Bill and Kerry Brett's 'Inspirational Women'

"Father-and-daughter photographers Bill Brett and Kerry Brett compiled more than 125 black-and-white portraits of women with Boston ties for their book 'Boston, Inspirational Women.'

With words by Carol Beggy and a foreword by Karen Kaplan, the book documents women who are influential and inspirational in their city and beyond."

Read more here.

Running economy may not decline with age, a study finds

"Older runners may not have the speed of their younger counterparts, but they do have the same running economy, a study finds.

Running economy is a gauge of how efficiently the body uses oxygen at a given pace. Researchers used various tests to see how age affects factors of running economy in competitive distance runners."

Click here to learn more.

From Klingon to Na'vi: Delving into made-up languages

"Stephen Rogers calls himself 'a sucker for a good story.' Even if it's told in Solresol.

Rogers is the author of the newly released 'A Dictionary of Made-Up Languages: From Adunaic to Elvish, Zaum to Klingon — The Anwa (Real) Origins of Invented Lexicons' (Adams Media)."

Click here to read more.

Wiping out stomach bugs offers indigestion relief

"Getting rid of bacteria linked to stomach ulcers may provide some relief for people with indigestion even if they don't have detectable ulcers, a new study suggests.

Indigestion, also called non-ulcer stomach pain, is a common complaint, but it is not clear exactly what causes it."

Click here to read more.

New Facebook Game, WeTopia, Spreads 'Joy' of Giving to Appalachian, Haitian Children

"Facebook fans and online game lovers can spread the 'joy' of giving and develop a better world for children — both on Facebook and in the real world — through Sojo Studios' new Facebook game, WeTopia, launched today. This novel way to Play for Good™ will help underprivileged kids, including Appalachian children benefitting from Save the Children's literacy programs."

Read more about this new game and how it can change lives  here.

Mediterranean-ish diet tied to better heart health

"Once again, eating a diet based on fish, legumes, vegetables and moderate amounts of alcohol is linked to lower chances of dying from a heart attack, stroke or other vascular 'events,' according to a new study of New York City residents."

Check out the findings here.

The Individual and the Internet: The Quest for Community

"Man was made to live in community. In Genesis 2, we're told it's not good for man to be alone. And in a classical world the worst punishment was to be banished from society, because you had no meaning once you were."

Read more here.

The Ballad of Befana

"Befana put off seeking the Christ Child until her work was done. She has become a cautionary tale and giver of gifts in Italian lore. American poet Phyllis McGinley shared her story in verse.

In the middle of the holiday rush, Befana's story bears remembering."

Read McGinley's poem here.

Don't Make Soft Mistakes! Worldview and You

"I was a music major at Michigan State University, where for four years I played trombone under the direction of Kenneth Bloomquist, MSU’s director of bands. He was a demanding musician and a very capable leader. He was also famous for 'Bloomquistisms.' One of his classics was 'How could you get out of bed in the morning, knowing you were going to make a mistake like that today?' Band members laughed over that (not until after rehearsal!), and I still do. Still he was a fine leader, as I said, and under his direction I learned lifelong lessons that extend far beyond music. One of the most important was another Bloomquistism: 'Don’t make soft mistakes!'”

Click here to read more.

For What Shall We Give Thanks? A Prayer of Praise in the Midst of Want

"So, for what shall we give thanks? When life is unforgiving and our hearts grow hard? When all the verses filled with all the things we have to be grateful for -- should be thankful for -- crumble to dust in our mouths? When God seems missing and we have nothing at night to warm us except the questions we never dared ask before?"

Read more here.

A Cast-Aside Child Comes Home

"As the first rays of morning creep across my walls, I am already awake, listening for any sound, any movement coming from the room next to mine. Nothing. Wait... No, nothing, just a house sound, or a cat.

Actually, I have been in a semi-awake state all night, maternal radar on, just in case.  I did not know that I had a maternal radar.  This is the first of many new things I will discover about myself from now on. This is only the beginning."

Click here to read more.

Shades of Praise choir raises voices of hope, joy, peace

"Ten years ago, Shades of Praise gave its first performance on the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center towers. Its mission — to create gospel music through an interracial choir — immediately expanded to embrace world peace."

Click here to learn more about this amazing choir.

10 Things You Might Not Know About Turkey

"You may think you know all you need to know about turkey. Don't be too proud to check out this list of interesting facts about the star of Thanksgiving dinner."

Click here for the juicy facts.

The case of the lost wedding bands comes full circle: Woman's 2 rings returned, thanks to 2 finders' honesty

"It was several days before Lori Daniels realized her two Tiffany wedding bands were missing. An injury required her to temporarily wear the rings on her right hand, and, unaccustomed to the feel, Daniels didn't notice when they disappeared.

They could have been anywhere. So the stay-at-home mother of three didn't just tear apart her home looking for the rings."

Read more here.

The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood

"Boys need inspiration and role models to become real men. And one new book seeks to provide them."

Click here for more on this inspiring book.

Alien Environmentalism: Proposing a Christian Alternative

"In the not-too-distant future, a highly advanced alien civilization discovers the planet Earth and its inhabitants. Shocked at the environmental devastation they see, and afraid that it might spread to other planets, the aliens use their advanced technology to wipe out the human race and save the Earth from destruction."

Read more of Chuck Colson's insights here.

Brokedown in Bakersfield has twang in the tank

"Brokedown in Bakersfield doesn't describe someone's car trouble--it's a band that uses a pedal steel guitar as the foundation for a sound that brings back visions of country music's roots."

Click here for more on the special sound of Brokedown in Bakersfield.

To Be an Anointed Nation

"One of my favorite word games consists of finding words within a set of letters. Anagrams play a big part in helping to find the maximum number of words. I recently came across an interesting anagram pair: nation and anoint.


I was struck by the relationship between the two. For a nation to prosper, it must operate under the anointing of God."

Read more here.

Predators at Large: Setting the Financial Captives Free

"From the street, they appear harmless, even enticing. Promising fast cash to cover everything from school expenses to doctor bills, payday lending stores — also known as check cashers — offer quick loans to be paid back in full in two weeks."

Click here to read how one church is offering an alternative.

Save the Children Study in Lancet Offers New Hope on Battling Pneumonia, the #1 Cause of Child Death

"Children treated at home for severe pneumonia by Pakistan’s 'Lady Health Workers' were more likely to recover than children referred to health facilities, Save the Children found in a USAID-funded, WHO-coordinated study published in The Lancet medical journal today."

Read more about these hope-filled findings here.

Cracking the pigeonpea genetic code to help poor farmers

"The pigeonpea genome mapping published this month in Nature Biotechnology marks the first subsistence and non-industrial crop to have its genome code cracked.

The breakthrough will lead to more varieties that are resistant to drought and diseases in coming years. This could boost harvests of the crop and have a major impact on the lives of millions of smallholder farmers in Asia and Africa."

Learn more about this exciting event here.

Vaccine against breast cancer, ovarian cancer promising in trial

"Monthly shots of a cancer vaccine produced encouraging results in a small, very early trial of 26 women with metastatic breast or ovarian cancer (cancer that has spread to other sites around the body), most of whom already had had three or more rounds of chemotherapy."

Read more here.

World Vision declares November ‘Month of Prayer’ for Horn of Africa

"As World Vision continues to provide assistance to children and families in the Horn of Africa, the Christian aid organization is calling on churches and individual Christians across America to raise awareness of the drought and famine in the region, and to pray daily for the critical needs of children throughout the month of November."


Click here to learn more.

Shoot a Few Hoops!

"Calling all basketball lovers and those with autistic loved ones in their lives. You've got to witness this amazing video from SuccessNation!"

View the video here.

Commercial diet schemes better than doctors' help

"Commercial weight-loss programs such as Weight Watchers and Slimming World are more effective and cheaper than family doctor-based services led by specially trained staff, according to the findings of a study published on Friday."
Click here for details.

The Emperor's New Clothes: Breaking the Spiral of Silence

"Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s 'The Emperor’s New Clothes,' researchers Rob Willer, Ko Kuwabara and Michael Macy devised a set of ingenious experiments that showed how distressingly easy it is to make people go against what they believe to be true."

Read more about this experiment here.

World Vision Issues Report Card at the close of 2011 G20 Cannes Summit

"As the 2011 G20 Cannes Summit draws to a close, World Vision provides a report card assessing how the G20 did on food security and nutrition, critical issues for the health of children in the global south."

Click here to read World Vision's assessment of the Summit.

World Vision statement at G20 on Greek referendum and Eurozone crisis

"If you were a woman like Kadidja born in Niger, you would never have a chance to talk to the G20 leaders or vote in a referendum about the measures they are discussing, but you’d have to live with their decisions. Kadidja lives in a hot, dry, dusty nation in west central Africa — her children are among the 15 per cent suffering from acute malnutrition. She is struggling to keep her family alive on meals that consist of little more than millet porridge. According to the United Nations’ Human Development Index, only two countries of 172 are worse off than Niger, and the people are still reeling from a massive food and nutrition crisis in 2010."

Read more of World Vision's statement here.

The IKEA ‘Mr. Broccoli’ Soft Toy Heads Home for the Holidays and Visits School Children Along the Way

"Don’t head for the hills of Whoville just yet, the Grinch won’t be the only guy in green this holiday season.


Come November 1, Mr. Broccoli, an IKEA soft toy personality and a lead character in the IKEA Soft Toy campaign, will venture away from the broccoli patch and show the world his willingness to travel by boat, plane, rickshaw or railroad to make it home in time for the holidays. With a camera slung around his stalk, Mr. Broccoli plans to capture the heartbeat behind Save the Children’s IKEA-funded education programs in Bangladesh, China and Vietnam, while checking off some favorite U.S. and European hotspots from his travel list."

Catch up with Mr. Broccoli here.