Economic Power of Positive Thinking
Optimists are more likely than others to display prudent financial behaviors but extreme optimists tend to have short planning horizons and act in ways that are generally not considered wise. According to new research from Duke University, optimists work long hours, invest in individual stocks, save more and pay their credit card balance on time while extreme optimists work fewer hours, are often ... posted on Nov 11 2007, 2,995 reads

New Thinking on Memory
Misplaced your keys—again? Can't remember the name of someone you met just 5 minutes ago? Brain researchers are on the case. Studies are uncovering how our mundane habits, what we eat, the pills we take, how we rest, and even our confidence levels have a big impact on our brain. New strategies to keep your brain agile include checking your iron intake, reducing multi-tasking, meditating regul... posted on Oct 24 2007, 4,771 reads

What Makes You Happy?
So you're between the ages of 13 and 24. What makes you happy? According to a recent survey the answer is sweet and simple. Spending time with family was the top answer to that open-ended question, according to an extensive survey -- more than 100 questions asked of 1,280 people ages 13-24 -- conducted by The Associated Press and MTV on the nature of happiness among America's young people. Next wa... posted on Aug 21 2007, 3,264 reads

Wisdom of the Teduray Tribe
In the 1960s when Stuart Schlegel came across the Teduray, a tribe from the Philippine rainforests, he found a "radically egalitarian" society. Men and women, children and adults, shamans and basket weavers: all operated as equals. The Teduray knew no violence, repression or hoarding of wealth. Child-rearing was equally divided between parents. The whole society was built on cooperation, non-viole... posted on Mar 21 2007, 4,018 reads

Time's Person Of The Year: You!
Time Magazine's person of the year 2006 is : You! In acknowledgment of the unprecedented scale of community and collaboration created by web users across the world, Time has made the public recipient of its annual award. Today, countless online initiatives ranging from Wikipedia, and YouTube to MySpace are powerfully bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them m... posted on Dec 17 2006, 3,167 reads

Creativity in the Daily Commute
Where do people do their most creative thinking? The most popular response: in the car! Last year’s Lemelson-MIT Invention Index survey focused on the locations and conditions that best promote fresh thinking. Program Director Merton Flemings notes, "Many Americans feel they spend half their lives in cars, but we were surprised by just how many people felt their daily commute was conducive to cr... posted on Nov 16 2006, 2,678 reads

American Generosity, Surveyed
A Harris Interactive online survey conducted in April 2006 had over 2500 Americans responding to a series of questions about Americans’ understanding of the sources and importance of generosity. The results? The home is the best teacher of generosity, with a helpful boost from the tax code. Most respondents thought that the family was the most important source of generosity, while nearly three o... posted on Oct 29 2006, 1,638 reads

Need A Lightbulb? Change the World.
Sitting humbly on shelves in stores everywhere is a product, priced at less than $3, that will change the world. Soon. It is an ordinary item that cuts to the heart of some of our world's most profound and urgent problems: Energy consumption. Global warming. Dependence on oil. The product is the compact fluorescent light bulb, a quirky-looking twist of frosted glass called a "CFL," or an "energy s... posted on Oct 22 2006, 2,086 reads

Writing A Novel in 30 Days
Ever feel like there's a book inside you waiting to be written? Chris Baty and 21 of his friends did. In 1999 they started National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in San Francisco. Meeting every night for one month, they held themselves to a 2000-words-a-day requirement. No coffee refills or bathroom breaks if you didn't make the count. Something about the process worked: people who'd never imagi... posted on Oct 17 2006, 2,244 reads

70 Best-Loved Words
We each have a special relationship to the words we use, and our vocabulary often reflects our way of relating to the world. An intriguing survey conducted by the British Council collected and compiled the top 70 favorite words of the English language. The Council asked more than 7,000 learners in 46 countries what they considered the most beautiful English words. "It's interesting that mother, th... posted on Sep 12 2006, 14,942 reads