?it’s catching! – Can THIS glass be seen as half full instead of half empty? This Christmas season, remember: laughter can be infectious. You don’t need a sophisticated study to tell you that, but nevertheless, there WAS such a study, which looked at nearly 5,000 individuals over a period of 20 years and discovered that one person’s happiness triggers a chain reaction that benefits not only his friends, but his friends’ friends, and his friends’ friends’ friends. The effect lasts for up to one year. But SADNESS and stress do not spread through social networks as robustly as happiness.
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If you’re thinking about doing away with yourself (and we hope you’re NOT!), it turns out there’s only one place to go. We all assume that anyone who commits suicide has a good reason to do so, yet many people who are in the same dire straits opt to stay alive and face their problems. The difference may be a new discovery that the brains of people who commit suicide are chemically different to those who die from other causes?they may be gamblers.
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In her latest diary, Anne Strieber writes about the often meaningless hustle and bustle of the holiday season and compares it to?the way business is done in Hollywood! If you love Anne’s diaries, support this site: Subscribe today!

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.read more

They are genetically programmed to SPEND! – In a recession, we all have less to spend. But are men genetically programmed to keep on spending money anyway?

Bling, foreclosures, rising credit card debt, bank and auto bailouts, upside down mortgages and perhaps a mid-life crisis new Corvette are all symptoms of compulsive overspending, and despite the female “Sex and the City” reputation for drowning their sorrows in shopping, the truth is that men indulge in this more than women do. Researcher Daniel Kruger looks to evolution and mating for an explanation.
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