Museums Without Walls
Walk through Philadelphia and you'll see public art poised throughout the city. "Museum Without Walls: AUDIO" brings these sculptures to life with audio stories, told by people from all walks of life and somehow connected to the sculpture by knowledge, experience or affiliation. Nearly 100 "voices" at 35 stops explore 51 sculptures. These stories can be discovered while touring the city or sitti... posted on Mar 19 2011, 2,875 reads

Football and Meditation with Running Back, Ricky Williams
Picture one of the NFL's most spellbinding figures sitting serenely in a room, meditating. Every Wednesday, Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams leads an open meditation session in a quiet college classroom where he's working on his degree. Williams meditates every morning, before practices, and before he heads into the stadium on game day. "For me, [meditation] is like food. It's spiritual ... posted on Mar 18 2011, 2,826 reads

New Way to Watch your Blood Pressure
Researchers have developed a device to measure pressure in the largest artery in the body. More accurate than the arm cuff, the technology works by a sensor in the watch recording the pulse wave of the artery, which is then fed into a computer together with a traditional blood pressure reading from a cuff. Scientists are then able to read the pressure close to the heart, from the aorta. Professor ... posted on Mar 17 2011, 3,547 reads

Human Spirit Rises to Meet Japan's Tsunami
Snapshots from Japan: A woman opens up her home and bathrooms to weary travelers walking hours home. A baker gives out free bread. Customers at the supermarket pick up fallen items and quietly stand in line to buy food. An old man at the evacuation shelter asks, "What's going to happen now?" And a young high school boy nearby responds, "Don't worry! When we grow up, we will promise to fix it back!... posted on Mar 16 2011, 13,908 reads

Costumed Crusaders Taking it to the Streets
Crusaders costumed in tights, capes, cowls and other accoutrements are turning up with surprising regularity in American cities to fight what they consider their biggest enemy: public apathy. They call themselves Real Life Superheroes and, with names like Dark Guardian, Red Dragon, and Viper, they might be right at home on the pages of comic books. But unlike their ink-and-paper counterparts, they... posted on Mar 15 2011, 3,261 reads

How to Deliver the Speech of Your Life
Sweaty palms, trembling knees, that feeling of butterflies in the pit of your stomach. Whether you're at a job interview, standing in front of a class, or keynoting a conference, speaking in public can be intimidating. In fact, statistics have shown that people fear it more than death. But is it really that bad? Dan Pallotta used to think so. After a few years of doing it more, something changed.... posted on Mar 14 2011, 9,945 reads

Seaweeds May Be Earth's First Plants
A trove of seaweed-like fossils unearthed in southern China may be some of the oldest plants ever discovered. Until now the earliest definitive evidence of complex creatures resembling modern organisms was about 580 million years old. This new series of fossils predates those by anywhere from 20 million to 56 million years. "It's not the oldest multicellular life," remarks a co-author of the study... posted on Mar 13 2011, 1,497 reads

London Tours With Homeless Guides
A few homeless people in London are now working as tour guides, offering others a view of the city from their perspective. Organized by a grassroots group called Sock Mob, the tours have both practical appeal as well as existential, "challenging your view of what it means to be a person living in London." "The best thing is the human touch," said one tour recipient. "Within seconds, you forget the... posted on Mar 12 2011, 2,863 reads

'Barefoot' Grandmothers Electrify Rural Communities
"If you ask any solar engineer in the world, 'Can anyone make, install and maintain solar power in a village?' they say it's technically impossible. And if I say a grandmother is making it who is illiterate, he can't believe it, it's beyond his comprehension," says Sanjit "Bunker" Roy. A social entrepreneur and founder of the Barefoot College, Roy has been championing a bottom-up approach to educa... posted on Mar 11 2011, 6,463 reads

Squeeze Out Your Creative Juices
John Cleese, a humorous and wise personality, discusses how to unleash the creativity that every individual possesses. Among his witty and insightful points include shifting activities when we get stuck, staying clear of distractions, and carving out space and time away from the daily to-do list to just explore. Ultimately, he notes, tapping into our unconscious mind may be the key to unraveling i... posted on Mar 10 2011, 7,046 reads