Being labelled in high school as "most likely to succeed" is viewed as a curse by many.Mike G
Co-workers keep you alive
"Emerging research suggests a strong peer network in the workplace helps individuals live longer - and that it helps if you are a guy who feels like you're in charge of your job," Psych Central says. "Benefits of peer social support on the risk of mortality were most pronounced among those between the ages of 38 and 43. Having a supportive supervisor did not seem to have much effect on this age group. Men who felt like they had control and decision authority at work also experienced this 'protective effect,' according to the study. But conversely, the same authority seemed to increase the risk of mortality among women." The study appears in the journal Health Psychology.
Is success a burden?
"Nearly one-third of those named 'most likely [to succeed]rsquo; in high school regard it later as 'a curse,' according to a recent poll of 1,369 members of MemoryLane.com, which links users to high-school classmates, yearbooks and nostalgic material," says The Wall Street Journal. "Some say the label makes them feel stuck with high-school definitions of success, which invariably involve rising to the top of a profession, making lots of money, or both. … [A]out four in 10 most-likely-to-succeed winners regard the label as an inspiration, the MemoryLane.com survey shows. Sakita Holley of New York says being raised by her grandmother because her parents were absent fostered 'frustration and negative energy' that she channelled into achievement. As a high-school senior in 2005, she urged classmates to vote her most likely to succeed. After she won, she had 'success' tattooed on her back, changed her middle name to 'success' on Facebook, and graduated with honours from Howard University. She named the public-relations company she founded in 2006 'House of Success.'"
That's my kid
"Goats are able to recognize the voices of their very young kids, and differentiate them from other animals' offspring, according to researchers," says BBC News. "A mother goat is able to pick out her own baby from its voice alone by the time the kid is just five days old. … Dr. Elodie Briefer [of the University of London] who led the research, was surprised to find that the animals were able to pick out their own kids' voices. 'A mother and kid rely a lot on smell to recognize one another and, in the wild, during the first week of their lives, the animals hide in vegetation and don't call much. … The mothers call to the kids when they want them to come and feed, so we expected that kids would recognize the mothers' voices, but not vice versa.'"
Crows against terrorism
"The United States military funded research into using networks of 'spy crows' to locate soldiers who are missing in action, and extended the work to see if the birds might be useful in helping them to find Osama bin Laden," reports Scienceblogs.com. "The idea may seem far-fetched, but unlike some military research programs … it is actually based on sound science." The method was based on the work of John Marzluff, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington who has been studying crow behaviour for more than 20 years. He says that the birds "have a long-term memory, very acute discrimination abilities, and if a group of crows knew bin Laden as an enemy, they would certainly indicate his presence when they next saw him. … One of the experimental branches of research that was used to try to find him was to have crows or ravens of the local area trained to identify his face."
For better volleyball
"In a further sign of the Mao-stalgia that is creeping into official circles [in Beijing] the Chinese women's volleyball squad spent a week recently studying The Long March, a stirring poem by the former Chinese leader, according to the Chinese Volleyball Association's website," The Christian Science Monitor reports. "This 'traditional revolutionary education' taught the women 'not to be afraid of difficulties and to dedicate themselves to their daily training with the Red Army's Long March spirit under Mao's leadership,' the association explained."
Three kids sue Colorado
"An 11-year-old boy whose Gold Hill neighbourhood burned in the Fourmile Fire has joined with a friend afraid of losing favourite hiking trails and an 18-year-old student with a growing asthmatic condition in a lawsuit against the state for failing to protect the environment," says the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo. "… Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, 11, of Boulder is a leader of the Colorado-based Earth Guardian group and one of the plaintiffs named in the suit" brought against the state, the governor, the department of health and environment, the air-quality control commission and the department of natural resources. The goal is to "force action on climate change" in all 50 states, according to the lawsuit.
Thought du jour
"Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve."
- Alan J. Perlis (1922-90), U.S. computer scientist