Forgive and start studying
"Recent research has suggested that forgiveness is good for your health," Kevin Lewis writes for The Boston Globe. "But it may also be good for your study habits. Students who procrastinated in studying for an exam - but forgave themselves for doing so - procrastinated less and got a higher grade on a subsequent exam. One might normally expect such a self-forgiving student to keep on procrastinating. However, self-forgiveness mitigated the guilt and rumination - and desire to procrastinate further to avoid these negative feelings - that resulted from the initial bout of procrastination, making it easier to study for the next exam."
Who drops out?
"Walk into an urban [U.S.]high school and look around at the kids. Roughly half of them will drop out of school," Dan Heath and Chip Heath write for Fast Company magazine. "… Some Johns Hopkins University researchers, frustrated by the high-school dropout rate, went looking for early warning signs among students in Philadelphia. What were the telltale markers of a student who wouldn't graduate? Their analysis came back with astonishing clarity. Poring over eighth-grade attendance records, they found hundreds of students who had missed more than one out of every five class days. Of those frequent absentees, 78 per cent eventually quit high school. Similarly, of the eighth graders who had failed either English or math, three out of four dropped out. No other factor - gender, race, age or standardized test scores - had the predictive power of those two patterns."
Harm-free alcohol?
A British scientist is developing a drink that he claims will give a similar kick to spirits but without the harmful effects, Maurice Chittenden writes for The Sunday Times of London. "The small liquid shot would give the same lift as a few drinks after work. But those enjoying its benefits could then take an antidote before driving home. There would be no hangover and no damage to the liver. David Nutt, chairman of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs until he was dismissed last year, is developing his synthetic alcohol at Imperial College London. He says the 'Nutt slammer' could be on the market by the end of 2012 if money is available for clinical trials." The drug could pose serious questions for lawmakers over whether it is a safe drug to take before getting behind the wheel.
Can't beat the test
This month, a former Welsh professional rugby player tried to beat a roadside breath test by sucking a few pennies beforehand. He was heavily fined and banned from driving for more than a year. Other urban myths about what works:
- Sucking an alkaline battery, licking a piece of tinfoil or putting a fresh stick of gum in your mouth.
- Hardly blowing at all. (Breathalyzers have pressure sensors so the system cannot be fooled.)
- Spraying fresh breath spray into your mouth. (This can fool the machine into giving a higher reading.)
- Hyperventilate before the test. (The police are wise to this. That's why they talk to you for a few minutes before the test.)
- Drinking water, taking a cold shower, vomiting. (The breathalyzer has nothing to do with the stomach or urine.)
Sources: The New Zealand Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian
What goes down
"Your condo board wants you to refrain from pouring the contents of your cat's litter box into the garbage chute. Put it in a plastic bag first," Pamela Dittmer McKuen writes for the Chicago Tribune. "'Unbagged kitty litter is one of the worst things you can put down there,' said John Santoro, senior vice-president of Lieberman Management Services in Chicago. 'It's like sand. It gets caught on the way down, and it jams the opening and closing mechanisms and the compactors, and it smells. But people do it.' Residents toss lots of other items that clog and foul the chutes. Among the most offensive are wads of hangers, stiff cardboard, stacks of newspapers, used diapers, opened cans of paint, down comforters, Christmas trees and hot coals. 'Aerosol cans are dangerous,' said Santoro. 'When they reach the compactor they can explode, and people are often working in that area.' "
Pouting with plump lips
"Forget the collagen," BBC News reports, "for the perfect pout plump for a lip graft using muscle from your neck, according to U.S. cosmetic surgeons. A team at the Aesthetic Surgery Center in Naples, Fla., claim they have achieved good results in 25 patients. They say the surgery, which can be done at the same time as a facelift, helps defy signs of aging by making the lips appear fuller and less puckered. … They say the neck muscle graft technique they have used offers improved appearance for at least two years."
Thought du jour
"Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears and never regrets."
- Leonardo da Vinci