100 Places to Go Before They Disappear
Last year, global carbon emissions hit a record high, and the latest science tells us that we're almost certainly locked into roughly 2 degrees Celsius (or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming. It might not sound like much, but 2 degrees Celsius will redraw maps, change landscapes, and force cities to deploy aggressive adaptation measures. A new book by Abrams Books, 100 Places to Go Before They Dis... posted on Jun 04 2011, 14,939 reads

10 Worst Listening Habits -- and Their Cure
We spend up to 80% of our waking hours in some form of communication, and 45% of that time is spent listening. And yet, it is the skill in which we have the least training. It isn't surprising, then, that studies show how poor and inefficient we can be as listeners. Apart from lack of explicit training, other reasons factor in. To start with, we think faster than we speak or listen, leaving us wit... posted on Jun 03 2011, 50,822 reads

A Biologist's Solution For A Troubled City
To many residents Binghamton, New York, appears to be on the decline. The once thriving community was struck hard by the economic downturn. It now has a shrinking population, rising crime rates and increasing drug use among youth. But recently, the city's quality of life got a boost from an unusual source: an evolutionary biologist who has studied microbes, zooplankton, and birds. Professor David ... posted on Jun 02 2011, 11,395 reads

Retirees Volunteer to Tackle Japan's Nuclear Crisis
The radiation leak from the Fukushima power station has been off the front page news for a while now but the problem persists nevertheless. Post tsunami, there were countless stories of bravery and selfless acts and here is one more that is downright inspiring. A group of more than 200 older Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the crisis. Yamada-san, a 72-year old retired engineer is wr... posted on Jun 01 2011, 3,297 reads

Building Curious Employees
Design thinking is a process of empathizing with the end user. David Kelley, founder of IDEO and Stanford's d.school design program, takes a similar approach to managing people. He believes leadership is a matter of empathizing with employees. In this interview, he explains why leaders should seek understanding rather than blind obedience, why it's better to be a coach and a taskmaster and the eff... posted on May 31 2011, 4,690 reads

The Great Tree Survey
According to a 2010 United Nations report, the rate at which forests are destroyed-logged or cleared to make way for farms or mines-was nearly 20 percent lower from 2000 to 2010 than it had been in the previous decade. Huge tree-planting programs, especially in China, reduced the net loss of forest even further. But vast areas are still being slashed, mostly in the tropics, including each year a S... posted on May 30 2011, 2,947 reads

Grounded For Good
After spending 18 months abroad, McMillans were inspired to return home to Scotland with as little environmental impact as possible. En route from Singapore, they journeyed across 14 countries over 85 days, using 22 buses, 14 trains, 11 boats and numerous rickshaws. They enjoyed it so much that they started a website to help others do the same -- flightless travel. Aircrafts currently produce 4... posted on May 29 2011, 7,194 reads

Making a Case for Mindfulness
Growing numbers of attorneys are embracing some form of practice to achieve mindfulness. Their reasons for doing so are varied, but chief among them are stress management and improved mental and physical health. This is a hopeful shift, given the well-known Johns Hopkins study which found that lawyers are more prone to depression than members of any other profession. In the most recent study, Har... posted on May 28 2011, 4,078 reads

Her Prom Date? A Football Star!
Joslyn Levell couldn't wait to get to school Monday. The eighth-grader became the most talked-about kid at Suncrest Middle School in West Virginia, after scoring a date with Chicago Bears rookie J.T. Thomas for her end-of-school-year formal dance Friday. "I'm not used to the attention, but I like it," Levell said. Joslyn has spina bifida, a condition in which the spine doesn't properly develop, ... posted on May 27 2011, 4,173 reads

Freedom Rider Named James Zwerg
Looking out the window, James Zwerg accepted his worst fear: He was going to die today. Only the night before, Zwerg had prayed for the strength to not strike back in anger. He was among the 18 "Freedom Riders", white and black college students from Nashville who had decided to take the bus trip through the segregated South in 1961, to desegregate public transportation. In the midst of the ensu... posted on May 26 2011, 4,448 reads