Search
Total number of posts: 23554
Music plays an optimistic note for cancer patients
Researchers from the Indiana University School of Nursing have started using music to help young cancer patients understand their illness. The study followed 113 young people ages 11 to 24 and assessed how well music aided them throughout the course of their treatment, sometimes involving stem cell Read More...
Smart devices don’t make smart kids. PLUS: 4 ways around this digital dilemma
The proliferation of smart devices, like phones and tablets, have made it easier for children to log-on. Last month Fisher-Price got an earful from consumer advocacy groups over their Apptivity Seat, essentially a baby seat with an iPad holder that dangles the device in front of a newborn’s eyes. Read More...
A lesson from Dr. King
Kirk Boyd is a guest blogger for The Intelligent Optimist and secretary of the International Bill of Rights project. Today I went with a friend to the Martin Luther King Day celebrations at Yerba Buena Park in San Francisco. It was a good event with around 500 people present, including some Read More...
The un-manager
We've been exploring the idea of shaking up management systems for the upcoming issue of The Intelligent Optimist. Whether that's using cooperatives as an alternative to business as usual, or something fundamentally different in the way we govern ourselves, there's an ongoing discussion worth Read More...
For mental health, settle near nature
We often extoll the benefits of getting more nature in our lives. Jay Walljasper wrote about it for us, way back in 2005. But today we've got a bit of new research to further back up the premise: Green is good. More specifically, a study published this month in Environmental Science and Technology Read More...
Food for life
If you believe the menu, the most famous dish at The Sunflower Center, the café and community center run by Lydia’s Organics in Petaluma, California, is the soup—the Famous Raw Green Soup, a cold, refreshing blend of cucumber, kale, avocado, celery, dulse seaweed and about five different Read More...
Chinese herb offers hope against neuropathic pain
A small, flowering plant from China offers exciting news for the 50 million Americans who suffer from neuropathic pain, for which there is currently no reliable treatment. Roots of Corydalis yanhusuo have been used traditionally to relieve menstrual cramps, stomach and chest pain and other Read More...
Can the movies show us a way to international equality?
Kirk Boyd is a guest blogger for The Intelligent Optimist and secretary of the International Bill of Rights project. When I started blogging here a few weeks ago I suggested that I would be talking about how to build a bridge from war and want to peace and prosperity. I guess I've decided to build Read More...
How has optimism helped you?
No really — we're asking. Tell us a story. We want to hear about a time in your life that taking an optimistic outlook helped you. Maybe you were in a rough patch, or maybe you were working on something challenging and a shift in perspective brought a new solution to your attention. Send us a Read More...
Are we getting too much health care?
Is it possible that the real health problem in America isn’t so much the lack of access to quality care as it is too much access? According to a recent article in The Atlantic, this may very well be the case, at least for some of us. But it’s also possible that as we begin to unpack this Read More...