Lottery Vs. Work
Lottery winners, trust-fund babies and others who get their money without working for it do not get as much satisfaction from their cash as those who earn it, a study of the pleasure center in people's brains suggests. Emory University researchers also noted that "there's substantial evidence that people who win the lottery are not happier a year after they win the lottery."... posted on May 28, 2533 reads

Video Game Kills Cancel Cells
Nine year old Ben played video games during his lengthy leukemia treatments. After 3.5 years, Ben won his battle but he wanted to help other kids win theirs. So he thought of designing a video game where players kill cancer cells. With the help of Make-A-Wish and Eric Johnston of Lucas Arts, that dream is now a reality. Enter Ben's Game.... posted on May 19, 961 reads

Reading a Smile
Think you're good at reading people? Most people feel they are, but actually fail miserably at it, confusing a half smile with approval when it signals contempt, or accepting an expression of apparent confidence while missing the concealed fear that lies beneath it. Misreading facial expressions and the emotions underlying them is a result of our inability to recognize minute expressions -- micro... posted on Jun 1, 1446 reads

Dave's Pay-It-Forward Gas Station
Five years ago, Dave lived at the Dignity Village homeless camp in north Portland. Last week, he was buying gas for customers at a local gas station. Dave, who requested that his last name not be printed, said he couldn't have overcome the challenges he faced without the kindness of others. He's hoping his generosity will encourage others to "pay it forward," echoing his good deeds. "I wouldn't be... posted on Oct 24, 4831 reads

Minimum Vacation Law
In Germany, the lowest-rung factory worker gets 30 days' paid vacation on average (or 24 days by law.) In France the norm is five to six weeks. Australians get 30 days paid vacation by law and take 25 days on average. Yet these countries maintain high rates of productivity.... posted on Jun 26, 1348 reads

When Life Gives You Lemons...
Eight-year-old Alexandra Scott, in a battle against malignant tumors, wants to raise $1 million for cancer research. And it looks like she just might do it, one lemonade stand at a time.
... posted on Jun 16, 1192 reads

Collective Intelligence
Is there a future potential seeking to emerge that depends on YOU? Yes, says this MIT researcher, C. Otto Scharmer. He's coined the term "presencing" -- a combination of the words "presence" and "sensing" -- to describe the remarkable experience of bringing the future into the present. Scharmer believes that our collective capacity to "presence" could activate the full potential of our species in ... posted on Jun 18, 1239 reads

Natural Capitalism
In 1991, eight people entered a sealed, glass-enclosed, 3-acre living system, where they expected to remain alive and healthy for two years. Of the original 25 small animal species in Biosphere II, 19 became extinct by the end. After 17 months, the humans showed signs of oxygen starvation from living at the equivalent of an altitude of 17,500 feet. Bottom line -- $200 million could not maintain ... posted on Jun 19, 1515 reads

Participant Productions
Everybody dreams of being in the movies. Jeff Skoll dreams of making them. The former eBay president, now a billionaire, is starting a company that will fund "socially relevant, commercially viable" feature films along the lines of 'Gandhi' or 'Erin Brockovich.' Skoll's Participant Productions plans to make six movies every year - budgeted at $20 million each -- with a mission to change the worl... posted on Jun 24, 1036 reads

Indian Spider Man
Spider-man is going global. The Indian version of this comic book superhero -- complete with loincloth, Hindu demons and battle scenes over the Taj Mahal -- is set to be released by Gotham Comics. In what critics are calling "reverse globalisation", Spider-man will become the first western comic book superhero to be re-invented fully - as opposed to translated - for a local audience.... posted on Jun 25, 1438 reads

A Child Poet
Mattie Stepanek, the child poet whose inspirational verse made him a best-selling writer and a prominent voice for muscular dystrophy sufferers, died Tuesday of a rare form of the disease. He was 13. In his short life, the tireless Stepanek wrote five volumes of poetry that sold millions of copies. Three of the volumes reached the New York Times' best-seller list. Former President Jimmy Carter j... posted on Jul 1, 1314 reads

Concern for Chickens
When Kentucky Fried Chicken, an international fast food chain, announced plans to open up a restaurant in Tibet, the Dalai Lama wrote them a letter and said that mass slaughter of chickens violated Tibet's traditional values. KFC's parent company, Yum Brands, says it has called off its plans.... posted on Jul 2, 1533 reads

The Magic Number
Looking for happiness through financial success? Wondering what is the magic number that equals satisfaction? It's $40,000 a year. Really. Oprah's magazine says so. And so does Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, who studies such things. Maybe you're thinking there's another magic threshold. Like maybe $40 million. But Penlope Trunk doesn't think so. When she ran in circles of venture capitalist... posted on Aug 13, 1463 reads

Children Under Five
A whopping four million children under the age of five die annually in South Asia, where at least 432 million earn less than $1 a day, says the latest UNDP report. On the bright side, South Asia has halved income poverty and the proportion of people without access to safe water, while dramatically reducing infant mortality rates as well.... posted on Aug 11, 1298 reads

Woman's Internet
The internet is beginning to have a revolutionary effect on the 700 million people who live in villages in India - and the charge is being led by women. 80% of the new Internet kiosks are run by women, many of whom have had very little or no acquaintance with technology before. ... posted on Jul 9, 1451 reads

An Open Sewer
Told that he had less than four months to live, the disabled Vietnam Veteran didn't know where to turn. He wandered down to an open sewer -- a stream behind his house that was plugged up with garbage -- to contemplate his future. Still recovering from bullet wounds, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, three heart attacks, and a serious motorcycle accident, John Beale found the answer:... posted on Jul 27, 1085 reads

Theory and Practice
... posted on Aug 1, 432 reads

No Smoking, For A Parrot
A British couple booked themselves into a clinic to quit smoking after the vet said it was the only way to save their beloved sick parrot. Kevin Barclay and Sharon Wood gave up a 50-cigarette-a-day habit to save their Amazon orange-winged parrot J.J., in Essex, southeastern England.... posted on Aug 14, 930 reads

Speaker and Listener
... posted on Sep 12, 1129 reads

Spontaneous Remission
In 1993, Caryle Hirshberg and the late Brendan O'Regan assembled the largest database of medically reported cases of "spontaneous remission" in the world. They defined spontaneous remission as "the disappearance, complete or incomplete, of a disease or cancer without medical treatment or treatment that is considered inadequate to produce the resulting disappearance of disease symptoms or tumor." ... posted on Aug 21, 1194 reads

Living Life To The Fullest
She may only have one leg, but this 40 year old motorcyclist is living life to the fullest, and riding into history books at the same time.... posted on Sep 21, 1135 reads

Pay What You Like
At this five-star restaurant, you won't be billed anything for your food. Pay what you like, their slogan reads. It sound unbelievable but there's a fully volunteer-run, high-end restaurant in Malaysia -- Annalakshmi -- where they trust that everyone will pay their fair share. Not only did this seemingly outrageous model sustain itself, they went on to open several, similar high-end restaurants... posted on Oct 1, 1583 reads

'V' Formation
Everyone has seen it but not many understood why birds fly in a "V" formation, perfectly coordinated through the twists and turns. It turns out that a flock of geese can fly 70 percent farther when they file together. The aerodynamic V shape reduces the air resistance, allowing the geese to cover longer distances; scientists have now also learned that the heart rates of the birds are lower when ... posted on Sep 25, 1295 reads

Order and Chaos
... posted on Dec 6, 536 reads

Clandestine Brain Activity
There's an old myth that we only use 10 percent of our brains, but researchers at the University of Rochester have found in reality that roughly 80 percent of our cognitive power may be cranking away on tasks completely unknown to us. Curiously, this clandestine activity does not exist in the youngest brains, leading scientists to believe that the mysterious goings-on that absorb the majority of o... posted on Oct 15, 1180 reads

The God Gene
Since the dawn of our species, spirituality has been deeply woven into the human experience. Why is it such a universal force that people from all walks of life, regardless of their religious backgrounds, value it as much as, or more than, pleasure, power and wealth? The answer is, at least in part, hard-wired into our genes. Spirituality is one of our basic human inheritances. It is, in short, ... posted on Oct 20, 2092 reads

Sand and Foam
... posted on Oct 25, 599 reads

Touching the Void
In 1988, a British mountain climber named Joe Simpson wrote a book called 'Touching the Void', a harrowing account of near death in the Peruvian Andes. It got good reviews but was soon forgotten. Then, a decade later, a strange thing happened. Jon Krakauer wrote 'Into Thin Air', another book about a mountain-climbing tragedy, which became a publishing sensation. Suddenly 'Touching the Void' starte... posted on Nov 2, 1369 reads

Five Year Old Without Pain
Ashlyn Blocker's parents and kindergarten teachers all describe her the same way: fearless. So they nervously watch her plunge full-tilt into a childhood deprived of natural alarms. Ashlyn, age 5, is among a tiny number of people in the world known to have congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis, or CIPA -- a rare genetic disorder that makes her unable to feel pain.... posted on Nov 3, 1320 reads

Embracing a Miracle
She's been able to play a song on the piano after just hearing it since she was 5. She's been composing music since she was 10. She has a repertoire of more than 15,000 songs she can play from memory. She is also blind, autistic, mentally retarded and only 15. Young Brittany Maier is what many call a living miracle.... posted on Jan 6, 1698 reads

Question and Answer
... posted on Nov 15, 511 reads

Saved By Dolphins
At a beach near Whangarei in New Zealand, a group of swimmers were being trained as lifeguards when a menacing 10 foot shark attacked them! Just as they started to panic, a group of about half of dozen dolphins came in to protect them and stayed for about 40 minutes until the swimmers were out of danger. Marine biologists say such altruistic behaviour is not uncommon in dolphins, considered the ... posted on Nov 25, 1662 reads

A Thanksgiving Quilt
What are you thankful for? Every Thanksgiving, that's the question Pete McGinn asks of his 3000 United Health Services employees. And then he weaves the best responses together as a "thanksgiving quilt". Read Pete's quilt for this year.... posted on Nov 26, 1616 reads

Human Follies and Human Wisdom
... posted on Dec 13, 1586 reads

Sowing a Cell Phone
Bury your cell phone and watch it come up as a flower. Yup, that's the latest from researchers at University of Warwick. Realizing that mobile telephones are quickly becoming one of the most commonly discarded electronic items, these researchers have designed stylish yet biodegrable cell phones!... posted on Dec 14, 1223 reads

78 Cents
With just 78 cents in his savings account and 44,000 owed to creditors, parking attendant Juan Rodriguez plunked down $1 on a lottery ticket. Good thing he wasn’t pinching pennies: He won the $88.5 million jackpot.... posted on Dec 11, 1185 reads

Burning Incense
Going to church may be good for the soul, but some Dutch researchers say it may not be so healthy for the lungs. The candles and incense regularly burned during religious services emit high levels of particulate matter, tiny airborne flecks that are considered one of the most harmful forms of air pollution, according to a new study by scientists at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.... posted on Jan 7, 1317 reads

Blind Person's Tongue
A blind person can see through his tongue? Indeed! NY Times recently reported on a fascinating new device, BrainPort, that can translate visual information from a camera to pulses that reach a blind patient's brain via his/her tongue. Interestingly enough, that blind patient was able to find doorways, see her wife in the park and play a game of rock, paper, scissors with his daughter! While t... posted on Dec 7, 1398 reads

The Power of Women
The new issue of Yogi Times is "a tribute to the power of female energy, to the amazing grace that emanates from every mother, every girl, every wife, every woman. Through their faith, their softness, their strength, their creativity and their dedication, women can change the world one person at the time."... posted on Dec 8, 1274 reads

Ideas of 2004
The New York Times Magazine takes stock of the passing year by creating a mini-encyclopedia of the most noteworthy ideas of the previous 12 months. Out of 71 ideas that made their cut, one of them was: You Don't Need Superstars to Win. New England Patriots won the Super Bowl without any big superstar, the Greek national soccer team won the European Championship with a bunch of no-namer and minor... posted on Dec 16, 803 reads

Peace Bombs
Around 50 Thai Air Force planes "bombed" the largely Muslim south with paper birds as a symbol of peace for the restive region where nearly 500 people have been killed since January. Villagers stared into the sky awaiting the deluge of an estimated 100 million paper birds, one of which was signed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and carried the promise of a scholarship or a job for the finder.... posted on Dec 18, 1449 reads

A Santa Act
Residents of Samaritan House didn't know what to expect when the bearded, middle-aged man parked his sport utility vehicle in front of the downtown homeless shelter Christmas Eve. The man walked into the building, pulled out a thick roll of $100 bills and began passing them out to each of the approximately 300 residents. When he was finished, he had given out $35,000.... posted on Dec 28, 1232 reads

Word of the Year
Merriam-Webster's just published the top ten words of 2004. Top on the list? Blog. They define it as -- a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.... posted on Jan 12, 955 reads

Harvard's Fun Czar
Harvard University students: overachieving, bookish bores or repressed party animals? A little of both, it seems. Following complaints that it does little to promote campus social life, the Ivy League school has hired its first "fun czar" -- Zac Corker, a recent Harvard graduate whose job is to build community spirit and help stressed-out students unwind. ... posted on Jan 18, 1043 reads

Orange Peel Plastic
Scientists have discovered a way to make plastics from orange peel, using the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Cornell University researchers created a novel polymer using CO2, an oil present in orange peel and a catalyst that speeds the reaction along. The team hopes CO2 could one day be collected for making plastics instead of being pumped into the atmosphere. ... posted on Apr 8, 1302 reads

Salt March
On April 5th 1930, after a 241-mile walk that drew thousands of followers, Mahatma Gandhi picked up a small lump of salt from the beach in Dandi, thereby breaking the British salt tax law and symbolically liberating India from the injustices of colonial rule. In March 2005, Tushar Ghandi, Mahatma's great grandson, is planning to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Salt March by reenacting the... posted on Feb 19, 1277 reads

Dipsea Demon
The Dipsea Race is a 7.1 mile race from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach that weaves through giant redwoods, wires up a 50-story stairway, and crosses over two mountains. The United States’ second-oldest footrace is grueling, requiring tremendous tenacity for anyone to tackle once, let alone 68 consecutive times. Meet Jack “Dipsea Demon” Kirk, the 96-year-old legend that is showing the world tha... posted on Jan 27, 1622 reads

Combating the Digital Divide
Rodrigo Baggio has taught computer and Internet skills to almost one million at-risk children. His project, the Committee to Democratize Information Technology (CDI), initially created a network of more than 200 self-managed computer schools in the urban slums of 17 Brazilian states. Helping students who might otherwise have turned to drug trafficking or violence, Rodrigo is bridging the digital d... posted on Feb 8, 1051 reads

Growing Happy
Could it be that age is the secret to happiness? Some psychologists believe that aging may help increase a person’s sense of wellbeing. Older people have a heightened awareness to the brevity of life since their time is running out, and therefore are more attuned to the present moment. By contrast, the heads of younger folks are often filled with concerns relating to the future, such as career ... posted on Feb 12, 3072 reads

Freedom Song
A self-taught guitarist, Vusi Mahlasela built his first guitars from cooking-oil cans, with fishing-wire for strings. In the 1980s, he was a voice of the revolution in South Africa. His music gave expression to the political ideals of the anti-apartheid movement. Today he sings for audiences all over the world, with his deeply moving ballads on liberation and reconciliation. Take a listen....... posted on Feb 15, 1124 reads