The Happiest People in America
Pollsters for the annual Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index interviewed 176,000 people in every state of America. They wanted to find which state had the happiest people. Best results ever. They asked questions related to five areas: 1) purpose and sense of happiness in what you do, 2) healthy, supportive social networks, 3) financial security and freedom from stress, 4) community safety and liking where you live, 5) having health and energy. If we think the way the media and advertisers would have us think, the top states would be places like Hawaii and California, or maybe Florida. No way. If…
Quantum Computer–or Not
A major leap in computer technology may be on the horizon, or not. Time Magazine says, “It promises to solves some of humanity’s most complex problems” and that “it operates at 459° below zero. And nobody knows how it actually works.” Welcome to the world of quantum computing. Wired.com writes: “Quantum computers harness the weird quirks of the subatomic world to run algorithms at extremely quick speeds and solve problems that stymie our current electronic devices. That’s because classical computers rely on transistors that hold memory in the form of zeros and ones. A quantum computer, by contrast, uses subatomic…
The First Porsche
Everybody has to start somewhere. Behold, the first Porsche. In 1898 Ferdinand Porsche fastened a three-horsepower electric motor to the rear axel of a wagon and a steering wheel to the front wheels. He built four of them. This first one was stored in a barn in 1902 and sat untouched until recently. It had two bench seats that apparently disappeared. Porsche went on to build tanks for the Nazis and the original Volkswagen Beetle. After World War II, he started building sports cars. And now the name is synonymous with them. Have you started something that seemed (or was)…
Growing New Body Parts
Humanity is taking another step toward being like God. Japanese researcher Haruko Obokata and her team have discovered a way to create personalized stem cells that do not involve human embryos or manipulating DNA. So ethical issues are minimized or erased. Obokata’s idea was so crazy, that no one really thought it would work. But it did. She immerses the tissue cells of newborn mice in mild acid, which causes a near-fatal shock, which makes the cells “pluripotent”–capable of growing into any type of body cell. She, and others, theorize that the procedure could very likely work with humans….
Suicide Rates and Expectations
Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have apparently risen sharply in the past decade, so says The New York Times. More Americans now die of suicide than car accidents. The greatest increases have been among males in their 50s. Researchers acknowledge that the reasons are complex and varied. But two factors seem to stand out: stresses of the recession and the easy availability of prescription painkillers. One other factor may be significant: Baby boomers had great expectations for how well their lives would be, but for most it didn’t turn out that way. Looking at the ebb and surge of socially…
