The United Nations climate negotiations in Lima, Peru, ran over by two days this week due to the refusal of developing countries to accept the position of developed countries on what their contribution should be to cutting emissions and who is going to pay. But in the end, a deal, albeit one that appears weak, […]
We all have heard that laughter is the best medicine, but studies are increasingly bearing out that conclusion. “Dr. Lee Berk, an associate professor at Loma Linda University in California, has spent nearly three decades studying the ways the aftershocks of a good laugh ripple through your brain and body,” says a 19 November article on […]
Many, many people have heard about Habitat for Humanity. But what they do is worth repeating. In its own words, “Habitat for Humanity International builds, rehabilitates and repairs simple, decent houses with the help of homeowner families, volunteer labor, and donations of money and materials.” It is an international, non-governmental, and non-profit organization. Habitat uses volunteer […]
Placebos are getting a fair amount of press lately. Yes, those “fake” remedies called “inert medications” that seem to be real treatments but aren’t are being talked about quite a bit. Recently, among others, health economist Austin Frakt wrote about them in “The Upshot” (“a New York Times website with analysis and data visualizations about politics, policy […]
Now everyone can have access to bits of history, through images. A project spearheaded by Kalev Leetaru of Georgetown University is making pictures from old books available to anyone who wants to view or use them. Here’s one example. The photo is from a book entitled “Prag” dated 1912, written by Josef Neuwirth. The subject […]
Mylene Paquette is an ordinary woman. Or at least that’s how she appears. Having worked with seriously ill children whom she says demonstrate great courage and persistence on a daily basis, she decided to get up her own courage to undertake an adventure she had been thinking about embarking upon, one that would test her own […]
Want to invest in people? It all started in 1968, when the “idea of an ethical investment channel for churches and related organizations was put forward, with the intention that investments would provide credit to enterprises that support the disadvantaged.” In 1975, the goal to promote social justice by providing this credit to economically deprived people became reality. […]
