不過父母親在掏腰包送小孩上音樂課之前,要注意ScienceDaily 的報導完全引用American Psychological Society(APS)網站的報導,APS標題是“New Research Provides the First Solid Evidence that the Study of Music Promotes Intellectual Development”, 文章中的一段提到“The results of this study revealed that increases in IQ from pre- to post-test were larger in the music groups than in the two others”,似乎學音樂會變得較聰明。不過論文原文“Music Lessons Enhance IQ”的結論如是說,“The findings indicate that music lessons cause small increases in IQ, but comparable nonmusical activities do not have similar consequences. By contrast, drama lessons had favorable effects on social behavior that were not evident in the music groups.”,在智商上僅有小幅增加;而且論文中的數據顯示,鍵盤組兒童在學習前後的整體智商變化為102.6-108.7,歌唱組兒童的整體智商變化為103.8-111.4,戲劇組則為102.7-107.7,沒有學習的一組為99.4-103.3。若對此些數據取ln值觀察其斜率,則僅歌唱組的變化稍大而已。另外作者也提到上學受教能增加智商,小班制特別有效,所以像棋藝、科學研習、閱讀等課外活動可能會獲得相似的好處。
關於綠建築的標準,讓我們先回到 1990 年,當時英國建築研究機構(BRE)首次發布有關「建築研究發展環境評估工具(Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method,BREEAM®)」,是世界上第一個建築永續評估方法。美國則在綠建築委員會成立後,於 1998 年推出「能源與環境設計領導認證」(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED)這套評估系統,加速推動了全球綠建築行動。