Caring For Other People's Children
19-year-old Anjana Damraji is a first year science student. She lives in a girl's hostel in Pune, manages to pay her fees through a government scholarship and tutors five children during her spare hours to earn an extra bit of money. None of this would seem extraordinary had it not been for the fact that Anjana's parents work on a construction site as laborers and have been doing so for the past 2... posted on Feb 20, 4488 reads

Estonians Build a Happiness Bank
In times of economic woe, Estonians are banking on ideas to lift their spirits above the gloom and doom of recession with an online "happiness bank" and forums on better governance. In the virtual "happiness bank", people will be able to earn virtual money on their accounts by doing good deeds for those in need. Organisers hope it will give people the idea that doing good is as valuable as earnin... posted on Mar 2, 4718 reads

The Great Mystery of Consciousness
"To make scientific headway in a topic as tangled as consciousness, it helps to clear away some red herrings. Consciousness surely does not depend on language. Babies, many animals and patients robbed of speech by brain damage are not insensate robots; they have reactions like ours that indicate that someone's home. Nor can consciousness be equated with self-awareness. At times we have all lost ou... posted on Mar 8, 4242 reads

Seven Sisters with 80 Rupees in 1959
The "seven sisters", as they are fondly remembered, gathered on the terrace of an old building in a crowded South Mumbai locality and rolled out four packets of "papads" (crisp, traditional Indian meal starters) to sell. It was 1959. They had borrowed 80 Rupees (today's $1.50), to cook and sell papad as a way to supplement the household income. Three months later, they had 25 women. Just recen... posted on Mar 13, 5377 reads

A Hospital's Sacrifice
It wasn't the kind of meeting the management looks forward to, but this time it was going to play out uniquely. "I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Paul Levy, President of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service ... posted on Nov 18, 3509 reads

4 Students, A Camera & A Balloon
Teenagers armed with only an inexpensive camera and latex balloon have managed to take stunning pictures of space from 20-miles above Earth. Proving that you don't need Google's billions or the BBC weather center's resources, the four Spanish students managed to send a camera-operated weather balloon into the stratosphere. Taking atmospheric readings and photographs 20 miles above the ground, the ... posted on Mar 20, 4690 reads

An Everday Subway Hero
Subway heroes, as they are inevitably tagged even before the grease from the tracks is rubbed off, come along every now and then -- indeed, as the story of Chad Lindsey suggests, perhaps more often than we know. Minutes after rescuing a man who had fallen onto the subway tracks at the Penn Station stop on Monday, Mr. Lindsey managed to melt back into the anonymity of the city, escaping the notice ... posted on Mar 28, 2719 reads

Playing the Smart Move
On a recent afternoon, Orrin Hudson, a former Alabama state trooper, is teaching chess to 14 students in an after-school program. He uses the ancient game to instill a fundamental life lesson: They will win or lose because of choices they make -- in real life and on the chess board. Hudson, 41, figures he has taught chess to 15,000 kids in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Nevada and Washington state.... posted on Mar 31, 2771 reads

Rowing For Hope
After almost 3,000 miles of rowing, bouts of seasickness, equipment failure and salt sores, Paul Ridley is back on land. On day 88, Ridley, 25, completed his solo rowing trip across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the youngest American ever to do so. For nearly three months, Ridley has been rowing up to twelve hours a day on the 2,950-mile journey to raise cancer awareness and hopefully raise money f... posted on Apr 1, 2966 reads

Does Art Heal?
Seven-year-old Catriona Chennell's room is filled with samples of her artwork: strings of differently-shaped beads, a painting of a rainbow blazing across a blue sky. Cat's art decorates her room in the pediatric intensive care unit at Shands at the University of Florida, the hospital in Gainesville where she has spent six months waiting for a heart-lung tensplant. Through the Arts in Medicine pro... posted on Apr 6, 4287 reads

No Time for Complaining
There may be a positive byproduct of our troubled times: a decrease in the urge to complain. Job satisfaction is actually up, and according to a December 2008 survey almost 38% of respondents said they were "very satisfied" with their jobs, compared with 28% in 2007, a likely sign that people are grateful they're still employed. And every week now, we hear reports of workers accepting pay cuts or ... posted on Apr 7, 4549 reads

1 Piece of Advice
Patricia Moser-Stern and Barbara Moser knew there were plenty of successful women with advice to share when they decided to pen their book, 1 Piece of Advice. But the Markham cousins say the process of gathering almost 50 examples of remarkable women gave them even more inspiration. "There were these women across the globe that have achieved so many things ... stories so amazing, but we didn't eve... posted on Apr 9, 5672 reads

The Faces of Others
Dr. Yehonatan N. Turner was accepted to both film school and medical school. He was eventually drawn to radiology as the most visual field in medicine; when he began his residency in radiology, he was frustrated that the CT scans he analyzed revealed nothing about the patients behind them -- only their internal organs. So to make things personal, he imagined each patient was his father. But then h... posted on Apr 10, 2986 reads

The Best Weekend Ever
On the eve of April Fools' Day, a 29-year-old Pittsburgh man posted an ad on Craigslist Chicago offering "help with something this weekend" to any Chicagoans in need of an extra pair of hands for tasks small or large. His only request to those asking for help was that they "pay it forward" by doing a good deed to someone else. That next weekend, he drove nearly 1,200 miles to Chicago and back, del... posted on Apr 20, 4430 reads

Student Buys Orphanage
Amy Lambert, 24, spent eight weeks last summer caring for the 150 boys and girls, who were crammed six to a single bed. All the children -- who had lost parents to Aids -- were starving and dehydrated, with most wracked with malaria. So when Amy, an undergraduate at Bath Spa University, returned to Britain she organized a series of charity events -- raising 30,000 pounds in seven months. She then ... posted on Apr 29, 4868 reads

Angels on the Atlantic
Vince and Jeanie Hubach always wanted to share the sandier side of life with others. The couple now run a nonprofit called Angels on the Atlantic that makes it easy -- and free -- for local city kids to visit the beach. Some of the kids have never felt sand between their toes, inspected a seashell, or even seen waves. It's not that they live so far inland -- they're from the Philadelphia area, onl... posted on May 6, 2443 reads

Wake Up Economics
Last September, Anna Rowinski took a boldly visible sign that read "Just for today don't be afraid" to Park Square. "I got this idea and it wouldn't let me go -- to sit on the circle with this sign. It was my way of being proactive, of not just laying down," she said. "It made me realize how dry we are, how much we are looking for permission to connect" to one another, she said. When talking to he... posted on May 8, 3384 reads

My House to the White House
At age 11, Zach Bonner has already walked farther and done more for charity than many grown-ups. Now he's about to make good on his vow to walk more than 1,200 miles from Tampa to Washington to bring attention to the plight of homeless kids in the United States. The boy with the spiky red hair came up with the idea in 2007, then hiked nearly 300 miles from his home near Tampa to the state capital,... posted on May 17, 3352 reads

What Would It Look Like?
What if the world embodied its highest potential? What would it look like? As many of the structures of modern society crumble, this video contemplates a set of unexamined assumptions that form the very basis of our civilization. In a beautifully shot 25-minute retrospective, it asks us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves -- and to listen more closely to what is being asked of us at... posted on May 22, 4385 reads

The Genius of Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci is known for the "Mona Lisa" and other art masterpieces. But the Renaissance man also invented fluid dynamics and, perhaps, the scientific method. Fritjof Capra, author of the best-selling, The Tao of Physics writes about Leonardo's investigations of the natural world in his new book, The Science of Leonardo. Capra claims that Leonardo applied the empirical method a century befor... posted on May 24, 3198 reads

A Whole New Mind
"The scales are tipping away from what it used to take for people to get ahead -- logical, linear, left-brain, and spreadsheet-type abilities -- in favor of abilities like artistry, empathy, and big-picture thinking, which are becoming more valuable. Left-brain skills are still absolutely necessary in our complex world. They're just not sufficient anymore." In this fascinating interview, author Da... posted on May 26, 5339 reads

A Promise To A Fourth-Grade Class
A nine-year journey ended Tuesday for about 50 high school students who, as fourth-graders at Wallace Elementary, were promised college scholarships if they completed high school. For Kelso High School senior Katrina Hobbs, the I Have A Dream program and its volunteer mentors helped her become the first high school graduate in her family. "I couldn't have done that without this program," said Katr... posted on May 27, 2280 reads

The Compassion of Dogs
For centuries, humans have imagined that they are the only animals with morals. But humans are not alone in the moral arena, a new breed of behavior experts says. Natural historian Jake Page said some scientists are acknowledging what pet owners have told their canines all along: "Good dog." Dogs are full of natural goodness and have rich emotional lives, said animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff, profe... posted on Jun 23, 6304 reads

Art From The Soul
World renown sand artist Ilana Yahav uses only her fingers to make magnificent sand drawings on glass. This piece's theme is "You are not alone. You've got a friend, who will help you through your pains and sorrow and will always be at your side." Watch as she seamlessly flows from one picture to the next, creating a beautiful world from the effortless movement of her fingertips.... posted on Jun 25, 9795 reads

How To Do A Million Good Deeds
Three student entrepreneurs at the University of Michigan think they can use their phones to make the world a better place, one download at a time. Three weeks since its launch at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, the application, DoGood, has recruited more than 15,000 individuals to be part of a growing network of users who want to change the world, at least a little. Subscribers to the fr... posted on Jul 7, 4397 reads

The Difference Makers
Are you a Difference Maker? What is it that you possess -- beyond the material -- that you can give to the world? Time? Energy? Art? Love? Inspiration? Happiness? Jason Miller and Mathew Boggs have launched a global campaign called The Difference Makers, with a mission to unify, edify, and magnify world-shapers' talents for the highest global good.... posted on Jul 16, 3833 reads

Telling Stories in our Organizations
"This firm had developed a reputation for being a terrible place to work. When I met with the head of the firm, he illustrated the problem with a personal example. Just recently, he told me, a client meeting had been scheduled on the day one of his employees was getting married. 'I told her she needed to be there. That the meeting was early enough and she could still get to her wedding on time.' H... posted on Jul 17, 5293 reads

Can Twitter Help Us Save Energy?
There's a house that tweets all of its energy usage. And that's just the beginning of the information it dumps onto Twitter every day. Even the mousetraps are plugged in! Real-time monitoring of energy usage, subsidizing more efficient energy consumption, personal conservation, and automation are four trends that are addressing the 20% of residential energy consumption in the US.... posted on Oct 17, 2707 reads

Alan Watts on Life & Music
Philosopher Alan Watts reflects that "in music, one does not make the end of the composition, the point of the composition." This lively and comical animation compares our journey through life with music, and comes to a very thought-provoking conclusion.... posted on Aug 6, 3977 reads

A Walk In The Park
It might be more important than you think to take that stroll in the park: A recent study suggests that walking in nature might actually benefit your brain. The study, published in Psychological Science and conducted by University of Michigan researchers, found that when people spent time in nature, as opposed to an urban environment, their attention and memory improved. ... posted on Aug 7, 5318 reads

The Lost Generation
Using only narration and text, this inspiring 2-minute video uses a clever trick to make its point about being alive in this generation. While the original concept of this video came from an Argentinean commercial, "Lost Generation" won a prize at an AARP contest and has since attracted millions of viewers online. It is certainly a creative way to deliver an important point!... posted on Aug 9, 8102 reads

Best Online Psychology Tests
Want to know what's really going on in your own head? This NY Times post offers a list of the best online psychology tests, some of which are used to collect data for research experiments, while others are skill tests or quizzes that offer personal insights. A few of the best include a fun test that measures how fast and flexible a thinker you are by using color-coded words and an "I Just Get Myse... posted on Aug 10, 8586 reads

The 'Putpocketers' of London
Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose -- putpockets. Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London's tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets. Anything from 5 pounds ($8) to 20 pound notes is being ... posted on Aug 24, 2913 reads

An 8-Year-Old's Compassion
It's no "Harry Potter," but 8-year-old Joshua Bayer's book about monsters is getting much attention around his hometown of La Plata. Joshua wrote and illustrated "M-M-M-Monster!!!" to raise money for animal rescue efforts. Two stores are selling the self-published book (courtesy of his mother) to help his cause, and his parents have set up a Web site to assist with the aspiring author's debut. "He... posted on Aug 25, 4393 reads

Survival of the Kindest
He may well be the psychotherapist with the simplest recipe: kindness. According to Piero Ferrucci, freedom starts with being kind. To others. And yourself. This Ode article shares a thought-provoking glimpse of Ferrucci's thinking on kindness and its relationship to forgiveness.... posted on Sep 2, 8179 reads

Do-Gooders with Spreadsheets
"The World Economic Forum here in Davos is the kind of place where if you let yourself get distracted while walking by a European prime minister on your left, you could end up tripping over a famous gazillionaire -- and then spilling your coffee onto the king on your right. But perhaps the most remarkable people to attend aren't the world leaders or other bigwigs. Rather, they are the social entre... posted on Sep 3, 2449 reads

Finding Perfection in the Unexpected
"On a recent afternoon, I went to a pottery shop outside of Tokyo and happened to meet the head potter who had stopped by to check on her staff. After looking around the shop, I asked the potter if she had a few minutes to chat and explain her work to me. The first thing she talked about was how a potter never knew what was going to wind up coming out of the kiln. "Each kiln opening," she said, "w... posted on Oct 25, 4169 reads

Wired To Wonder
Our brains are hardwired for worry -- and there's good reason why. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors had to keep an eye out for danger at every turn: If I eat those plants, will I get sick? Yet it was only when our ancestors ventured off beyond the boundaries of what was known that they could add to their knowledge and skills. They had to discover absolutely everything for themselves. In other words, ... posted on Nov 12, 4427 reads

Arts And Smarts
For years, arts advocates have been pleas, stressing the intangible benefits of the arts at a time when many Americans are preoccupied with a market-driven culture of entertainment, and schools are consumed with meeting federal standards. Art brings joy, these advocates say, or it evokes our humanity, or, in the words of my 10-year-old daughter, "It cools kids down after all the other hard stuff t... posted on Oct 31, 4932 reads

The Biology of Leadership
"The salient discovery is that certain things leaders do -- specifically, exhibit empathy and become attuned to others' moods -- literally affect both their own brain chemistry and that of their followers. Indeed, researchers have found that the leader-follower dynamic is not a case of two (or more) independent brains reacting consciously or unconsciously to each other. Rather, the individual mind... posted on Nov 10, 6073 reads

Happiness Without Getting What You Want
Who says we'll be miserable if we don't get what we want? According to Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert, our "psychological immune system" lets us feel real, enduring happiness even when things don't go as planned. This kind of happiness -- "synthetic happiness," Gilbert calls it -- is "every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you were aimi... posted on Sep 22, 5600 reads

Synagogue a Mosque During Ramadan
On Friday afternoons, the people coming to pray at this building take off their shoes, unfurl rugs to kneel on and pray in Arabic. The ones that come Friday evenings put on yarmulkes, light candles and pray in Hebrew. The building is a synagogue on a tree-lined street in suburban Virginia, but for the past few weeks -- during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- it has also been doubling daily as a... posted on Sep 20, 4732 reads

Chuck Close Alchemy: Using Adversity to Create Magic
If you're an artist in the 21st century, chances are you've heard of master-colorist and brush-wielder extraordinaire, Chuck Close. Considered one of the most influential artists of our time, he is quite frankly, unstoppable. Recognizing his thirst to paint at a very young age, he has not allowed anything to stand in his way, maneuvering every challenge into an opportunity. At age 48, after an awa... posted on Sep 21, 4241 reads

Smashing Stereotypes of Old Age
Jack Borden has found the fountain of youth. It's in his office. Borden has been practicing law for more than seven decades. At 101, he was recently honored as America's "Outstanding Oldest Worker" by the nonprofit group Experience Works. Will Miles Clark, D.D.S., on the other hand, is a spry 105-year-old who has gladly spent about half a century in retirement from his former profession, dentistry... posted on Sep 24, 4594 reads

The Man Behind 'Joy of Giving'
All his possessions fit in two suitcases. He doesn't earn much, he doesn't spend much. Most of his life is focused on birthing a culture of giving. In 2000, when he found out that formal giving was 0.2% of the GDP in India (compared to 1.8% in the US), he started an effort called 'GiveIndia', to promote good causes and to make their finances transparent. Millions of rupees were donated on that... posted on Oct 3, 3826 reads

The New Orleans Musician's Clinic
Eleven years ago, Bethany and her husband, Johann Bultman, decided the best way to keep the music alive was to keep the musicians healthy. "The reason we chose to target musicians in New Orleans is because they represent a pure American cultural form, jazz music," said Johann. Thanks to the Clinic's volunteer doctors, a grant from the federal government, and various charitable donations, the non-p... posted on Nov 3, 1963 reads

Angels in the Dust
In South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, the longtime government practice of culling -- killing adult elephants to control herd sizes -- tore apart the complex social fabric of elephant culture, a fabric that is not unlike that of the traditionally close-knit African village. As a result, orphaned elephants grew up exhibiting unusually violent behavior, such as attacking and goring rhinos. But... posted on Oct 10, 2502 reads

Notes Left Behind by A Five-Year-Old
After 5-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with an inoperable kind of cancer, she managed to spread a message of hope and healing. Elena knew that every coming day would be a gift, not to be wasted, so she created a to-do list of sorts -- swim with dolphins, drive a car and more. During her nine-month battle with cancer, Elena was planning an even greater gift for her family. She was hiding no... posted on Nov 6, 7411 reads

Taking In The Good
Much as your body is built from the foods you eat, your mind is built from the experiences you have. The flow of experience gradually sculpts your brain, thus shaping your mind. Some of the results can be explicitly recalled: This is what I did last summer; that is how I felt when I was in love. But most of them remain forever unconscious. This is called implicit memory, and it helps form your exp... posted on Nov 7, 7498 reads

Triumph Of A Dreamer
"Of all the people earning university degrees this year, perhaps the most remarkable story belongs to Tererai (pronounced TEH-reh-rye), a middle-aged woman who is one of my heroes. She is celebrating a personal triumph, but she's also a monument to the aid organizations and individuals who helped her. When you hear that foreign-aid groups just squander money or build dependency, remember that by a... posted on Nov 17, 3721 reads