Over 115 Million Widows Around the World Live in Poverty

Afghan widows wait in line next to a barbed wire fence to receive their food rations.

At least 245 million women around the world have been widowed and more than 115 million of them live in devastating poverty, according to a new study launched Tuesday night by Cherie Blair, wife of the former British prime minister. The most dire consequences are faced by 2 million Afghan widows and at least 740,000 Iraqi widows who lost their husbands as a result of the ongoing conflicts; by widows and their children evicted from their family homes in sub-Saharan Africa; by elderly widows caring for grandchildren orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis, and by child widows aged 7 to 17 in developing countries, the report said.

Is Yawning Uncontrollable and Contagious?

Several years ago, I took a remarkable psychology class from a professor whose interest in the field seemed to be motivated, at least in part, by a desire to unearth new tricks for beguiling the opposite sex. Ethical implications aside, his lectures were generously garnished with anecdotes that held his wide-eyed freshmen audience in rapt attention. Among the tips he shared was a psychologically based method for casually gauging just who might be checking you out in a crowded place: yawning. The theory goes that if you yawn, anyone who’s surreptitiously watching you won’t be able to resist yawning too, giving themselves away (and marking them as a susceptible target for wooing).

Women Are Smarter Than Men, Says Research

Women are cleverer than men, according to a recent report.  The conclusion was drawn following a five month online contest between the sexes conducted in nine languages and based on the popular board game Trivial Pursuit.

Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels for 2010

What’s the dirtiest hotel you’ve ever stayed in? 
TripAdvisor®, the world’s most trusted source of travel advice, today announced the top 10 dirtiest hotels in America, based on TripAdvisor traveler ratings for cleanliness. For the fifth consecutive year, TripAdvisor reveals the truth about hotels around the world, from the most gleaming to the most grimy.

The Mystery of Non-Egyptian Pyramids in China

Pyramids in China???