Jan Christian Gets Her Voice Back After 35 Years Thanks To Incredible Larynx Surgery
When Jan Christian was 17, a traumatic car accident fractured her windpipe and voice box, robbing her of her voice. For her entire adult life, she has not been able to speak above a muted whisper. But now, 35 years on, Christian is finally rediscovering what it feels like to be heard after a miraculous [...]

Airport Security Finds $9500 At Airport And Returns It!
Airport security officers often get a lot of flak from travelers in a hurry to get on their flights. But for one passenger last week at Dallas/Fort Worth International airport, the honesty of a security officer served as a reminder of the TSA’s good work, WFAA reports. According to Fox News, Carlos Palma dropped an [...]

World’s largest preserve forming in Africa
Five nations in Africa have come together to create the world’s largest conservation area for wildlife. Elephants have no respect for lines on a map, especially the artificial national boundaries established by Europeans after carving up Africa into colonial empires. But national boundaries have kept elephants and many other animals cooped up in southern Africa. [...]

Bald Barbie in the works for kids with cancer
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Mattel announced plans to create a bald doll for children suffering from hair loss in response to an ongoing campaign on Facebook. Southern California resident Rebecca Sypin was one of the people behind the Facebook campaign, urging Mattel to create a bald Barbie that children battling cancer and other diseases that [...]

Community Groups Join Forces to Support Clean Energy and Save Money
In the depths of the recession, when budgets were tighter than usual, a group of churches in Washington, D.C., noticed energy bills were eating up huge chunks of their budgets. “The huge amount our institutions were paying for electricity just astounded with us,” says Martin Trimble, lead organizer with the Washington Interfaith Network, an organizing [...]

China sets up rare earth body to streamline the sector
China has set up a rare earth association in a bid to streamline the sector’s development, as it continues to face criticism over its policies. Beijing has imposed quotas on exports of rare earth elements, a move which its critics say has pushed up prices. Last month, the US, Japan and the European Union filed [...]

Carbon credits to benefit farmers
Improved farming practices, especially in rice cultivation, would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and provide economic benefits for rural farmers in Viet Nam through participation in a carbon-credit programme, according to international experts. Although Viet Nam’s greenhouse-gas emissions are relatively low, emissions will triple by 2030 unless significant emissions-mitigation options are undertaken, according to the International Food [...]

Ikea begins urban planning project
You get a certain feeling that you’re getting lost in a craftily designed labyrinth when you enter an Ikea store, The Globe and Mail reports. But the next question is: will that discomforting almost-warmth of a prototype apartment be the same in the prefabricated Ikea housing development that is in the works in the Oregon? [...]

Africa Sci-tech Forum Promotes Homegrown Innovation
Experts and officials gathered at the first Africa Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation in Nairobi, Kenya are seeking African solutions to African problems.  Participants are calling for African governments to fund and promote research and development at home. U.N. Economic Commission for Africa Technology Division Director Aida Opolu-Mensah says for too long Africa’s science [...]

Our ability to transform commodity markets will determine nature’s fate
The success of governments and big corporations in eliminating environmental degradation from the products we consume will play a critical role in determining the fate of the world’s remaining wild places, said a group of experts speaking at a panel during the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Meeting in Oxford last week, the forum [...]