So what happens when you put fast food joints next to high schoolers?

In a study of more than a million California ninth-graders over 8 years, researchers found that the likelihood of obesity at schools near fast food restaurants was 5.2% higher than the state average, the Los...

Menstruating is a universal annoyance. Sometimes accompanied with cramps-- and other times with tears at Puppy Chow commercials-- we get through our "time of the month" with Midol, tampons, and tissues. We manage to proceed with our usual routine. In fact, there's not much talk about periods beyond the middle-school...

UK Scientists studied tech entrepreneurs and found (duh) that they exhibit more "highly adaptive risk-taking behavior" than their non-startup, corporate-slaving counterparts. They suggest that this difference results in better outcomes during stressful business situations.

The research, which was published in Nature magazine, also suggests that these risk-taking tendencies...

It's halfway through November and Lynn Lane's upper lip is getting hairy.

That's because he hasn't shaved his mustache since October, and doesn't plan on doing so until December. No, this isn't a Gillette boycott. Lane is a cancer-advocate, joining thousands of men in raising awareness of prostate and testicular...

Social entrepreneur and artist Willa Shalit believes that the solution to poverty is not aid, but rather empowering women by providing sustainable, meaningful work. So when the CEO of Macy's offered to write a check to help women in Rwanda, Willa declined the offer and instead proposed an international business...

Here's a question to the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world: how do we turn tax-consuming inmates into tax paying, law-abiding citizens? Traditional prison rehabilitation programs don't seem to work; in fact, our recidivism rate is grim with 67% prisoners rearrested within 3 years of...

Calling all databrains: local government needs you.

San Francisco and New York City are providing public sets of raw data for developers and data visualists to sink their teeth into. Their hopes are to put sets of municipal data -- which usually collect dust -- out to the public in...

Last year I read an article about inner-city schools paying students to get good grades. My first thoughts were of relief: finally a creative solution to level the playing field amongst our public schools. But I wasn't completely sold. I began to think about how this solution would deteriorate...

Bigger may be better in Texas; but for the rest of us, small steps are all it takes to make a difference. I've searched the depths of the web for the smallest big ideas that help everyday citizens make an impact. Here are my favorite tools for good things micro:

You probably know Product Red, Bono's campaign to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. You know it because Gap, Apple, and Motorola poured over $100 million in advertising. But according to the

With over 1.5 million non-profits registered in the US, it can be dizzying to sort through the wristbands and marathons to find a charitable cause which to give your money or time. Daily we are bombarded with Facebook Causes and infomercial messages that muddle our mind, reminding us of the...