Brian Cox visits the world's biggest vacuum chamber

A brilliant J.K. Rowling's speech at Harvard - The Benefits of Failure

Your body language shapes who you are

Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

How immigrants will reshape workforce

Over the next two decades, the largest generation in America's history—the Baby Boomers—will reach retirement age and leave the workforce. Together, immigrants and their children will play a pivotal role in reshaping the workforce and sustaining the demands of a growing economy for decades to come. As major demographic shifts radically reshape the American population, immigrants and their children will strengthen the overall shared prosperity for the country as a whole.

Your wireless router could be murdering your houseplants

Are you slowly killing your houseplants? Probably! But there might be a reason (other than neglect) why they’re all yellow and wilty: your Wi-Fi router.
An experiment by a handful of high school students in Denmark has sparked some serious international interest in the scientific community.

Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram

A ten-dimensional theory of gravity makes the same predictions as standard quantum physics in fewer dimensions.

A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.


In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe in which gravity arises from infinitesimally thin, vibrating strings could be reinterpreted in terms of well-established physics. The mathematically intricate world of strings, which exist in nine dimensions of space plus one of time, would be merely a hologram: the real action would play out in a simpler, flatter cosmos where there is no gravity.

Why children as young as three are sent to boarding school in China

Family ties are hugely important in China, but thousands of Chinese parents are still sending children as young as three away to boarding school. Why do they do it?

Kelly Jiang bounces into her kindergarten classroom, her parents a few steps behind.

"Bye Mum and Dad," the four-year-old trills, with barely a backwards glance.
As her parents wave farewell, she's already happily chatting to her teacher and her classmates.

Japan's amazing lunchboxes

Making a packed lunch for your children to take to school is a chore performed by parents around the world. 
But in Japan, it is not just the taste and healthiness of the meal that is important - but how it looks. 
The country's ancient emphasis on food presentation has been transformed into a trend for character bento - packed lunches made to look like pandas, teddy bears or even real people. 
The BBC's Tokyo correspondent Roland Buerk has been finding out more.



For source go here.

Reading Books Shortens Prisoners' Sentences In Brazilian Prison

Brazil will offer inmates in its crowded federal penitentiary system a novel way to shorten their sentences: four days less for every book they read.

Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced.

Women, Be Ambitious!

The UK's most powerful women share their advice on ambition and self-belief. A truly feel-good video!

For source go here.

Why piano-mania grips China’s children

In Mao’s China, pianos were destroyed as despised symbols of the bourgeoisie – but now an estimated 40m children are learning the instrument. What has changed? Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore investigates. 

Keng Zhou holds a prestigious position as dean of the International Piano Academy at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. But he first learnt to play in 1973 not on a gleaming grand piano but on an instrument’s battered remains. The legs had been sawn off for fuel and its cover removed to create a makeshift table. For years in Mao’s China, Western classical music was viewed suspiciously as a tool of imperialism and the piano a despised instrument of the bourgeoisie.

Why Do Young Women Shy Away From Science & Engineering

BBC Radio presenter, Liz Barclay, sits down with female science and technology experts: Dr Susan Etok, Dr Polly Mcguigan, Dr Emily Sidonie Grossman and Jassel Majevadia, to find out why young women shy away from science and engineering. 

You can listen to what they have to say here:



Participants:

Dr Susan Etok is a Materials Engineer & Intellectual Property Specialist – Read more
Dr Polly Mcguigan is a Lecturer in Biomechanics – Read more
Dr Emily Sidonie Grossman is a Science Teacher & Molecular Biologist – Read more
Jassel Majevadia is a PhD Student – Read more

For source go here.

Girls 'lack ambition' for good jobs

 





A new report from the Women's Business Council says our economy needs women's contribution, and action is required to remove the obstacles that currently restrict women from realising their full potential.

These obstacles appear at all stages of their working lives. Among the report's recommendations are a call to broaden girls' aspirations and career choices and to create a business culture that embraces them.

Ruby McGregor-Smith, chair of the Women's Business Council (WBC) and author of the report, told today presenter John Humphrys that she has seen "a real lack of confidence in young girls".

Gladys Lawson, a microbiologist who volunteers for the charity Inspiring the Future, said some girls "don't have any guidance" in schools and described how girls "lack ambition". "Parents need to encourage their children as well as teachers" she added.

For source go here.

To earth with love...

The world's first "social media astronaut" returns to earth as Channel 4 News tracks the story of Commander Hadfield's out-of-this-world tweets.


For source go here.

Meet the 'tutor kings and queens'

In Hong Kong, good exam results are essential. The pressure for success has created a new generation of tutors with a rock star approach to self-promotion. They strike glamorous poses in posters in shopping malls and on the sides of buses.

But they are not movie stars or supermodels: they are Hong Kong's A-list "tutor kings" and "tutor queens", offering pupils a chance to improve mediocre grades.

In Hong Kong's consumer culture, looks sell. Celebrity tutors in their sophisticated hair-dos and designer trappings are treated like idols by their young fans who flock to their classes.

And they have earnings to match - some have become millionaires and appear regularly on television shows.



Full article here.