At any skill level, making art reduces stress hormones

Whether you’re Van Gogh or a stick-figure sketcher, a new Drexel University study found that making art can significantly reduce stress-related hormones in your body. Although the researchers from Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions believed that past experience in creating art might amplify the activity’s stress-reducing effects, their study found that everyone seems to benefit equally. “It was …

Research shows how reading for pleasure can improve your life

Research by the University of Liverpool’s Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society (CRILS) has found that people who read are more likely to be satisfied with their lives. The study, headed by Dr Josie Billington, explored the emotional, social and psychological benefits to adults of regular reading for pleasure. Commissioned by Galaxy chocolate on behalf of Quick Reads, a programme …

New University of Alberta study challenges ‘mid-life crisis’ theory

Jan. 11, 2015 – For half a century, the accepted research on happiness has shown our lives on a U-shaped curve, punctuated by a low point that we’ve come to know as the “mid-life crisis”. A number of studies have claimed over the years that happiness declines for most from the early 20s to middle age (40 to 60). Today, …

Brad Evans – Self-Plagiarism and the Politics of Character Assassination: the Case of Zygmunt Bauman

In a recent study published in the Times Higher Education supplement, the world-renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman was charged with repetitive counts of “self-plagiarism”. As Peter Walsh and David Lehmann of Cambridge University claimed to have discovered, following an alleged meticulous reading of some 29 of Bauman’s works, “substantial quantities of material that appear to have been copied near-verbatim and without acknowledgement from …

Dr. Vandana Shiva – 5 GMO Myths Debunked by Vandana Shiva

1. Myth of the Green Revolution I wrote a book for the United Nations University, “The Violence of the Green Revolution,” which has been republished by many publishers globally, including the Kentucky University Press. Extracts from the book are available on Google. My study was reinforced by the study done by Dr. Jatindar Bajaj, with whom I did MSc Hons in …

Report: Big Education Firms Spend Millions Lobbying for Pro-Testing Policies

The four corporations that dominate the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions of dollars lobbying state and federal officials — as well as sometimes hiring them — to persuade them to favor policies that include mandated student assessments, helping to fuel a nearly $2 billion annual testing business, a new analysis shows. The analysis, done by the Center for Media …

Expat Files – 03.15.15

-Expat Eddie checks out the proposed Nicaraguan Canal Zone himself- looking for new business opportunities. Being Eddie, along the way he strayed into a few bars and casinos (both legal and dodgy) and finally ended up getting scammed by a brand new gringo acquaintance and two young female con artists in Costa Rica.   -Another example of why in Latin …