For China’s young people quality of life as important as work

China job fair

A job fair in Hefei in east China’s Anhui province.

Song Hao, a  bearded video editor in his late 20s,earlier this year began to feel that the job he’d been doing for nearly four years was boring, leading nowhere, and certainly not worth the overtime he was made to do every evening.

 

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House built on top of a volcano

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House built on a Southern Calif. volcano.

Not every day you come across a unique home that looks like a UFO.  And you certainly wouldn’t come across one that is built on top of a volcano.  But there is a curious dwelling located between Las Vegas and Los Angeles that is sitting atop a volcano.  To be precise, the home is located in Newberry Springs, CA on top of a volcanic cinder cone. (Pics)

 

 

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Virtual schools growing, critics question effectiveness to educate children

virtual school

A virtual school delivers lessons online to a child who progresses at her own pace.

K12 Inc.. a Virginia company leading a national movement to replace classrooms with computers — in which children as young as 5 can learn at home at taxpayer expense — is facing a backlash from critics who are questioning its funding, quality and oversight.

 

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Secret of internal alarm clock discovered that allows some to get by on just four hours’ sleep

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People who had two copies of the gene ABCC9 slept significantly less than people with two copies of another version.

Scientists discover a gene that controls how long we sleep has been explaining why some people have their own internal alarm clock.

 

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Elderly heart patients prefer longevity over quality of life

heart patient

Survey found three quareters of elderly heart failure patients wouldn’t trade a longer life with symptoms for a shorter life without them.

Many doctors might assume tha when an elderly patient’s chronic disease is impossible to cure they would prefer to improve the quality of their remaining life rather than extend it as it is.  Most of the time those doctors would be mistaken, according to a new study.

 

 

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Inflatable Robots: The cheap, lightweight robotic alternative?

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Inflatable robots provide a whole new avenue of exploration.

The 15-foot-long Ant-Roach (pictured above) really demonstrates the carrying capacity and high strength-to-weight ratios of these inflatable structures. It weighs in just under 70 lbs but it can carry up to 1000 lbs, making the payload of a few people no problem at all. The initial concept was more elephant-like but the final product came out like this anteater-cockroach hybrid, hence its name.

This huggable robot was developed by Otherlab’s Pneubotics program; a collaborative effort between the San-Francisco-based research firm, Meka Robotics, Stanford University, and DARPA…

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