The economy added 165,000 jobs in April, surprising economists and easing fears of an imminent collapse in the recovery.
The Labor Department had previously reported a disappointing 88,000 jobs added in March with an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent. But Friday’s report revised the number of jobs added that month to 138,000, and those added in February to 332,000 from 268,000.
A power station driven by hot-rocks technology has begun producing electricity in the far north-east of South Australia.
The innovative plant from Geodynamics is the first in Australia to produce power using an enhanced geothermal system, which draws hot water from underground rocks to heat other water above ground in pipes that produce steam to power a turbine.
In the U.S. a 2011 Google-funded study uncovered massive potential for accessible, renewable geothermal heat all across the country, including significant portions in the eastern states.
(READ the story from ABC News- Australia)
A school constructed in 2003 for children in Roxbury, Mass., was already mired in violence and failure when principal Andrew Bott showed up in 2010.
He shocked a lot of people when he got rid of the security guards and reinvested that money into the arts.
Soon everything at the K-8 school started to change.
Now, three years later, the Boston area school is almost unrecognizable; essays of achievement grace the walls and students from kindergarten to eighth grade fill the revamped studios with dance, music and art.
Besides the colorful posters decorating the hallways, student achievement is rising, test scores are up, and discipline rates are back down.
(WATCH both videos below, or READ the story from NBC)
Two Academy Award nominated films, Silver Linings Playbook, and Life of Pi, resonated with so many millions of people because their themes of resilience speak to each of us — and are grounded in a growing body of scientific research.
Far from being delusional or faith-based, having a positive outlook in difficult circumstances is the most important predictor of resilience — how quickly you will recover from adversity.
For starters, having a positive mood makes people more resilient physically, according to a study by Barbara Fredrickson, a psychological researcher at the University of North Carolina.
Esther Kacev’s cat Buddy, would not stop sniffing and trying to grab under her arm. After rescuing the stray cat several years ago, it was Esther’s turn to be saved.
The woman from Western Australia had read about the ability of some animals to sniff out cancer — and she had canceled her last several mammogram appointments — so she scheduled a trip to get the area checked.
“I never in a million years thought it would happen to me; in fact, I had turned down previous appointments because I felt so well and it wasn’t in the family,” Mrs Kacev told the Eastern Reporter.
A surprising trend is putting smiles on the faces of medical workers who are still coping with the aftermath of last week’s twin tragedies in Boston and Texas.
A nurse from North Carolina came up the idea of sending meals to the Boston hospital staffers who were continuing to treat victims of the Marathon bombings. Donations were collected from workers at Charlotte’s Carolinas Medical Center to send pizzas, which set off a volley of kindness.
Doctors and nurses at Mass General were so touched that they decided to extend the gesture to a hospital staff in Waco, Texas, where ER workers had been treating dozens of victims from the recent deadly explosions in the town of West.
“Avrey Walker is cancer free!!!! A total remission!” her father announced on their Facebook page last week.
Avrey was the seventh child to receive an experimental leukemia therapy at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the second whose response has resulted in a complete recovery.
The family was overjoyed to report the good news after living for years with an aggressive form of childhood leukemiathat was unresponsive to regular treatments.
Avrey’s doctors reported a complete remission of her disease— no evidence of cancer cells in her body—after treatment that used a novel cell therapy to reprogram her immune cells to rapidly destroy targets in leukemia cells.
Another of the patients, 7-year-old Emily Whitehead, was featured in news stories in December 2012 after the experimental therapy led to her dramatic recovery. Emily remains healthy and cancer-free one year after her T-cells were reengineered to lock-in and destroy targets found in cells carrying that lethal form of leukemia (acute lymphoblastic leukemia).
According to the children’s hospital, a third patient, a 10-year-old girl who also had a complete response to the same treatment, suffered a relapse two months later when other leukemia cells appeared that did not harbor the specific cell receptor targeted by the therapy. Using this data, the research team continues to refine their approach to using this new technology and to explore why some patients may not respond to the therapy or may experience a recurrence of their disease.
– READ the full story at Philly.com
– WATCH a video below about a similar treatment for adult leukemia patients (Mar. 2013)
Thirty five years ago, bassist Pete Sears’ prized custom bass guitar was stolen during the melee of a cancelled music festival in Germany.
After decades of mourning its loss, the former Jefferson Starship member will soon be reunited with the one-of-a-kind instrument, according to the Marin Journal.
Sears had barely had the chance to play the new Doug Irwin bass, nicknamed “Dragon” for it’s uniquely-shaped inlay, before looters made off with it during a riot at the 1978 festival, says the Huffington Post.
The British-born musician was devastated, but recounted last week on Facebook how he finally got it back, after all these years:
At 2 1/2 years old, Hannah Warren has never played outside — or been able to breathe, talk, eat or drink on her own.
She was born without a windpipe, a rare congenital condition that kept her hospitalized for her entire life in a neonatal intensive care unit, where a tube from her mouth to her lung kept her alive.
Like so many others, Kenny Chesney watched the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings with “incredulity and horror.” The country star didn’t know what to do, but he wanted to help.
He talked to some Boston folks and decided to help fund and support prosthetics for the people who were having or would ultimately need amputations.
At the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi late last week, the world’s two richest men made a bit of philanthropic history. Carlos Slim announced his foundation will donate $100 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a new effort organized by the Gates Foundation to eliminate polio.
In celebration of National Park Week, the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund presented a $500,000 grant last week to help connect kids to nature through America’s national parks.
Disney’s investment will go specifically to the National Park Foundation’s “Ticket to Ride” program, which helps students explore the outdoors by providing field trips to national parks around the country.
(TODAY) Nick Santillo’s rare heart defect has kept him in and out of hospitals since he was an infant. The eight-year-old, who was born with only half the chambers in his heart, had his wish granted this morning when the TODAY show arranged for him to meet his hero, WWE champion wrestler John Cena.
NBA player Jason Collins, 34 came out as the first openly gay professional athlete in America, drawing surprise and praise from fans and teammates. (2013, US News)
Autism left 8-year-old Jonny Hickey closed off and isolated. Most of his social interactions resulted in painful awkwardness; unfamiliar situations can trigger terror or tantrums.
Then, about two months ago, everything changed. Jonny forged a connection with a dog so unlikely that people familiar with it describe it as a miracle.
A generous gift is making life more enjoyable for children at UNC Children’s Hospital. It’s a video game built with the same materials as real race cars. The special ride won’t be found in any arcade; Mark Smith designed it specifically with patients like Dylan in mind.
Dylan Price, 15, of Greensboro, was the first in a pediatric cancer clinic at UNC to take the “Dream Racer” for a spin.
He forgot all about his connection to the IV drip as he climbed inside the lime green racing simulator.
“It’s like an actual driving car and everything,” he told WRAL-TV. “It feels like you’re actually in a car.”
Such playtime may even boost the healing process. According to an article in Pravda entitled, “The importance of the playroom in children’s healing,” Brazil makes it mandatory through federal law that all hospitals offer playrooms for children.
Bees are vital — because of their pollination in the fields — to any nation’s food production and to Europe’s agricultural industry worth €22 billion annually.
That’s why Europe has voted to enforce the world’s first continent-wide ban on common insecticides linked to serious harm in bees.
At select coffee shops around the world you can get your morning caffeine fix and at the same time do a kind deed for someone in the community.
Buying a “Suspended Coffee” means purchasing an extra cup at the time you are paying, which can be claimed later by anyone who walks in from the street who may be unable to afford one. The barristas keep track of how many Suspended Coffees have been bought and serve them for free upon request.
The movement has been growing in popularity since it began in Italy several years ago, and has already been embraced by hundreds of coffee shops around the world.
Now, Starbucks has announced it will be adopting a version of the scheme in the UK, but with drinks being distributed by charity partners around the communities.
The movement is being documented on a blog called Suspendedcoffeeglobal.com — and, lately, on a Facebook page set up to promote the idea.
(WATCH the video at the BBC)
Hollywood celebrities, political bigwigs and journalists shared dinner and laughs last night at the 2013 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC.
Conan O’Brien hosted the evening but the highlight of the night was the 20 minutes of stand-up comedy when President Obama joked about himself, the second term, Republican leaders, and Jay-Z.
Mark Horvath is thanking a social media company for saving his life.
“I genuinely believe that if it wasn’t for Twitter – I’d be back on the streets – or worse.”
The truth is: social media helps fight homelessness in many ways including helping people find housing.
Now a homeless advocate, Horvath started using social media to fight poverty around the time when he ran out of money after 19 months of unemployment.
“My house was being foreclosed on and I could not find work anywhere. It was a very dark time in my life.”
(READ his story on his website InvisiblePeople, WATCH his video below)
