In this TED talk Amy Cuddy explains that if you change how you stand, sit, or generally hold yourself you can change how you feel. As an added bonus, by posing yourself in certain ways you can make other people think of you differently.
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Things Are Good: A Phone Call to Diagnose Parkinson’s
About a week from now I’ll be running to fundraise for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s’ research. As a result of my participation, I’ve been researching Parkinson’s and found out that some enterprising researchers have discovered a simple way to diagnose the neurological disorder through a simple phone
Continue readingThings Are Good: ForestWatchers Wants You to Look at Forests
Forests around the world are in danger and a new group, ForestWatchers, is looking to the average person to save all the trees. It’s a very simple idea: use people to scan tree lines from images to help scientists focus their efforts. Citizen science for the win! We propose a
Continue readingThings Are Good: How to Reduce Household Food Waste
It was recently found out that Canadians waste a lot of food, 51% of which is wasted inside the home. This means that there are ways that each individual can make a difference! The CBC has a tip sheet on what you can do at home to ensure you don’t
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Social Capital Project
Have a lot of stuff you no longer need or want but is still in a good enough shape to be used? Well, you can take inspiration from The Social Capital Project which is one person’s idea to get rid of things she no longer wants. Instead of disposing of
Continue readingThings Are Good: Physicists Open Up
Results from publically-funded research often ends up in places that the average person can’t access the findings because scientific (and other) journals where results are printed cost an arm and a leg. Physicists, who are already renowned for being open, have taken the next logical step and said that any
Continue readingThings Are Good: Track the Small Things for Big Happiness
Teresa Amabile is a professor at Harvard Business School who has researched diary keeping and has made a very nifty realization: even keeping a few thoughts a day can amount to huge differences in happiness. I use I Done This to track my days, perhaps you’d like to too after
Continue readingThings Are Good: Why Drivers Don’t Understand Cyclists
As an average cyclist I often find it confusing when drivers get their hate on for sustainable transit. Anyone who knows anything about the environment or living in an urban centre would acknowledge that bicycle infrastructure is important and creates a more vibrant city than car-dominated streets. Yet, car drivers
Continue readingThings Are Good: Tesla Motors Builds Solar Charging Stations
Tesla, the electric car company, has unveiled solar powered electric charging stations in the USA. This is a good step toward sustainable personal transportation. Not only has Tesla created battery charging stations called Superchargers for electric cars but they are giving the energy away for free to some lucky people.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Proposed Chicago Tower Cleans the Air and Looks Great
Chicago is already internationally known for his stunning architecture and that reputation is set to continue with a new eco-tower. The CO2ngress Gateway Towers will bring the skyline into the 21st century because that building is focused on cleaning the air that people in Chi-town breath. In attempt to cut
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Zero-Waste Town in Japan
In Japan the town of Kamikatsu people there create zero-waste while living a modern life. The community has taken the idea of a plastic bag ban to the next level and have banned garbage outright. The crazy part? Most locals actually seem to like the extreme recycling process. Kikue Nii,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Commit2Act a New Mobile App to Better the World
TakingITGlobal has released a new digital tool to make the world a better place through direct action. It’s a mobile app for iOS (Windows phones soon available) that has a gamification approach to encourage people to participate in good activities. Small actions can have a big impact! Join other people
Continue readingThings Are Good: Robots That Ride Waves for Science and Understanding
New surfboard sized robots are riding the waves and doing science! They’re autonomous robots called Wave Gliders and they are being used to monitor shipping and more importantly they are tracking information on the oceans that have traditionally been too costly to gather. Researchers are warming up to the technology
Continue readingThings Are Good: Typical Wind Farm Supports Nearly 1,100 Jobs
A recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the USA has shown that in the country wind farms generate not just energy but 1,00 jobs at a ‘typical’ site. Other countries have found that incorporating renewable energy into their electricity grid can help generate power efficiently while
Continue readingThings Are Good: Natural Sunblock: Beards
Above is an excellent example of beautiful facial hair that does a good job of blocking the sun. That’s right, for those of you who can grow beards – you should. Not only do beards look good they also can serve as sunblock. But how much sun does a good
Continue readingThings Are Good: Great Lakes get More Protection
In a demonstration of the usefulness of having an embassy in another country, Canada and the USA have renewed a pact to protect the Great Lakes. This is a good thing as the Great Lakes need more protection and better environmental care from both sides of the border. The pact
Continue readingThings Are Good: In the Future Cities will be Sharing Centres
Urban centres are already more efficient than their surrounding suburbs and this looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future. Due to the close proximity of people in cities it allows for local sharing projects that can greatly reduce waste awhile increasing access to things we think we need.
Continue readingThings Are Good: A New Stove Project Looks to Crowdsource Healthier Heating
Regular readers of this site may know that we are fans of efficient stoves. The Kenya Stove is a new project to get efficient stoves in the hands of Kenyans. Erin, from Kenya Stove writes: First some bad news: More than 3 billion people rely on traditional cookstoves for cooking
Continue readingThings Are Good: California High Speed Rail is Green
Trains are way more efficient than cars and trucks when it comes to transporting people and goods, yet in North America, trains are often shunned for more wasteful transportation systems. This negative attitude towards sustainability is changing, notably California citizens voted for a high speed rail line in the state.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Volet Vegetal – Simple Urban Gardening
Space for a small garden can be hard to find for a lot of people in urban areas. Some French designers have modelled a new way to hang a garden from a window. Their design is simple and provides people with an easily accessible garden space and as a bonus,
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