礙).

There is still a lot more to learn about the human brain…

But now, there may be more to learn about the brain emoji, too!

________________________________

浴血任務主角將退出電影系列

The Expendables Star Leaving Franchise

A key actor is leaving an action series.

Sylvester Stallone has starred in the Expendables franchise since it launched 12 years ago.

Filming has just wrapped up (結束) on the fourth film.

Stallone is now passing the lead actor title to co-star, Jason Statham.

第四部浴血任務電影拍完了，席維斯·史特龍以後不再演主角了。

Statham is expected to lead the franchise going forward.

Several of the recurring (重演) cast members will be back for the fourth movie.

A few big-name actors will join the cast for the first time as well.

The fourth Expendables movie will hit theaters sometime next year.

下一部電影開始，傑森·史塔森會當浴血任務的主角。

________________________________

So, in today's News Bites:

A group of students at National Cheng Kung University were the first team in one competition to develop a car powered by electricity.

Their team's captain got to drive the car, and she even set some new records!

If the pandemic situation improves, they hope to be able to compete in Japan next year.

________________________________

And,

Researchers in Germany have set up some tests that use emojis instead of words.

Researchers are using these tests to study the connection between people seeing some emojis literally, and seeing other ones to have a second meaning.

They hope they can use this research to help people with learning disabilities.

________________________________

And,

Sylvester Stallone is leaving The Expendables action movie series.

Stallone is now passing the lead actor title to co-star, Jason Statham.

The fourth Expendables movie will hit theaters sometime next year.

________________________________

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