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Scientists have observed that tears of joy, and tears from being in the vicinity of onions, have a different chemical structure.... posted on Sep 1, 570 reads

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Loneliness has been shown to double the risk of catching a cold. Lonely people are four times more likely than others to suffer a heart attack, and four times more likely to die from it. By comparison, smokers are only twice as likely as nonsmokers to die from a heart attack.... posted on Sep 2, 619 reads

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Trevor Loflin got perfect 800 scores on the SAT college admission tests - that's pretty amazing. Perhaps even more amazing is that he managed those test scores despite the fact that his family had no permanent home. And did we mention that he has no school either? The 17 year old was home-schooled - obviously quite well - while his family slept, well, wherever.... posted on Sep 3, 755 reads

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Only 37% of youth report feeling a sense of personal power, and only half feel that their life has a purpose.... posted on Sep 13, 648 reads

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Seventy-six percent of workers age 16 and older drove alone to get to their jobs, while about 11 percent carpooled.... posted on Sep 16, 513 reads

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Approximately 25 million American adults have enough hearing loss to qualify for disability payments. Yet certain Bushman tribes in Botswana and the Maabans of southern Sudan exhibit no significant hearing loss as they grow older.... posted on Sep 17, 838 reads

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Our intention behind this daily e-mail has always been to bring inspiration and to help encourage each other in being good forces in the world. Our daily actions may be small, but they have a ripple effect. With anger in the world, there is a clear need to keep increasing the love in our actions, until the ripples reach every heart on this planet. Until that time, we can always do more. If you... posted on Sep 19, 518 reads

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The internet has proven to be a valuable tool for providing information and facilitating charitable giving after the terrorist attacks.... posted on Sep 25, 1073 reads

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The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs. One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants.... posted on Oct 3, 569 reads

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A recent study determined that employees perceptions of the psychological climate at work influenced job involvement, work effort and work performance.... posted on Oct 23, 562 reads

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In 2000, firearms killed 5,285 children in the U.S. (compared with 0 in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, and 153 in Canada).... posted on Oct 29, 523 reads

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The more teenagers feel loved by their parents and comfortable in their schools, the less likely they are to have early sex, smoke, abuse alcohol or drugs, or commit violence or suicide.... posted on Nov 3, 623 reads

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If you cut a redwood tree, its root system will create "angel rings" around the stump and as many as 100 trees will grow around it in a circle.... posted on Oct 25, 465 reads

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To make one pound of honey, the bee has to tap into 2 million flowers and travel 55,000 miles.... posted on Nov 2, 491 reads

Healing Power of Doing Good
In his 1991 book, "The Healing Power of Doing Good", Allan Luks documented that serving others produced a 'helpers's high' that also functioned as an antidote to stress and other medical conditions.... posted on Nov 28, 1049 reads

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Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel took 86 women with advanced breast cancer and gave half of them weekly psychotherapy combined with lessons in self-hypnosis. The group receiving therapy survived on average twice as long as group that received none. (Source: Ageless Body, Timeless Mind)... posted on Dec 1, 850 reads

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Two Buddhist monks, Rev. Heng Sure and Marty Verhoeven, took a pilgrimage of about 800 miles, except that after every three steps they took one full bow to the ground wishing joy for all beings. Read some excerpts from their journals online:... posted on Dec 11, 660 reads

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Larry Scherwitz, a University of California psychologist, taped the conversations of nearly 600 men, a third of whom were suffering from heart disease, the rest of whom were healthy. Men who used the word "I", "me", and "mine" most often had the highest risk of heart trouble.... posted on Dec 19, 562 reads

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The Earth is not perfectly round but is slightly flattened at the poles and bulges a little just south of the Equator.... posted on Dec 20, 388 reads

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An organization in San Francisco allows you to travel and make a difference -- Airline Ambassadors. Started by a flight attendant, you can find more online:... posted on Dec 21, 887 reads

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According to the A.C. Nielsen Co. (1998), the average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV each day (more than 52 days of nonstop TV-watching per year). By age 65 the average American will have spent nearly 9 years glued to the tube.... posted on Dec 28, 472 reads

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The movie 'Waking Life' is being heralded by critics as a one of a kind and is even filmed in a unique way (animation superimposing live actors). Theme of the movie -- perhaps we are all dreaming right now.... posted on Jan 1, 751 reads

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Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.... posted on Jan 9, 808 reads

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Instead of bar-hopping, there was a group that was interested in community service. So they started Single Volunteers, where singles organize volunteer activities and meet other singles with similar interests:... posted on Jan 18, 538 reads

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Pollution and traffic are big problems in many cities. City Car-Share is an innovative solution that allows you to get a car on an hourly basis. Started in San Francisco, it is now expanding rapidly.... posted on Jan 29, 496 reads

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A national directory of social change email lists and forums:... posted on Feb 1, 447 reads

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Wouldn't it be incredible if, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, our schools offered classes about making peace? Boston-based Peace Games partners with schools to do just that.... posted on Feb 20, 537 reads

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The only son of the founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, John Robbins was groomed to follow in his father's footsteps, but chose to walk away from the immense wealth to be a spokesperson for nonviolence, vegetarianism and a sustainable Earth.... posted on Feb 12, 782 reads

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Only 33% of pantry programs and 55% of soup kitchens have any paid staff at all, which means that many programs rely entirely on volunteers.... posted on Feb 9, 2142 reads

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Penelope Cruz, often considered one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, spent a week with Mother Teresa in India and later donated her entire salary of her movie, 'The Hi-Lo Country', to Mother Teresa's charity.... posted on Feb 7, 596 reads

Lungs of a Smoker
When she became a flight attendant, her colleagues told her three things: you are going to meet the most interesting men, travel to exciting places and have the lungs of a smoker, even if you never smoke. The last one struck her. It especially hit her when her colleague, Norma Broin, was daignosed with lung cancer. Patty, immediately, launched a relentless crusade against smoking on airplanes ... posted on May 4, 1205 reads

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National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported this week that teens consumed 25 percent of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. Furthermore, 87% of adults who drink had their first drink of alcohol before age 21.... posted on Mar 6, 1380 reads

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To produce a single hamburger patty takes as much fossil fuel as it does to drive a small car 20 miles, and uses enough water for 17 showers.... posted on Jan 11, 669 reads

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At 100 years of age, Harold Fisher is still going strong – in fact, he's continuing his work as an architect of churches, a profession that he still finds fun and stimulating after 85 years. ... posted on Jan 17, 749 reads

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A good laugh can be beneficial in all sorts of ways. Laughter brings a sense of well-being, reduces stress, strengthens the immune system, improves likability, and is just plain fun! These are some of the reasons behind the Laughter Club, which is making its way around the world.... posted on Jan 25, 600 reads

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Independent studies show that children who learn piano tend to do better in school. This is attributed to the discipline, eye-hand coordination, social skills building, learning a new language (music) and the pleasure derived from making your own music.... posted on Feb 19, 466 reads

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Steve Dinan's Consciousness Timeline lists various key books and events that demarcate the growing Western interest in the nature of consciousness, from William James to Freud to Huxley to Yogananda to Allan Watts to Ken Wilber.... posted on Mar 29, 575 reads

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To the question "Have you realized your dreams?" 5% of those who made $15,000/yr said yes. When the same question was asked to those who made $100,000/yr, 6% said yes. (from Here and Now in the 90's, by Ram Dass)... posted on Mar 5, 1315 reads

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The Kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can't fly, lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind and lays only one egg each year. Yet it has survived for 70 million years. (Source: San Diego Zoo)... posted on Apr 3, 1226 reads

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A free encyclopedia? In 2001, a collaborative project started to produce a complete encyclopedia from scratch. No one owns the projects and anyone can contribute to it. To date, close to 30,000 articles have been added.... posted on Mar 23, 1258 reads

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Three 10-year studies concluded that emotional stress was more predictive of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease than smoking; people who were unable to manage their stress had a 40% higher death rate than non-stressed individuals. ... posted on Mar 9, 957 reads

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Officer Eduardo Delacruz refused a sergeant’s order to arrest a homeless man found sleeping in a Manhattan parking garage. He was slapped with 30 days of unpaid suspension. However, the homeless teamed up in support -- they collected 3000 dollars (officer's salary for that month) for Eduardo, most chipping in with nickles and dimes!... posted on Feb 26, 1076 reads

Passing It On
Everyone under 16 is planting a new tree in Britain. The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe, with just 12% of its landscape covered with trees, and a new planting campaign plans to change that while educating the younger generation. The goal is 12 million new trees within the next five years.... posted on Sep 29, 1413 reads

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A severe housing shortage on their reservation and the chance to win a national competition prompted a group of Native American, middle-school girls in Montana to develop a way to build a study hall out of straw. They won.... posted on Apr 5, 1151 reads

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The Campaign for Courtesy in the United Kingdom launched its national 'Day of Courtesy' on October 4 with the theme that better manners would greatly reduce the cost of the National Health Service. The Campaign is suggesting that people should slow down, try harder to listen to others and relax their faces into a smile.... posted on Oct 23, 1172 reads

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One in five of the world's people -- 1.2 billion -- live on less 1 dollar/day. 56% of the developing world lacks basic sanitation, and more than 50 countries have lower real per capita incomes today than they did a decade ago. ... posted on Mar 22, 466 reads

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Fewer than 100 people in the world have ever reached the highest peaks of the seven highest mountains. Erik Weihenmayer just joined that elite group. And, incidentally, he’s blind. ... posted on Oct 30, 1030 reads

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Can grown ups and kids have a good time together? Yup! August 4th 2002 is National Kids Day:... posted on Jul 24, 1245 reads

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Today, 1 in 4 Americans will eat a fast-food meal. Americans spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software or new cars. Every month more than 90 percent of American children eat at McDonald's; the average American eats three hamburgers and four orders of french fries every week. But Eric Schlosser show why most don't know what goes behind the making... posted on Apr 4, 1304 reads

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Shaheen Mistry took a routine family vacation to India, about 13 years ago. She ended up visiting the slums of Mumbai and never left. With the help of volunteers, she started a school for the slum children; what started with 10 kids now is a full school with over 1000 children.... posted on Aug 10, 1279 reads