In a department store, you hear attractive young women talking about a sweater. You listen to their conversation. I can't believe it! A Bertolla! It's almost impossible to find! And it's a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome. You've never heard of Bertolla but those stylish girls must know. You decide to buy it. You don't realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, saying wonderful things about Bertolla clothes in loud voices. This is the secret of undercover marketing. If a person looks cool, the product the person likes seems cool, too. The strong point of this marketing is that you don't know the conversation is just a performance.

I was recently standing in the express checkout line. There was a bit of a problem with one register and its line was growing longer. Your employee, Karen, jumped in and opened another register. As I saw her approaching the new register, I expected the usual disorder. Usually the person who has been waiting the least amount of time runs to the new line first, and everyone else gets pretty frustrated. But Karen looked right at the person who'd been waiting the longest and said, I believe you're next. What she did made everyone actually act like an adult. I was greatly impressed.

Stress can increase your appetite for fatty, carbohydrate-rich foods. That's because eating high-carb foods, such as potatoes and ice cream, releases calming hormones that provide some relief from stress. When researchers removed high-carb foods from the diet of some mice, the mice suddenly started producing large amounts of stress-related hormones. We produce the same hormones when we are depressed and they trigger rapid storage of fat, which is a cause of obesity. Rapid storage of fat was useful for early humans, who needed energy on stand-by for fighting other humans and wild animals or running away from them. These days, however, we rarely have to fight or run for our lives, so all that stand-by energy just makes us fat.

Planning is the development of a method or a strategy: the direction your new house will face, the number of rooms, height of the ceilings, and so forth. Preparation is what you do in order to enact your plan, like getting the ground ready to support the foundation and purchasing the necessary materials. Planning is the organization of your goals and objectives, while preparation is the process used to achieve them. Without preparation, your plans are likely to remain ideas beyond achievement. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy attributed the success of the Kennedy family not to money but to their careful planning and organization. They planned their strategies, organized their resources, and laid the groundwork for every forward step.

Ubuntu is a South African philosophy which teaches that all humans are greatly interconnected. It asks us to look outwards, acknowledging the humanity of others. When we do this, our behavior changes. It's impossible to treat others poorly if we recognize their true value. Every person with whom we interact becomes worthy of our respect, whether they're our friend from childhood or the cashier at the supermarket. Ubuntu challenges us to change the way we think. Instead of using other people as a point of comparison, it causes us to focus on what others bring to our lives. Forming a connection with those around you isn't as difficult as you might think. A good place to start is by looking people in the eye when you interact. Try it next time you're paying for your groceries or picking up your dry cleaning.

Since 1851, normal human body temperature has been considered 37°C, established by Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich. However, the human body isn't consistently one temperature and it varies depending on your age, the time of day, and even the activities you've been doing. It's more accurate to describe a normal body temperature range: between 36.1°C and 37.2°C. On average children tend to be slightly warmer than adults, while those over the age of 65 are cooler. Body temperature drops at night during sleep and increases over the day. The normal body temperature can be as high as 37.7 °C in the late afternoon. Usually, the lowest temperature occurs at around 4 a.m., and the highest peak at 5 p.m. Temperature can vary between individuals, where some members of a family are consistently warmer than others. However, experts advise people who have a fever higher than 40°C to contact their doctor.

School kids shouldn't carry heavy loads in their backpacks — and neither should you. Carry less than 24 percent of your total body weight in your backpack, which should be worn over both shoulders, never just one. Even a weight of twelve kilograms (a laptop computer and a few books) can cut blood flow to the arms in just ten minutes, leading to pain, numbness, and muscle aches. Also, keep your backpack close to your body by adjusting the straps to fit your size and shape. When you pick up anything heavy, bend your knees; don't bend over from the waist. Think of the back braces used by people who do heavy lifting: the braces help to keep backs nice and straight.

Here's a quick quiz for you. What is the sound that people all over the world most love to hear, no matter what their language? The answer is simple: everyone likes to hear their own name. Dale Carnegie, author of the famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People, said the sweetest sound in any language is a person's name. There's no doubt about it. When you remember the names of the people you meet, you make them feel special and you bring personal warmth and friendliness to your conversation. Make a habit of remembering names, and you will enjoy better rapport with all people, who will be grateful to you and admire you for having shown interest in them.

If you have a problem you just can't deal with on your own, find someone you can talk to about it. It doesn't have to be your mother or best friend—it can be a friendly neighbor, a gym instructor, or a kindly owner of a neighborhood grocery store. It usually happens that just talking about what is on your mind shows you new ways to deal with it. This approach can even reveal that what you thought was a big problem was never really a problem at all! You might even be lucky enough to talk to somebody who once had the same trouble, somebody who knows exactly how you're feeling right now.

Although your product or service may have plenty of advantages, that doesn't mean that you need to constantly discuss every one of them. Instead, let people know how you can solve their problem, especially one that may be causing them trouble. Let's say you're selling a reusable bag. You can list high-quality materials which your reusable bags are made of. Instead of only discussing that, you can focus on selling the way your bags are environmentally friendly, which is what your customers are actually concerned about. Here's another example: back in 2001, the iPod became successful with the slogan 1,000 songs in your pocket. Why? People were sick of carrying a heavy Walkman around. So think about a reason that will make them feel like this product or service is something I really need.

One desert locust can consume its own weight in vegetation in one day. That may not sound like much for one 2.5 gram locust, but when 40 million of them gather they can eat as much food as 35,000 people. Scientists funded by NASA are partnering with the UN to better understand where locusts are likely to swarm. Using remote sensing observations of soil moisture and vegetation, researchers are tracking how environmental conditions impact the life cycles of the locust. They hope to stop outbreaks before they spread. The moisture of the soil is important because females almost always lay their eggs in soil which is wet, warm, and sandy. Typically, they do not lay their eggs unless the soil down to 5-10 centimeters beneath the surface is moist. After eggs hatch, a large amount of nearby vegetation becomes an important requirement which provides nutrients for growing locusts and guides migration patterns

The Bach bow was invented because of an unusual musical problem: Bach, the great German composer, wrote violin sonatas that are impossible to play on the traditional violin! The sonatas include three- and four-note chords, but you can't play more than two notes at a time using a traditional violin bow. That's because the bridge of a violin is curved, while the violin bow is straight and its horsehair is very tight. This bow's hair can touch only two strings at once. The Bach bow, on the other hand, is curved, and its hair can be loosened by violinists as they play. With a Bach bow, three or four notes can be played simultaneously, just as Bach wrote them.

You can go on whale-watching tours in many countries, but only in Tonga can you actually get into the water and swim right alongside these beautiful giants. Every July, humpback whales migrate to the warm waters of Tonga and stay for several months. If you take a whale-watching tour from Tonga's Vava'u Island, you will be allowed to snorkel near the whales and their babies. Some people say the presence of so many boats and people in the water causes the humpbacks to suffer stress, and at least one tour-boat operator doesn't allow snorkeling for this reason. Others claim that the whales are curious about the tourists, rather than worried or distressed.

The idea that reading can enhance our connections to the broader human experience is more than a mere observation; it has been supported by considerable research. Studies indicate that reading can help children build skills related to emotional intelligence and compassion, allowing them to form greater connections with different human perspectives. An article in the Scientific American describes how researchers discovered that literary fiction increases a reader's understanding of what others are feeling. Furthermore, the article claims that literary fiction educates and promotes values regarding social behavior, including the significance of relationship with those who are different from ourselves. The research results suggest that readers have a higher level of emotional intelligence and compassion, meaning they can more easily place themselves in someone else's shoes

Some teenagers think it's cooler to be rude than to be well-mannered. Even some older people think that acting politely is what weak people do. But being polite isn't a sign of weakness; it's actually a sign of power. Furthermore, it's a great skill: it can win you respect, and even make grown-ups do what you want them to do! In fact, good manners can make so many situations work more in your favor. So then why are so many people so ill-mannered? Perhaps it's because being polite requires thoughtfulness, empathy, and awareness, and these qualities are, unfortunately, a little scarcer than we'd like.

All animal species are hosts for unique viruses that have been adapted to infect them. As our populations grow, we expand into wilder areas, which positions us near animals we don't usually have contact with. Viruses can spread from animals to humans in the same way that they can pass between humans: through close contact with body fluids. At first, the virus cannot spread easily since it has not adapted to the new host. Over time, though, it can evolve in the new host, generating variants that are better adapted. When viruses jump to a new host, they frequently cause more severe disease. This is because viruses and their initial hosts have evolved together, allowing the species to become resistant. However, a new host species might lack the ability to tackle the virus. For example, when we come into contact with bats and their viruses, we may develop Ebola virus disease, whereas the bats themselves remain less affected.

Gratitude is important for many reasons. It keeps your heart open to the gifts of life and to your relationship. It serves as a constant reminder of how fortunate you are to be alive and keeps you from taking your relationship for granted. Gratitude keeps you feeling satisfied, reminding you that what you have is good enough. When you are focused on gratitude, small problems do not bother you. It immunizes you from your being bothered by your partner's bad habits and the imperfections in your relationship. Gratitude allows you to see beyond the "small stuff " and keeps you from overreacting to the problems of being in a relationship.