This week the CITES conference, a major conference on protecting and preserving ocean wildlife, officially added five shark species to the international protection program. This is a big deal because the 5 species in question have been fighting for the protection for nearly 20 years and now it has finally been granted.

Due to the popularity of shark fin many sharks are caught simply for their fins, then thrown back into the ocean. Thanks to the new protection policies for these 5 species marine activists are hopeful that the deadly process will finally be put to a stop. There was significant opposition to the new protected status but experts at the conference decided that the threat is sever enough to warrant international protection. This is absolutely great news because it will keep millions of sharks from being senselessly killed around the world.

Following the addition of international protection, a task force will likely be created to actually enforce the law as well. Shark fishing and shark fin harvesting is expected to become a major international fight in the coming year due to social issues and the CITES conference group hopes that they will be able to police the oceans and cut down on the amount of illegal killing which is absolutely great news.

Obesity and a lack of exercise is a major problem for millions of people around the world and unfortunately things are not improving in most areas. The good news is that this week a medical study released shows that just a few simple steps can actually make a huge difference in terms of life expectancy for even the most overweight people. The study was focused on people that exercise just over 10 minutes per day and it showed that there can be a significant life expectancy increase.

Just 10 minutes of exercise per day was linked to a life expectancy increase of nearly 2 years, which is a very noticeable change. Of course the study also showed that 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour each added progressively more time onto a person’s life which once again shows the importance of exercise. The good news is that no matter how bad of shape a person is in, a simple and short workout really can make a difference.

As always doctors are recommending exercise and healthy eating to everyone and this just goes to show that even the slightest change can make a big difference. A quick 10 minute workout per day might not be enough according to most doctors, but it will at least get you started in the right direction.

Coffee has always been staple drink for millions of people around the world for a number of reasons. The caffeine also made it more popular with workers, students, and everyone else but now researchers say that it might have even more benefits than previously though. According to the research elderly coffee drinkers have noticeably lower risk of death.

This is absolutely amazing news because it may show just what it takes to help people live longer. Researchers say that there are still plenty of factors to consider but the results don’t lie, study participants that drank coffee consistently showed significantly lower death rates over the 14 year period.

Doctors don’t yet know what exactly it is about coffee that may be extending the lives of senior citizens, but they say that the results are great news to start with. Follow up studies are being conducted right now to determine what it is exactly in coffee that is making the biggest impact and researchers are hopeful that this will bring good news to the medical industry.

If you’re already a coffee drinker then obviously there isn’t really any reason to stop, and many doctors are even saying it might be worth starting simply because it definitely appears to be connected to health. Coffee might just have more positive effects then ever considered which is without a doubt great news for the millions of people that drink it every single day.

The FDA officially announced today that they have decided to approve a temporary heart device which can be used to save hundreds of children and infant lives in hospitals around the country. The device is meant to function as a replacement heart for a short time period while young patients are waiting on a transplant and it is the first of its kind to be approved for use.

The device, called a “Berlin Heart” has been in development and testing for quite some time and it is great news to see that it has finally been approved for real world usage. The device functions just as expected and desired according to the FDA and when used it will more than likely save lives. This is simply great news all around, especially for anyone waiting for a transplant, especially since the wait time can be so long in many cases.

According to reports there are at least 100 children in the United States that have already received the device in testing and thus far they have all been successful. Further testing and research will be conducted but for now the FDA is very happy with the results which is why they decided to approve the device for full time usage by hospitals around the country. For anyone with young children waiting on a much needed heart transplant, this is absolutely great news as it could very easily save a life.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Miami some interesting things were discovered about how relationships work out and how well people deal with each other. The results may not be too surprising but they are in fact good news for everyone involved, plus they’re a great way to improve otherwise sad marriages.

The results showed that, in general, couples that were generous lived happier lives in nearly every way than those who were not generous. This generosity is in terms of relationship work, caring, and even monetary generosity in terms of charity and donation. Couples that frequently participated in generous behavior found that they were in fact quite a bit happier overall than they were previously and it definitely shows that it does in fact make a significant impact on people’s lives.

Doctors say that everyone should try to be generous and forgiving in their lives because, as this study shows, it makes a big difference. Along with being happier in their daily lives, generous couples frequently had lower blood pressure and less medical risk overall. The idea may seem strange but science does not lie, a little bit of generosity in any form can and will make a very significant impact on your life and your partner’s life. Generosity is something that should be tried by anyone looking for a little more happiness in their life today, it’s not difficult and it can make a huge difference.

Frishta Children’s Village is a small collection of family homes in India grouped together to form a small community. The villages have begun operations based on lessons learned thru years of studying collective living.

Since 1999, they have found that the children of the regions feel more “at home” in such collective villages. Given the poverty level in India they have a difficult task to support the collective villages and provide for the children. In 2005 the government of India agreed to allow overseas contributions.

This agreement has allowed them to expand into three regions so far and expand the services provided. They now have medical, teaching, and play facilities in each village. The newest mini village, on an 8 acre plot in the Punjab district, will house 144 children in 12 homes and will bring all available service to each child.

The village will be able to teach each child to promote the best out of each of their abilities. The point is to bring them into life as capable adults. Phase One will house 72 children and will also house local Doctors that will provide free help. The house will take as many kids as possible in the first year and in year two they hope to double their facility. The mini villages are going with solar and wind power to meet their electrical needs.

They also will use bio-gas and rain harvesting to support other needs. Three acres will be used for farming using local labor which will help the nearby economy and promote good will for the village. In the culture of India, goodwill is important. The culture especially that which is ingrained in the local customs, dictate the goodwill of the local people be obtained to ensure a successful cohabitation.

The Frishta Villages are independent of the thoughts and actions that lead to poverty. They are embracing the new ways of the world to be able to bring new technology to their lives and ensure success. There will even be a computer facility in the new grouping to help with education.

This imbued culture was considered in the evaluation of the village dynamics and the children did not mind the changes. They are making great strides to independence and a better life and will be the next leaders of the country as they grow which will make the future of India more secure. After all, the children of today will help shape the future for tomorrow.

The marathon is a long distance event that is about 26 miles long and normally held on a road. The event is held in commemoration of the famous run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides.

The soldier ran from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens. The marathon began in the Olympics in 1896 and became a regular part in 1921. Greater than 500 events are held in the world each year.

Recently, a marathon runner finished a 26 mile marathon and was praised for his finish that was not in the top three, or four or even five. Fauja Singh entered the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon Sunday and came in exactly last, behind everyone. Fauja, even though he finished last, could not have been more pleased with his performance.

It took him about eight hours to run the 26 mile course. Running at a speed of little more than 3 miles per hour, Singh was a sight to behold in his yellow turban and matching tee shirt. Singh moved to England after the deaths of his wife and son and soon thereafter, began to run in races. He has completed eight marathons so far and is very pleased with his performance.

Singh says his secret is living his life without smoking or alcohol, eating a vegetarian diet. His diet consists of curries and berries and little else. He also exercises every day putting in about 10 miles per day, walking and running. Despite the clean living and exercise regime, he still came in a full six hours behind the winner.

Of course, the winner is 38 and Singh is 100 years old and is called the Turbaned Tornado by some.

Singh has become the oldest athlete runner to finish a marathon. Singh was born in India and did not start running marathons until he was in his late eighties, right after the demise of his family. Fauja began running marathons and has no current plans to stop. Singh holds the Record for the 90 year old age group that he obtained at age 92.

Scientist have concluded that a program of physical exercise reduces the chances of cancer, heart disease, and all other old age causes of death by one quarter and raises life expectancy by two years proving that continued exercise provides optimal health into your later years.

Just ask Singh, he plans to keep on running because he feels that it keeps him going and alive.

In Knoxville Tennessee, a large community center equipped with a kitchen is run by two sisters that have a mission. That mission is to feed the hungry, the homeless, the hopeless and the homebound states Helen Ashe.

Ashe and her twin sister Ellen founded the Love Kitchen in 1986 and have provided more than one million free meals to the needy of Knoxville. The Love Kitchen makes about 2000 meals per week from the community center facilities and distributes around 1500 of these meals to the homebound residents of Knoxville. The remaining 500 is distributed on Wednesdays and Thursdays at lunchtime for anyone who needs food.

Helen and Ellen get a weekly list of homebound or hospitalized people in the area and prepare a nutritious box meal of an entrée, vegetable, bread and dessert that is distributed to each needy recipient by a volunteer. The Love Kitchen sends out seven of these box meals to each person so that they have food to eat for an entire week. The volunteers take the food to the people and provide companionship and encouragement that according to Helen, feeds the body and the soul at the same time. Helen Ashe grew up in tough times in Abbeville, South Carolina in the 30’s and 40’s with her twin sister. The family lived in a home with no lights or running water and experienced many hardships growing up. The two sisters reflect that they were taught even in those hard times to consider others and to leave something in the pot in case someone came by hungry.

Helen states that this tradition of giving has become a theme for their lives and is the foundation of the mission to feed the hungry. The twins graduated as nurses in and began work at what now is the University Of Tennessee Medical Center. At the time, segregation was widespread and many of the black patients often struggled just to eat. Ashe said that she was inspired by the suffering to do something to help with this situation. Ashe used her own money to begin her mission and in 1986 a local pastor offered her the basement of his church as a base of operations.

The first day the Love Kitchen opened its doors, it served 22 meals. As the number of recipients has grown, so has the size of the building and two decades later, the ladies are still serving home cooked meals to those in need. The food is now donated by local grocery stores, farmers and specialty shops and the meals are served fresh. Volunteers range in age, and many local professionals report being inspired by Ashe’s vision and work regularly to help out the mission of the Love Kitchen.

The SETI institute has been searching for extraterrestrial life for a few decades but due to budget and funding issues the institute was unfortunately shut down earlier this year. Fortunately today SETI announced that thanks to funding from individuals the SETI program will once again be searching for extra terrestrial life in space.

SETI is a unique operation in the way it searches for extra terrestrial life; by utilizing extra resources on home and business computers SETI is essentially able to analyze a huge amount of data without needing any super computers or large data centers. Distributed computing actually became a popular endeavor after SETI began to catch on with home users just a few years ago.

In April SETI shut down as funding was cut off which meant no future development or additional data could be captured. Thanks to the two hundred thousand dollars raised through private funding SETI is planning to create a new array of telescopes and monitoring systems that should hopefully make the entire project much more successful. Either way the SETI team is glad to be back on the search for extra terrestrial life in space; no word on when exactly the new equipment will be online and ready to function but the SETI team says they will begin working as quickly and efficiently as possible to reduce waste and hopefully prevent any future budgeting shutdowns. Until then the SETI project will continue to run as a distributed computing project.

This week a college football player in Florida accomplished a truly miraculous feat which saved another man’s life. Danous Estenor is a lineman for the University of South Florida and when he stopped for dinner he heard a man yelling for help; that man was trapped underneath a car that he had been working on and had it not been for Estenor he would have likely died.

Pedro Arzola was simply doing his job as a tow truck driver when something went horribly wrong; in the process he was trapped underneath the Cadillac he was beginning to tow. Arzola’s wife was also present but like most people she was unable to do anything; miraculously Estenor happened to hear their screams for help as he rushed to the car.

Estenor is not just a football player though; he’s one of the biggest football players at his school so he was obviously the right person to help. Estenor says he tried to lift the Cadillac once but was unable to even move it but during his second attempt a feeling of extra strength came over him as he quickly and easily lifted the massive car off of Arzola’s body so he could slide out from under the car. The miraculous story has inspired many people in the area and Arzola and his wife both truly believe that it had to have been an act of God that gave Estenor the strength to lift such a huge vehicle; either way they are grateful.