After his brother was murdered by Hamas, Yuval Roth turned his loss into a way to promote peace. He and his organization, On the Road to Recovery, transport sick Palestinians into Israel so they can receive quality medical care.
Roth recruited 200 volunteers who have driven an estimated 90,000 kilometers (about 55,000 miles) in 2010 alone, helping hundreds of Palestinians get access to health care they would otherwise be unable to receive.
Four foundations have provided Teach for America with $100 million in endowments to coincide with the group’s 20-year anniversary celebration this week. The fund will be used to create a reliable, long-term stream of revenue to fund Teach For America’s ongoing efforts to recruit, train, and develop transformational teachers for pre-K-12 education.
The unemployment rate is suddenly sinking at the fastest pace in a half-century, falling to 9 percent from 9.8 percent in just two months.
The steepest two-month decline in unemployment since the Eisenhower administration saw more than half a million people back to work in January.
In just 8-weeks, a program of mindfulness meditation was able to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, empathy and stress. A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers documented that the structural changes in the brain were actually produced by the regular periods of focused attention during meditation, according to a study in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
“Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study’s senior author. “This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.”
Previous studies from Lazar’s group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced mediation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration. But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.
Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.
“It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life.” says Britta Hölzel, PhD, first author of the paper and a research fellow at MGH and Giessen University in Germany. “Other studies in different patient populations have shown that meditation can make significant improvements in a variety of symptoms, and we are now investigating the underlying mechanisms in the brain that facilitate this change.”
Amishi Jha, PhD, a University of Miami neuroscientist who investigates mindfulness-training’s effects on individuals in high-stress situations, says, “These results shed light on the mechanisms of action of mindfulness-based training. They demonstrate that the first-person experience of stress can not only be reduced with an 8-week mindfulness training program but that this experiential change corresponds with structural changes in the amydala, a finding that opens doors to many possibilities for further research on MBSR’s potential to protect against stress-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.” Jha was not one of the study investigators.
James Carmody, PhD, of the Center for Mindfulness at University of Massachusetts Medical School, is one of co-authors of the study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the British Broadcasting Company, and the Mind and Life Institute.
In just 8-weeks, a program of mindfulness meditation was able to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, empathy and stress. A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers documented that the structural changes in the brain were actually produced by the regular periods of focused attention during meditation, according to a study in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
“Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study’s senior author. “This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.”
Seven teenage boys bullied him, beat him and recorded a video of the entire attack in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania in January.
The 13-year-old, Nadin Khoury, appeared on ABC’s The View Thursday to talk about the incident which led to the arrest of the seven older boys.
Near the end of his appearance, he was surprised by three special guests from the pro football team, the Philadelphia Eagles. The boy was moved to tears when the three Eagles arrived, DeSean Jackson, Todd Herremans and Jamaal Jackson.
If you are not a Steelers fan, you need to be rooting for the Green Bay Packers in tomorrow’s Super Bowl — the only team in the National Football League that is publicly owned by loyal fans who have supported them for more than 90 years.
The unique not-for-profit setup has created a relationship between team and community unlike any in the N.F.L.
Wisconsin fans get to enjoy the team with the confidence that their owner won’t threaten to move to Los Angeles unless the team gets a new mega-dome. Volunteers work concessions, with sixty per cent of the proceeds going to local charities. Even the beer is cheaper than at a typical N.F.L. stadium. Not only has home field been sold out for two decades, but during snowstorms, the team routinely puts out calls for volunteers to help shovel and is never disappointed by the response.
(READ the story in the New Yorker)
Last July, John “Rip” Fliszar, a proud graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, died of a heart attack. Among his survivors is his husband, Mark Ketterson, who remembered that Rip always said he wanted his ashes interred at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Ketterson talked to NPR’s Scott Simon about the respect and support that the U.S. Naval Academy provided for the gay couple.
(HEAR the interview at NPR)
With snow totals of anywhere from one to two feet falling across nine midwestern states along with brutalizing winds, the February snowstorm of 2011 left a 2000-mile trail of misery (and some deaths) all the way to Maine. But, other acts of nature — tales of kindness and generosity — were just as prolific.
100 National Guard troops mobilized statewide in Wisconsin as 7 foot drifts formed on rural roads and white-out conditions stranded motorists. Rescuers in snowmobiles were even getting stuck.
Emergency personnel — police, firefighters and 911 dispatchers, along with thousands of tow truck drivers and snow plow operators — worked through Tuesday’s rush hour, overnight and into the morning to help towns and cities dig out. Yet, perhaps those who worked without pay, with only the motivation to serve, provide the real inspirational stories. (Photo: Helpful pedestrians in Grand Rapids, Mich. by Victoria Fanning)
Homeowners welcomed strangers indoors after roads became impassable and all hope of evening rescue evaporated. One couple near Madison, Wisc, even threw an impromptu ‘blizzard party’ to make the best of it.
Ski goggle-protected Peggy Stormoen and her partner Ann, knocked on a car window at midnight, shouting, “Why don’t you come into the house?” The two women bundled up and offered assistance to five occupants of three cars. They served hot cocoa — and later brandy — for the young guests, the couple told the Wisconsin State Journal. At about 10 a.m Wednesday, tow trucks arrived to pull the cars from the snow.
Good Samaritans were out in full force in Oklahoma, according to a local news website, in many cases, driving powerful four-wheel drive trucks, to help motorists out of snowdrifts.
“Doesn’t seem right to have a truck like this and me sitting in a warm house when people could be out here freezing to death,” explained Josh Fulgium, of Edmond.
In Illinois, the Northwest Herald reported that Colin Chase, listening to the police scanner from home, “heard reports of cars stuck on snowy roadways, so around midnight Wednesday he hopped in his four-wheel-drive Jeep Cherokee and headed out.”
“The police can’t get to them, so who else can?” Chase told the Herald.
And, of course, there are close-to-home angels. Neighbors who, with the benefit of a snowblower, or just a shovel, emerge to help clear driveways for others in their neighborhood.
In Menomonee Falls, Wisc., Beth Fromm’s neighbor plowed her driveway without even asking. She got to return the favor after he went off to work when the city plow came through leaving a mound at the bottom of each of their properties. “We all help each other out,” she said.
Even with as much trouble as severe weather causes, it seems to usher in a warm front, evoking compassion and generosity in most people who see opportunities to help.
With snow totals of anywhere from one to two feet falling across nine midwestern states along with brutalizing winds, the February snowstorm of 2011 left a 2000-mile trail of misery (and some deaths) all the way to Maine. But, other acts of nature — tales of kindness and generosity — were just as prolific.
100 National Guard troops mobilized statewide in Wisconsin as 7 foot drifts formed on rural roads and white-out conditions stranded motorists. Rescuers in snowmobiles were even getting stuck.
Emergency personnel — police, firefighters and 911 dispatchers, along with thousands of tow truck drivers and snow plow operators — worked through Tuesday’s rush hour, overnight and into the morning to help towns and cities dig out. Yet, perhaps those who worked without pay, with only the motivation to serve, provide the real inspirational stories. (Photo: Helpful pedestrians in Grand Rapids, Mich. by Victoria Fanning)
Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones is on his way to a starring role in the Super Bowl, but his road to success led through homeless shelters from the time he was born until his freshman year in high school. Now he is helping other kids find their roads to success.
“Both of James’s parents were addicted to drugs, but the loyal son refused to leave his mom’s side for years.”
Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones is on his way to a starring role in the Super Bowl, but his road to success led through homeless shelters from the time he was born until his freshman year in high school. Now he is helping other kids find their roads to success.
“Both of James’s parents were addicted to drugs, but the loyal son refused to leave his mom’s side for years.”
A house cleaning drop-out, Jon Foy, won the directorial award at the Sundance Film Festival for his homemade documentary, “Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles”.
During the 5 year odyssey of making his film, he learned how to write, shoot, and edit, mostly in the bedroom of a shared group house in West Philadelphia.
At 14, a victim of relentless taunting and cruelty herself, Ashley Craig dedicated eight months to researching, and preparing an anti-bullying program for her entire New Jersey school district. After her presentation to the High Point Board of Education, the members unanimously approved her initiative, “Students Against Being Bullied”.
The student group’s main tool will be two dedicated phone lines for student support and reporting abuse.
With an unlimited texting plan, the report line will reach administrative heads on alert for messages from victims or bystanders. The second phone number is a support line, where counselors will be available to provide resources to benefit troubled students.
“I hope to go statewide with this and I will work extremely hard to get there,” Craig said
(READ the story at New Jersey Herald)
Jeff Vinik, chairman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and his wife, are donating more than $10 million for “deserving community heroes and charity partners in the Tampa Bay area.
The donation, to be distributed over the next five years, cements the Viniks commitment to making the Tampa Bay region its family’s home.
(READ more in Tampa Bay BizJournal)
After a heavy snowfall, a young man saw the warning signs Tuesday before a roof collapse and is being credited with saving people from being injured.
Tyler Sanders had worked at the Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa for only 6 months when he was cleaning the restrooms and observed some sheetrock on the floor and cracking in the ceiling, and alertly notified his boss.
The casino floor was evacuated before the ceiling collapsed on top of the poker tables and gaming machines. The online casino will include games from Finland’s largest online casino website Casinot.
(READ the story at KRMG news or Tulsa World)
Expanding waistlines present a challenge for middle aged adults — and for their kids — who want to enjoy comfort foods and salty snacks on football’s Super Bowl Sunday.
With a little planning, your game day menu can be delicious and healthy. (Partly healthy, at least!)
Guacamole, a favorite snack containing healthy fats from avocados; hummus, a tasty spread for pita bread, containing protein-rich chick peas; and a black bean salsa are three healthy dips for any kind chip or cracker.
(SEE these recipes, and 2 more, at Mother Nature News)
A group devoted to creating alternative energy jobs in Central Appalachia is building a first for West Virginia’s southern coalfields region this week – a rooftop solar array, assembled by unemployed and underemployed coal miners and contractors.
The 40- by 15-foot array going up on a doctor’s office in Williamson is significant not for its size but for its location: It signals to an area long reliant on mining that there can be life beyond coal.
(READ the AP story in the Stamford Advocate)
The evidence just keeps mounting that ordinary dogs can be trained to use their noses to detect various kinds of cancer with near-perfect accuracy — better than any standard test for the disease.
In the latest study, an eight-year-old black Labrador was 97 percent accurate in nosing out colon cancer when she was asked to choose among watery stool samples doctors collected from 185 patients with and without cancer.
Google unveiled a new website that allows virtual tours of some of the world’s most famous art galleries, featuring paintings photographed with extreme high-resolution “gigapixel” technology.
For the Art Project, video cameras mounted on trolleys recorded 360-degree tours of galleries in eleven cities around the world.
