Live Life as an Experiment
It was an experiment. Peter Bregman was returning an item to a store. The item was well within the return period, but there would be a 20 percent restocking fee. Having recently decided to live life as an experiment, Bregman decided to see if he could tap into the store manager's compassion to waive the fee. In the grand scheme of things, it was a small act. Yet in the process of experimenting, th... posted on Aug 19 2010, 7,368 reads

Box of Chocolates Marathon
For a serious distance runner, 7 hours, 48 minutes is not a great marathon time. But for Brian Fugere, it's a miracle. He'd been diagnosed with synovial sarcoma -- a rare soft-tissue cancer -- in his lung. Yet during his fourth cycle of chemotherapy, he still managed to drag an IV pole for all 26.2 miles. Oh, and this marathon took place in a hospital hallway. Inspired by Lance Armstrong's book th... posted on Aug 18 2010, 3,331 reads

The Two-Rupee Miracle
On the dusty streets of Pushkar, India, a few men stop for a smoke. When an old woman asks for a rupee to buy lunch, they promptly refuse and walk away. Eyes on their backs, the woman observes, "These young men will burn more than a rupee for their bad habit, but will never give a rupee to a hungry person." With her words echoing in his ears, one man returns to offer her two rupees. An hour later,... posted on Aug 17 2010, 6,050 reads

Scientists Discover by Sharing
A wealth of recent scientific papers on the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is announcing groundbreaking discoveries, thanks to an unprecedented initiative by key players in public, private and academic sectors: a collaborative effort to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer's disease in the human brain. The key to this Alzheimer's project was an agreement as am... posted on Aug 16 2010, 2,580 reads

How to Live and Die
Death is rarely spoken about in our homes. "I wonder why," remarks Khushwant Singh. At 95, Singh thinks of death very often. But he does not lose sleep over it. A self-described agnostic, Singh states that ultimately, he does "not know what happens to us after we die but one should help a person go in peace--at peace with himself and with the world." From his 95 years of experience, Singh offers e... posted on Aug 15 2010, 5,350 reads

The Little Red Wagon
"Some boys like to play baseball, some boys like to play football. He likes to do charity work," explains Zach Bonner's mom, chuckling. In 2004, six-year-old Zach went door to door with his little red wagon to collect water for the victims of Hurricane Charlie. Inspired by helping others, he started his own charity, aptly named, The Little Red Wagon Foundation. Since then, Bonner has raised thousa... posted on Aug 14 2010, 2,312 reads

Ice Cream Truck of the Digital Age
Ice cream: the sweet taste of summer. It's the cool reward of a job well done, a game well-played, or a tasty excuse to prolong a classic first date. While the song of the ice cream truck has the power to bring forth a lot of smiles, one company has taken this to a whole new level with their latest invention: the world's first smile-activated ice cream vending machine. Using cutting-edge technolog... posted on Aug 13 2010, 4,127 reads

The Beautiful Brain
Elizabeth Jameson found her art when her own brain lost one of its most basic functions. After suddenly finding herself unable to speak, Jameson was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 1991. She soon came to know the geography of her own mind through countless MRI sessions. For the anxious patient, the black and grey pixels of MRI images can appear ugly and frightening. With a strong urge to... posted on Aug 12 2010, 5,786 reads

Can You Teach Emotional Intelligence?
"Our kids need a peaceful place," says elementary school Principal Eileen Reiter who works in Harlem, New York. "It has to be a place where kids can come and feel relaxed and feel safe and get a lot of support." Support, in this case, means more than just academic training and a hot lunch. Reiter has embraced a philosophy known as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), which teaches students ways to... posted on Aug 11 2010, 10,623 reads

Secret Agent of Kindness
For the past year, Laura Miller has been living a double life of sorts: administrative assistant by day, secret agent of kindness by night. The 32-year-old only recently revealed herself as the woman behind "Secret Agent L," a giver of random acts of kindness that has been brightening the days of unsuspecting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania residents since July 2009. What started with a friend's request ... posted on Aug 10 2010, 5,719 reads