Psychology is one of those subjects that everybody likes to think they know something about. We love to go around diagnosing our friends and co-workers, both to make sense of the world and to make ourselves feel like we're smarter than they are.

"If You Let Your Anger Out, You'll Feel Better!"

You always hear people talk about how "cathartic" an experience was and how much better they feel, or you'll hear them say things like, "If you keep your anger bottled up, one day you'll just snap!"

Things like squeezing stress dolls, screaming into a pillow, hitting a punching bag and strangling a kitten are all practices that we've seen offered as healthy alternatives to walking up to the fish counter at Farm Fresh and drowning the clerk in the lobster tank.

Why it is Bullshit:

Research says it doesn't work. Expressing your anger, even against inanimate objects, doesn't make you less angry at all. In fact, it actually makes you want to get pissed off. Imagine if Bruce Banner walked around all day looking for an excuse to hulk-out, but replace the embarrassing shredded pants with friends and loved ones who are legitimately terrified every time his favorite sports team loses.

See, we humans have these things called "habits." When we do something, and it makes us feel good, we want to do it again... and more often. This is why you don't see a lot of Buddhist monks throwing bricks through storefront windows on their path to enlightenment and Lifetime original movies spend more on broken casserole dishes than on acting. The rush of anger is addictive as hell, and letting yourself lash out as a means to control your anger is like drinking to control your urge to drink.

And that's bad news, considering there are lots of situations where you don't have an inanimate object to take it out on. If a person gets entrenched in the habit of beating the living shit out of an inanimate object every time they get upset, heads are going to roll if they can't excuse themselves from a meeting to go chokeslam the tank on the break room water cooler.

Read the rest bullshit facts about psychology that everyone believes here

A true PSA that doesn't shy away from the gruesome details. Unlike most movies, the crash isn't really the star, it's the aftermath this is the focus.

The 30 minute movie, which this is a clip of, supposedly dives deeper into the consequences of what a simple, seemingly innocent, act of texting and taking your eyes off the road can do.

I would recommend this to anyone with teens and tweens (not like there aren't plenty of adults that could use a lesson in keeping their eyes on the road).

Watch via YouTube

Raising awareness on the issue of global warming is not easy this days, but artists come up with all sorts of original ways to make the news.

Take Brazilian artists Nele Azevedo, who created 2,000 ice-sculptures and placed them on the steps of the Berlin Opera Hall, to melt. That’s a lot of work to watch melt away in one hot afternoon, but at least her message made the newspapers. And if one more person knows about the melting Arctic ice, than her effort was not in vain.

When you're in the mood, it's a sure bet that the last thing on your mind is boosting your immune system or maintaining a healthy weight. Yet good sex offers those health benefits and more.

Sex does a body good in a number of ways, according to experts. The benefits aren't just anecdotal or hearsay -- each of these 10 health benefits of sex is backed by scientific scrutiny.

Among the benefits of healthy loving in a relationship:

1. Sex Relieves Stress
A big health benefit of sex is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction, according to researchers from Scotland who reported their findings in the journal Biological Psychology. They studied 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. Then the researchers subjected them to stressful situations -- such as speaking in public and doing verbal arithmetic -- and noted their blood pressure response to stress.

Another study published in the same journal found that frequent intercourse was associated with lower diastolic blood pressure in cohabiting participants. Yet other research found a link between partner hugs and lower blood pressure in women.

2. Sex Boosts Immunity
Good sexual health may mean better physical health. Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A or IgA, which can protect you from getting colds and other infections. Scientists at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., took samples of saliva, which contain IgA, from 112 college students who reported the frequency of sex they had.

Those in the "frequent" group -- once or twice a week -- had higher levels of IgA than those in the other three groups -- who reported being abstinent, having sex less than once a week, or having it very often, three or more times weekly.

3. Sex Burns Calories
Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions.

4. Sex Improves Cardiovascular Health
While some older folks may worry that the efforts expended during sex could cause a stroke, that's not so, according to researchers from England. In a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, scientists found frequency of sex was not associated with stroke in the 914 men they followed for 20 years.

And the heart health benefits of sex don't end there. The researchers also found that having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of fatal heart attack by half for the men, compared with those who had sex less than once a month.

5. Sex Boosts Self-Esteem
Boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex, collected by University of Texas researchers and published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

That finding makes sense to Gina Ogden, PhD, a sex therapist and marriage and family therapist in Cambridge, Mass., although she finds that those who already have self-esteem say they sometimes have sex to feel even better. "One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves," she tells WebMD. "Great sex begins with self-esteem, and it raises it. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it."

6. Sex Improves Intimacy
Having sex and orgasms increases levels of the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which helps us bond and build trust. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of North Carolina evaluated 59 premenopausal women before and after warm contact with their husbands and partners ending with hugs. They found that the more contact, the higher the oxytocin levels.

"Oxytocin allows us to feel the urge to nurture and to bond," Britton says.

Higher oxytocin has also been linked with a feeling of generosity. So if you're feeling suddenly more generous toward your partner than usual, credit the love hormone.

7. Sex Reduces Pain
As the hormone oxytocin surges, endorphins increase, and pain declines. So if your headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms seem to improve after sex, you can thank those higher oxytocin levels.

In a study published in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, 48 volunteers who inhaled oxytocin vapor and then had their fingers pricked lowered their pain threshold by more than half.

8. Sex Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk
Frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life, Australian researchers reported in the British Journal of Urology International. When they followed men diagnosed with prostate cancer and those without, they found no association of prostate cancer with the number of sexual partners as the men reached their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

But they found men who had five or more ejaculations weekly while in their 20s reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later by a third.

Another study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that frequent ejaculations, 21 or more a month, were linked to lower prostate cancer risk in older men, as well, compared with less frequent ejaculations of four to seven monthly.

9. Sex Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles
For women, doing a few pelvic floor muscle exercises known as Kegels during sex offers a couple of benefits. You will enjoy more pleasure, and you'll also strengthen the area and help to minimize the risk of incontinence later in life.

To do a basic Kegel exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor, as if you're trying to stop the flow of urine. Count to three, then release.

10. Sex Helps You Sleep Better
The oxytocin released during orgasm also promotes sleep, according to research.

And getting enough sleep has been linked with a host of other good things, such as maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure. Something to think about, especially if you've been wondering why your guy can be active one minute and snoring the next.

Why do we love roller coasters? They are almost a perversion of the pleasure-pain principle. We are drawn to them even as they incite fear, get our hearts racing, turn our knuckles white and toss us around mercilessly. Then we get off and jump right back in line. Beginning in the early 1990s, roller coasters began their second Golden Age (the first was during the Jazz-Age 1920s when the wooden lattices dotted the U.S. landscape) and their numbers and variety show no signs of letting up. Why do we love roller coasters? Who knows? But, it seems, we can't get enough of them.

1. Don’t stick out your tongue if you want to hide your identity. Similar to fingerprints, everyone also has a unique tongue print!

2. Your pet isn’t the only one in the house with a shedding problem. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. That works out to about 1.5 pounds each year, so the average person will lose around 105 pounds of skin by age 70.

3. An adult has fewer bones than a baby. We start off life with 350 bones, but because bones fuse together during growth, we end up with only 206 as adults.

4. Did you know that you get a new stomach lining every three to four days? If you didn’t, the strong acids your stomach uses to digest food would also digest your stomach.

5. Your nose is not as sensitive as a dog’s, but it can remember 50,000 different scents.

6. The small intestine is about four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself, its length of 18 to 23 feet wouldn’t fit into the abdominal cavity, making things rather messy.

7. This will really make your skin crawl: Every square inch of skin on the human body has about 32 million bacteria on it, but fortunately, the vast majority of them are harmless.

8. The source of smelly feet, like smelly armpits, is sweat. And people sweat buckets from their feet. A pair of feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day.

9. The air from a human sneeze can travel at speeds of 100 miles per hour or more — another good reason to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze — or duck when you hear one coming your way.

10. Blood has a long road to travel: Laid end to end, there are about 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. And the hard-working heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through those vessels every day.

11. You may not want to swim in your spit, but if you saved it all up, you could. In a lifetime, the average person produces about 25,000 quarts of saliva — enough to fill two swimming pools!

12. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. But the sound of a snore can seem deafening. While snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, they can reach more than 80 decibels. Eighty decibels is as loud as the sound of a pneumatic drill breaking up concrete. Noise levels over 85 decibels are considered hazardous to the human ear.

13. Blondes may or may not have more fun, but they definitely have more hair. Hair color helps determine how dense the hair on your head is, and blondes (only natural ones, of course), top the list. The average human head has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles. People with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles, while those with brown hair are right on target with 100,000 follicles. Redheads have the least dense hair, averaging about 86,000 follicles.

14. If you’re clipping your fingernails more often than your toenails, that’s only natural. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. Fingernails grow fastest on the hand that you write with and on the longest fingers. On average, nails grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

15. No wonder babies have such a hard time holding up their heads: The human head is one-quarter of our total length at birth but only one-eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.

16. If you say that you’re dying to get a good night’s sleep, you could mean that literally. You can go without eating for weeks without succumbing, but eleven days is tops for going without sleep. After eleven days, you’ll be asleep — forever!

Competitors literally went at it toe to toe last weekend at the annual World Toe-Wrestling Championships in Ashbourne, England. 

Competitors literally went at it toe to toe last weekend at the annual World Toe-Wrestling Championships in Ashbourne, England. The competition is now in its 14th year and the rules are pretty self-explanatory.

After being checked for foot hygiene, two bare-footed competitors cross toes before trying to force each other off the "toedium". 

Although more international competitors have been making the pilgrimage recently, including some from Australia and the US, this year's main event was between two locals - defending champion Paul "The Toeminator"' Beech and veteran Alan "Nasty" Nash. 

The contest was so tight, in fact, that it had to go to a judges' decision. He concluded that Nash had the more "toe-tal" package, and he would walk away with this year's trophy, and his fifth World Championship.

"Grey" is the preferred spelling in Britain, whereas "gray" is more popular in America. You can remember the difference by thinking that the "a" in "gray" is for "American."

I'm American, but I enjoy Earl Grey tea (named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, the British Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834), and I regularly look at my tea box, so I was often confused about the spelling before I came up with the "a"-is-for-American memory trick.

Following the British-versus-American pattern, Gray's Anatomy is a well-known medical textbook written by British anatomist Henry Gray, and Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama that airs on ABC.

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, no photoshopping here, this is the actual watch! A Frankenstein timepiece cross-breeding two entirely different watches into one. A hybrid wristwatch fusing a steel oval case with a gold square surrounding a split-faced multi-colored chronograph dial.

Best of all, it's even got two different watch-band halves! Check out the half leather strap, half metal bracelet.

Stitched together, it's one kick-ass Freak of a watch!

Click here to buy

Whether you’re bored out of your mind at the office or don’t have an office to go to, there’s no reason to sit around idly when there’s so much you could potentially be getting done. With the web at your fingertips, you can find numerous ways to keep your mind and body engaged and active. These 100 tools will help you get busy doing just about anything from organizing your DVD collection to planning your potential future, giving you no excuse to be bored or unemployed for long.

The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development released a new study ranking the world’s nations by the happiness levels of their citizens.

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. The Netherlands
4. Sweden
5. Ireland
6. Canada
7. Switzerland
8. New Zealand
9. Norway
10. Belgium

Why did the northern European countries come out looking so good? Overall economic health played a powerful role, says Simon Chapple, senior economist from the Social Policy Division of the OECD, which put together the report.

In Depth: World's Happiest Places

Ms. Mason died on Monday at her home in Lattimore, N.C. She was 71 and had lived for more than 60 years in an iron lung.

From her horizontal world — a 7-foot-long, 800-pound iron cylinder that encased all but her head — Ms. Mason lived a life that was by her own account fine and full, reading voraciously, graduating with highest honors from high school and college, entertaining and eventually writing.

She chose to remain in an iron lung, she often said, for the freedom it gave her. It let her breathe without tubes in her throat, incisions or hospital stays, as newer, smaller ventilators might require. It took no professional training to operate, letting her remain mistress of her own house, with just two aides assisting her.

Ms. Mason is the subject of a documentary film, “Martha in Lattimore ,” released in 2005 and directed by Ms. Dalton. She also appeared in “The Final Inch,” a documentary about polio that was nominated for a Academy Award this year.

Martha Ann Mason was born on May 31, 1937, and reared in Lattimore, a small town about 50 miles west of Charlotte. In September 1948, when she was 11, Martha went to bed one night feeling achy. She did not tell her parents because she did not want to compound their sorrow: that day, they had buried her 13-year-old brother, Gaston, who had died of polio a few days before.

Full article

Its claim to fame is its name - one of the world's longest.

But it has emerged that directions to the beauty spot have been spelled wrong for years.

The Indian name, which means 'The fishing place at the boundaries, the neutral meeting ground', was written with an O at letter 20 in place of a U and an H at letter 38 instead of an N.

Officials in Webster, Massachusetts, found the error by consulting historical books and have promised to correct it.

Many residents in the small town do not even try to pronounce its name, simply referring to it as Lake Webster.

For all you Lego lovers out there, hold onto your hats. There has been quite a bit of online buzz about a soon-to-be-released Lego mobile phone.

Although not much information has been released, the phone, from Alcatel-Lucent, is expected to retail for around $60 and should be released sometime this year.

Disney says it will no longer scan riders on Splash Mountain and three other rides for guests who feel the need to flash their breasts for souvenir photos.

Disney confirmed Tuesday that it has reassigned employees at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure who watched for breast-baring riders because "actual inappropriate behaviors by guests are rare."

Disneyland spokeswoman, Suzi Brown, says the changes took effect Sunday at Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Space Mountain and California Screamin'.

Riders are photographed on the attractions and can then buy souvenir copies. Some have exposed their breasts in hopes that the picture would make it onto a photo preview screen at the ride's exit.

Disney Parks Stop Scans for Topless Riders

Rhine in Flames
If you missed Valencia's Las Fallas, this German festival is the next best thing in pyrotechnics. On five summer nights the skies above the Rhine Valley are lit up by firework displays to rival any in the world. Bonn to Linz: May 3, Bingen/Rüdesheim: July 5, Koblenz: Aug 9, Oberwesel: Sept 13, St Goar: Sept 20.

May 3-Sept 20
www.germany-tourism.co.uk

White Nights, St Petersburg
Thanks to the city's northern location, the sun never sets during the six weeks of this festival, which offers an eclectic programme of ballet, dance, opera, jazz and classical music performances.

May 15-June 18
www.saint-petersburg.com

Isle of Wight Festival
Forget Glastonbury: take the ferry over to this festival near Newport, which has re-established itself as one Europe's finest. This year's line-up includes Razorlight, Stereophonics, the Prodigy, Neil Young and the Pixies.

June 12-14
www.isleofwightfestival.com

Il Palio, Siena
If you think the Grand National has thrills and spills, you should see this: 10 jockeys (representing the city's 10 districts) ride bareback around three laps of the dangerously tight Piazza del Campo. The race lasts just 80 seconds, but people come from far and wide to be part of the event, and the grappa-fuelled parties.

July 2 and Aug 16
www.ilpalio.org

Benicàssim Festival
Think Mediterranean beaches rather than mud baths. Benicàssim serves up a great selection of indie bands, rock groups and DJs. This year's line-up includes the Killers, Kings of Leon and Oasis.

July 17-20
www.benicassimfestival.co.uk

Bregenz Festival
This open-air opera festival, set on Lake Constance, is as much a visual experience as an auditory one. The audience looks out from the shore on to an epic floating stage that featured in the last James Bond film. This year the centrepiece will be a Verdi's Aida.

July 25-Aug 22
www.bregenzerfestspiele.com

Marciac Jazz Festival
This small French town in Armagnac hosts one of the world's best jazz festivals. Among the performers this year are Sonny Rollins, Ray Gelato and Wynton Marsalis.

July 31-Aug 16
www.jazzinmarciac.com

Edinburgh Festival
Together with the Edinburgh Fringe this is the world's largest festival of the performing arts, including dance, theatre, opera, comedy, music and film. This year's performances include a giant outdoor production of Faust, a new take on Voltaire's Candide and a dance production based on the music of Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Lou Reed.

Aug 14-Sept 6
www.eif.co.uk

La Tomatina, Valencia
On the last Wednesday of August each year, the tiny village of Bunyol stages one of the world's quirkiest festivals. Some 275,000lbs of ripe tomatoes are available for 20,000 people to throw at one another.

Aug 25
www.tomatina.net

Goodwood Revival
See out the summer with a nostalgic journey back to the golden age of racing. Thousands descend on Goodwood dressed in the fashions of the Fifties and Sixties, while E-Type Jags and Ferrari Dinos roar round the circuit, reminding all that there is more to life than Formula One.

Sept 18-20
www.goodwood.co.uk

Giving a thumbs-up or the OK sign can mean trouble in some parts of the world.

I tried teaching English in Japan for a couple years, and was trying hard to keep up with Japanese gestures.

One day I beckoned for a student with my index finger. Her mouth dropped open and other students stared.

While in America the “come hither” finger is a perfectly acceptable way to ask someone to come to you, in Japan it’s a highly offensive gesture. I later learned that this gesture isn’t welcome in most Asian countries, and symbolizes death in Singapore.

A friend of mine was once bargaining for trinkets at a street market in Iran, negotiating for a decent price.

Although they couldn’t speak the same language, he and the storekeeper were having an agreeable exchange…until one good ol’ American gesture got him into trouble.

After they agreed on a price, he gave the shopkeeper a hearty thumbs-up. The shopkeeper’s brow crinkled in confusion, then he muttered something in Arabic before turning away.

YourTango.com, a self-described "community for love, sex, dating and relationship advice," has created an instructional video called "Facebook Manners and You." Styled after one of those frighteningly cheery '50s educational films, the video's instructions for proper behavior on the "electric friendship generator" is funny in a hits-close-to-home way.

1. Stop taking quizzes. Nobody cares what literary time period you are.

2. If you sync your Twitter account to Facebook so that you fill others' news feeds with a constant stream of mundane updates and references to people with little @ symbols before their names, be prepared for people to de-friend you. Maybe even in real life. (Read "25 More Things I Didn't Want to Learn About You On Facebook." )

3. Don't friend someone you don't actually know

4. If you must friend someone you don't know, include a message explaining why you are doing so. For example, "Hi, I'm your cousin's roommate!" would suffice.

5. Actually, no. Why would your cousin's roommate want to be your friend? That's still weird.

6. Don't invite people to events if they don't live in your city. I'm glad you still live in our old college town, but guess what? I don't. Even if I did, I still wouldn't waste my Friday night listening to you play music at that vegan coffee shop I frequented when I was 19 because I couldn't get into bars.

7. I'm sorry your grandfather died of emphysema, but I will not join your "cause."

8. Make sure all your photos are rotated in the proper direction. How will people know how fun your Fourth of July barbecue was if every picture looks like you fell over?

9. If you create a group called "Lost my cell phone; need your numbers!," I will join, but I won't give you my number.

10. Cryptic status updates about your mental state — "Rachel is trying so hard," "Rachel wishes things were different," "Rachel is starting her life over" — don't make you sound intriguing, just lonely and pathetic.

Further reading
Top 10 Facebook Etiquette Rules

It's a question that has baffled scientists, academics and pub bores through the ages: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

The living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into, he said.

"Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg," he added. "So, I would conclude that the egg came first."

David Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.

He told PA people were mistaken if they argued that the mutant egg belonged to the "non-chicken" bird parents.

"I would argue it is a chicken egg if it has a chicken in it," he said.

Charles Bourns, chairman of trade body Great British Chicken, said: "Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived. Of course, they may not have been chicken eggs as we see them today, but they were eggs."

In biology, the term egg is biologically ambiguous and the theory of punctuated equilibrium, for example, does not support a clear division between a chicken and the closest ancestors of that chicken. If the egg is not necessarily of any specific type: Then it could be said that the egg came first, because other animals had been laying eggs long before chickens existed, such as the dinosaurs. In biology, egg is used as a general term in this way.

Further reading
Chicken or the egg
Chicken and egg debate unscrambled

Diplomats, soldiers, politicians and economists all love a good acronym. Here is one of the five of the most misleading, insulting, and just plain annoying acronyms.

Why it's bad:
RINGOs and BINGOs just sound silly, bringing to mind a Beatles concert in a church basement more than and public-private partnerships to address emissions standards. Creating the designation BINGO also implies, inaccurately, that normal NGOs are completely independent from the interests of industry. In fact, many so-called independent NGOs rely on corporate donations for their activities. As for GONGOs, an acronym generally shouldn't directly contradict itself. Why not just call them what they are? Government agencies.

Read the rest of the worst acronyms ever

What's your least favorite acronym?

According to news sources, Lebedev Studio, which was founded in 1995 by Artemy Lebedev, lives by its motto, “design will save the world”. All of its creations are beautiful and unique both in concept and execution, and now Lebedev Studio has tackled the issue of personal security in a very creative and attractive way. The Lebedev Defendius Door Chain Lock stands out from all others of its ilk, defying entry because it is a door chain with a labyrinth, which is only long enough to reach the end of it. Personal security and a few fun moments seem to be the message here, and it works!

If you are not fond of labyrinths and are often in a hurry, this isn’t likely to the thief-resistant gadget of your dreams. It does take time to open a door with this type of lock on it, but according to many, it is quality time. The Lebedev Defendius Door Chain is constructed of 100% titanium alloy and its makers claim that it has proven to be resistant to approximately 700 pounds of force (equivalent to two and one half and possibly three obese burglars).

Nowadays, "people" is almost always the right choice when you are talking about more than one person. Some dictionaries don't even include "persons" as the plural of "person" anymore, and the few dictionaries that do include "persons" note that it is uncommon, archaic, or going out of style.

Traditionally, "people" was proper when referring to a mass of people:

John couldn't believe how many people were at the wrestling match.


"Persons" was proper when referring to a distinct number of individuals:

John noted that eight persons showed up for the book club meeting.

In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll and new owner of the title World's Most Influential Person is moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100) to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it's worth noting that everyone moot beat out actually has a job.

Since moot launched 4chan.org in 2003, the site has given birth to Internet memes as diverse as Lolcats and Rickrolling. 4chan averages 13 million page views a day and 5.6 million visitors a month; by some estimates it is the second largest bulletin board in the world.


See the TIME 100 finalists

Scientists of the University of California in Los Angeles made the list of most useful drinks in the world. The list is based on the content of antioxidants in beverages.

Antioxidants can protect people against dangerous diseases (including cancer, arthritis, heart and ulcer ailments, etc) and even the process of aging. Vitamins A, C, E and such elements and zinc, selenium, glutathione and some others are categorized as antioxidants. Scientists used this guideline in their work to make the list of world’s most useful beverages

1. Pomegranate juice. In addition to the elements mentioned above, it contains calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and natrium. It is highly beneficial to the cardiovascular system. This juice is not recommended to those suffering from ulcers or acidity.

2. Red wine. This beverage is known for its abilities to prevent the development of cancer diseases. Many dietitians recommend taking about 30 grams of red wine every day with food.

3. Grapefruit juice. Contains many group B vitamins, which are very good for hair and nails, as well as ascorbic acid, which fights microbes. In addition, grapefruit juice allows to keep good memory, fights breast cancer and maintains skin resilience.

4. Blackberry juice. Blackberry is known for its ability to enhance eyesight and fight diarrhea. This berry also fights diabetes, prevents the development of gum diseases and preserves the youth of the entire body.

5. Cherry juice. Contains vitamin A necessary for teeth and eyes, iron and vitamin C (fights infections). It also cuts the risk of developing many types of cancer.

6. Acai juice. This fruit contains special herbal pigments that moisturize skin and prevent its aging. The fruit also has many fatty acids required for the normal work of the brain and the nervous system.

7. Cranberry juice. Produces antipyretic action and helps during common cold. The juice also relieves the body of toxins, produces a strong diuretic action and does not wash potassium out.

8. Orange juice. Increases the body resistance to flu, removes fatigue, activates brain functions and strengthens blood vessels.

9. Tea. The sort does not matter, although it should not be bottled tea available in grocery stores. This is an invigorating beverage that fights heart diseases and various infections.

10. Apple juice. Can be used during atherosclerosis, liver, urinary bladder and kidney diseases.

The innovation, launched by book chain Blackwell yesterday, removes the need to order a hard-to-find novel, or the wait to buy one that has sold out.

Even out-of-print works can be printed off in minutes.

The Espresso Book Machine will also benefit aspiring novelists who can walk in to a shop with a CD of their work and have their book professionally printed in minutes.

The cost of buying a book will be generally the same as if it were in stock.

Currently there are 400,000 books ready to be be downloaded. Blackwell hopes that by summer, one million will be available.

It has bought one of the machines for its store on Charing Cross Road in Central London, but if it is a success then more could appear at shops across the country.

The machine, which resembles an industrial photocopier and printer, prints 105 pages a minute, or one book every five minutes or so.

Blackwell's aim is that the customer will be able to browse a catalogue in a kiosk next to the machine then press 'Make Book' and watch as their novel is created.

First the cover is run off, then the pages are printed and collated.

The pages are then clamped and glue applied to the spine. In the final stage, the pages are stuck to the cover before being trimmed to size from A4. The completed book then pops out of a slot in the side of the machine.

'With the Espresso Book Machine you can order it and have it in your hand within a few minutes. Having books printed on-demand also reduces the carbon footprint and cuts down on the number that are pulped or sent back.'

Out-of-copyright books will be sold at 10p a page, meaning a 300-page book would be £30, although Mr Hutchings hopes the cost will come down.

All other books will cost the same as if they were bought off the shelf.

A novel idea: The machine that can print off any book for you in minutes

Sure, we’ve all heard of the common phobias such as claustrophobia, the fear of closed-in places, or acrophobia, the fear of heights. In fact, we all have fears; some people have more fears than others and some are severe while others are mild.

Some fears are completely unjustified,but if you say you don’t have any fears, then perhaps one thing you’re afraid of is telling the truth!

So, we’ve established that fears are normal; however, there are some individuals that are afraid of some not-so-normal things. Sure, there are some strange phobias out there, but none stranger than that of things that don’t exist.

1. Spectrophobia: Fear of ghosts (Boo!)
It’s true that some people truly believe in ghosts and some don’t so this is certainly up to your interpretation.

Most people that have spectrophobia (the fear of ghosts) realize that this is an irrational fear and that there’s truly nothing to be afraid of. These people may be afraid to be in old, empty houses, dark places, or quiet woods, especially at night; even though the logical side of them says that nothing will happen.

2. Ambulothanatophobia: Fear of zombies
Ambulothanatophobia is fear of the walking dead, or zombies. It’s a long name for something so irrational.

This is a genuine fear in which it can be argued that Hollywood is somewhat responsible for with movies such as the Resident Evil movies and Dawn of the Dead. Though most people realize that zombies aren’t real, individuals with this fear let their imaginations get the best of them.

3. Demonophobia (also called Daemonophobia): Fear of demons
Demons are said to be evil spiritual beings. Individuals with this fear take the fear to the extreme and often realize that it’s irrational. Like people with spectrophobia (mentioned above), people suffering from demonophobia would most likely be afraid to go into an old, dark house, or be alone in the woods.

4. Pneumatiphobia: Fear of spirits
Pneumatiphobia, the fear of spirits, is very similar to spectrophobia and demonophobia. This fear however is more broad and open to all supposed forms of spirit life. Because some people believe that there are spirits all around us, this can be a truly dehabilitating, though the individuals who suffer from it do realize how silly it is.

5. Wiccaphobia: Fear of witches
These days, we have people who openly practice witchcraft and it’s perfectly lawful in the United States for them to do so. However, if you have wiccaphobia, this could be very disturbing.

6. Sanguivoriphobia: Fear of vampires
The literal translation of sanguivoriphobia is “the fear of blood eaters”, or quite simply put, the fear of vampires. Again, with all of the vampire movies out, some individuals are bound to go a little overboard and take things a bit too literally.

7. Teratophobia: Fear of monsters
Though not a very common fear in people over the age of ten years old, teratophobia (the fear of monsters) does indeed exist. Though for the most part, we all suffered from it as a child for at least a short amount of time.

8. Phagophobia: Fear of eating, or being eaten
Perhaps phagophobia should be a fear in farm animals or wild game animals, but it’s definitely an unreasonable fear for a human to have. Though there have been some gruesome real stories over the years of true cannibalism, the chances of you really getting eaten aren’t very good.

9. Spakafobia: Fear of aliens
Do you believe in aliens? Maybe, maybe not. Do you believe that people on Earth have ever been abducted by aliens. Whether you believe in aliens or alien abductions or not, most of us can agree that the chances of you getting abducted are slim to none. However, some people suffer from this fear so badly that they may even be afraid to leave their house.

10. Capgras Syndrome: Fear of an individual being replaced by an imposter
Capgras Syndrome is actually a condition, but the condition is a fear. Individuals with this condition fear that a person or people normally a spouse or immediate family member, has been abducted and replaced by an imposter that looks exactly the same.

Can you imagine trying to convince someone that you really are you? If they truly believe that you’re not, they will only get more paranoid and defensive against you for trying to convince them otherwise.

11. Ornithoscelidaphobia: Fear of dinosaurs
Individuals who suffer from ornithoscelidaphobia perhaps watched the Jurassic Park movies a little too much. As any rational person can see, the fear of dinosaurs is a truly illegitimate fear since these animals have been extinct for a long time. It’s quite possible that people suffering from this fear also realize that it’s irrational, but they can’t help it.

12. Automatonophobia: Fear of wax statues, ventriloquist dummies
The fear of wax statues and ventriloquist dummies, or automatonophobia, is caused by people thinking that these inanimate objects will come alive. While it’s true that the items these people are afraid of exist, the fear of what they believe may happen isn’t real. Of course movies such as Child’s Play harbor that fear in people. Remember Chuckie?

13. Gnomophobia: Fear of gnomes
Gnomophobia is the fear of garden gnomes. Of course no one is afraid of a garden gnome if they realize that it’s an inanimate object. However, some people are afraid that the gnome may come to life and attack them. Perhaps this is a childhood fear that some people never grew out of.

14. Santaphobia: Fear of Santa Clause
When you were a child, you may have suffered from Santaphobia, the fear of Santa Clause. Why not? Your parents try to teach you not to talk to strangers and then they put you on some fat guy’s lap. The guy is covered in hair and red clothing. What are you supposed to feel? Seriously, there are some children that have the fear for longer than a season or two.

15. Bogyphobia: Fear of the boogieman
Seriously, this is a true phobia. Sure, you may have feared the boogieman when you were a child, but some people don’t outgrow it. Some individuals have been known to have full blown anxiety attacks from fearing that the boogieman will get them.


Afraid of What!? Strange Fears of Things that Don’t Even Exist

They're giving these glasses away at the Rotterdam Zoo after a woman was attacked by a gorilla she made eye contact with. These could also be marketed towards the perpetually shy, or those with crazy-eye envy.

Scientists have discovered true love. Brain scans have proved that a small number of couples can respond with as much passion after 20 years as most people exhibit only in the first flush of love.

The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of a relationship and then decline as the years pass.

A team from Stony Brook University in New York scanned the brains of couples who had been together for 20 years and compared them with those of new lovers. They found that about one in 10 of the mature couples exhibited (identified on MRI brain scans) the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as people commonly do in the early stages of a relationship.

Previous research suggested that the first stages of romantic love, a rollercoaster ride of mood swings and obsessions that psychologists call limerence, start to fade within 15 months. After 10 years the chemical tide has ebbed away.

The scans of some of the long-term couples, however, revealed that elements of limerence mature, enabling them to enjoy what a new report calls “intensive companionship and sexual liveliness”.

The researchers nicknamed the couples “swans” because they have similar mental “love maps” to animals that mate for life such as swans, voles and grey foxes.

Scientists discover true love

Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company, has presented a new program to citizens. There are currently 250 individuals expecting to fly into space. A ticket to near space is not cheap - $200,000. This is a lot less than a trip to the International Space Station. However, the new trip pales in comparison with a flight to the orbit.

The company promises to organize a flight above Earth’s surface at the height of 100 kilometers.

Virgin Galactic has already started to accept payments from space passengers. The company promises to launch its flights already in 2010. The date of the first flight has not been exposed yet. Nevertheless, the number of people willing to fly into space is quite impressive – 85,000. Two hundred and fifty would-be passengers have already made their payments, either partially or in full.

Commercial space flights will be conducted from a private space port in New Mexico, the USA. SpaceShip Two will be taken to the orbit on board carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo, which has the wingspan of 42 meters.

The spaceship is designed to carry six passengers and two members of the crew. Four powerful engines Pratt and Whitney PW308A installed on the carrier aircraft will take SpaceShip Two at the height of ten kilometers and subsequently undock from the craft. Afterwards, the ship will continue its flight to upper layers of the atmosphere where it will cross the line between space and the atmosphere.

SpaceShip Two will be able to perform two flights a day. Aerospace pioneer Bart Rutan, the head of the company that designed the tourist spacecraft, said that the company would be able to operate 40 spaceships and 15 carriers for 12 years.

The interior of SpaceShip Two is reminiscent to that of Golfstream, a business class airplane. The program of every flight also includes several minutes of weightlessness. Passengers will be able to watch their flight through wide (46 cm) windows.

Every day should be Earth Day in spirit, but April 22 really is, so why not kick up your green heels a little bit? Celebrate the environmental acts you've already done and learn about new stuff you can do.

Happy Earth Day, everyone. Get out there and party for the planet by cleaning up, chilling out, or getting a deal. And then celebrate the earth every day by keepin' green.

Five Fun Things to Do For Earth Day

How to Celebrate Earth Day

Parties for the planet

For a growing cohort of Japanese men, women just aren't worth the effort. Instead, these guys have decided to entrust their affections to the increasingly realistic sex dolls manufactured by Orient Industry of Tokyo.

Orient Industry Co. now makes 80 dolls a month in an eastern Tokyo factory to nine designs that sell for between $850 and $5,500 each. The more expensive models are made of silicon and have 35 movable joints. While initially marketed to handicapped or deformed men, they are finding an audience among the merely awkward or socially introverted.

Orient Industry President Hideo Tsuchiya suggests that his product's success is due to the fact that "nowadays, women are sometimes more dominant than men in the real world, and they don't always pay attention to men."

Nearly all of the people who buy these dolls are single men and about 60 percent of them are over the age of 40, a company official said.

In a similar vein, pseudonymous 40-something doll owner "Ta Bo" points out that while "a human girl can cheat on you or betray you," the dolls will never do such a thing (due to being inanimate objects).

It's not a wife or girlfriend who await Ta-bo when he gets home to his apartment, but a row of dolls lined up neatly on his sofa.

Each has a name. Ta-Bo often watches television with his toys before bathing them, powdering them so that their skin feels more human, dressing them in lingerie and then taking them to bed.

Read the full story on Reuters.
'Love dolls' woo Japanese men (VIDEO)