Maxim Bange

Holidays have you stressed out? 

Here are 10 to reduce tension and anxiety through relaxation. 

1. Listen to the most relaxing song on Earth.

In a study paid for by Radox Spa, stress specialists found that "Weightless" by Manchester band Marconi Union helped women relax more than songs by Enya, Mozart, and Coldplay. "A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronize with the rhythm: a process known as 'entrainment,'" according to ShortList.com.

2. Have a makeout session.

Kissing releases chemicals of oxytocin that reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, according a study presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2009.

3. Watch a funny movie.

Laughter is a proven stress-buster. One study published in 2009 in the journal Humor found that laughter is effective at reducing psychological stress. That's because people who laugh appear to have lower levels of cortisol, which increases in response to stress.

4. Take a yoga class.

Studies show that yoga — through a combination of controlled breathing and specific poses that relax your muscles — reduces anxiety, depression, and fatigue. In a study of 50 medical students, scientists found that yoga led to higher test scores as a result of improved concentration, lowered irritability levels, and a more upbeat outlook on life.

5. Eat chocolate.

According to Anna Magee, co-author of the The De-Stress Diet, research has shown that 40 grams of dark chocolate a day can help us cope with stress by releasing "happy chemicals" known as beta endorphins in the brain.

6. Create a "mental trigger."

This is something in your head that will snap you into a calm state, usually before engaging in a particularly strenuous activity. The method is described in the "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin as spontaneous relaxation.

"A physiological connection is formed between the routine and the activity it precedes," Waitzkin, a Tai Chi grandmaster, writes. The routine is anything that you perceive as calming — taking a bath, listening to music, or sitting on a bench, for example. During brief recovery periods, pro-athletes will use this technique to quickly wind-down before jumping back into the game.

7. Get a pet.

Studies show that people with companion animals, including dogs and cats, have lower blood pressure and are more chilled out when comforted by a furry friend.

8. Grab a drink.

We don't suggest going hog wild — as too much alcohol can lead to a less restful sleep, among other problems — but drinking, at least in moderation, has been shown to knock down stress levels.

9. Chew gum.

Whatever the flavor, studies find that chewing gum lowers stress levels and improves concentration because it reduces the amount of cortisol in the saliva.

10. Ignore your phone.

At least if it doesn't involve work. Research from the British Psychological Society found that compulsively checking text messages, alerts, and updates made people really stressed out.

People benefited from using their smartphone to manage work load but once they began using it for personal things, the "work load management benefits [were] displaced by the pressure to keep abreast with their new expanded virtual social life," according to researchers.

SEE ALSO: 33 Things That Make You Happier

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In November I attended F.ounders, a tech conference in Dublin. A lot of prominent people attended including Elon Musk, Bono, and Dropbox CEO Drew Houston.

A partner at Google Ventures, Wesley Chan, also attended. I asked him how Google Ventures decides which technology trends to invest in. Google Ventures has backed startups like Uber and smart hardware company, Nest.

Chan says his team downloads all of the top apps in the App Store and tests them out. That's one of their strategies. Another strategy is asking experts from a variety of fields to come in, speak to the firm about future trends, and aid them in brainstorming sessions.

Chan mentioned a genetics expert who had recently stopped by Google Ventures. He opened with a startling statement:

"In the future people will only have sex for fun, not to procreate," this person said.

Chan explained the reasoning: 

Thanks to medical advancements and DNA sequencing, people will soon be able to hand-pick their children's genes. They'll be able to select physical traits, like hair and eye color, as well as talents and health factors. By selecting the perfect genes, parents and scientists will be able to create the healthiest, happiest, most perfect children who have the longest life-expectancy possible.

When that happens, traditional child birth will seem too risky. Expecting mothers risk unforeseen accidents. Or they might consume something harmful. Their children can be born with birth defects or diseases for no apparent reason.

Why leave something as important as your children to chance, when science can ensure they are perfect?  

Francis Collins is the director of the National Genome Research Institute. He believes there's a lot of good that can come from genetic technology. But he also describes how challenging genetic issues — like the ability to hand-pick children — will become.

"We say knowledge is power, but knowledge also carries with it tough decisions and responsibilities for making those decisions," Collins tells PBS.

"Right now one can test for a small number of things [with genetic technology]. In the future, that list will grow…And the difficulty in making the decisions will also grow. And if we're having trouble now, hold onto your hat. It's going to be much more challenging for couples."

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Acupuncture has been practiced for thousands of years — but that doesn't mean it actually works.

A new study published online in the journal Cancer suggests that any relief acupuncture brings may be the result of a placebo effect.

Researchers followed a group of 47 women being treated with aromatase inhibitors, a breast cancer medication that can cause menopause-like side effects (hot flashes, night sweats) as well as joint and muscle pain. Twenty-three of the women received eight weeks of acupuncture; the rest received eight weeks of something called "sham acupuncture," where needles are placed on the skin somewhat randomly — not at traditional acupuncture points — and then not actually inserted.

The result? All of the patients reported that their side effects had improved, especially the severity of their hot flashes.

The power of the placebo

There was no significant difference between the group that had received real acupuncture and the group that had received "sham acupuncture." So why the improvement in both?

"You could conclude," study author Ting Bao of the University of Maryland, Baltimore told HealthDay, "that it's a placebo effect."

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners explain acupuncture as a way to rebalance the energy, or "qi," that flows through specific pathways in the body by applying needles to designated points along these pathways.

"Sham acupuncture" is notoriously difficult to design. Unlike a sugar pill given in place of a real medicine, it's more complicated to convince patients that they are actually undergoing acupuncture without doing anything that might affect them physically. The authors of the new study caution that even fake acupuncture might yield some unknown physical effect.

While some studies show a "possible positive effect" when acupuncture is used to treat conditions like lower back pain and menstrual cramps, most research on acupuncture is inconclusive. Still, while there's no evidence that energy flows are involved, a placebo effect is not the same as no effect. 

Steve Silberman, in an investigation for Wired, documented how the mind can be so powerful that promising drugs end up looking ineffective when they're stacked up against placebo pills.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. All of the patients in the new Cancer study reported that their symptoms had improved, so the takeaway is not necessarily that acupuncture is worthless — it's that the power of the mind to mediate physical symptoms is anything but imaginary. 

As Bao told The New York Times, if you think acupuncture could help you and you're not foregoing conventional treatments, there's no real harm in giving it a try: “It has a minimal risk and potentially significant benefits.”

SEE ALSO: 10 Science-Backed Ways To Relax

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Does being good at driving simulator games translate very well to real life racing? Swedish digital games store Viagame decided to find out with an unusual test: strapping a real race car driver into the same vehicle as a decorated video gamer to go head-to-head in both the real and virtual worlds. All this took place at the Circuit de Catalunya, a race track in Barcelona, where the pair climbed into a Renault Mégane RS 265 coupe outfitted with a gaming PC and a 19-inch monitor in the passenger seat. Both drivers started at the same time, hoping to finish the very same circuit from identical cars.

Continue reading…

The latest batch of Japanese economic data showed signs of an ongoing recovery.

Here's a quick look at the data we got out of Japan.

• The Markit/JMMA manufacturing PMI for Japan climbed to 55.2 in December, from 55.1 the previous month. Business conditions at Japanese manufacturers climbed at the fastest pace since July 2006.  The employment sub-index rose at the fastest pace in 6.5 years, but the actual increase remained low in comparison to the sharp growth seen in output and new orders in recent months," said Claudia Tillbrooke, economist at Markit.
• Japanese industrial production climbed 0.1% month-over-month, and was up 5% on the year. This missed expectations for a 0.4% and 5.4% rise respectively. Yet, industrial production was up for the third straight month.
• The unemployment rate held steady at 4% in November, but was lower than expectations for a modest decline to 3.9%. But household spending was very weak.
• Consumer prices were up 1.2% year-over-year in November, rising at the fastest pace in five-years. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, was up 0.6% on the month, the fastest pace in 15 years. This data showed that Japan's war against deflation got a bit of a boost.
• Japanese retail sales were up 1.9% on the month and 4% on the year. This beat expectations for a 1% and 4% rise respectively.

While most Bank of Japan policymakers expect the recovery to continue in 2014, voiced concerns. "This may be indicative of a downward shift in growth, instead of merely a temporary slowdown," a Bank of Japan policymaker pointed out in the BoJ's November meeting, the minutes of which were released on Thursday.

There is also concern that GDP growth will slow in Q2 2014 when the national sales tax is set to increase.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei hit a six-year high but is down 0.5% since.

SEE ALSO: Dennis Gartman's Best Trade For 2014

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De Koninklijke Luchtmacht heeft de ambitie uitgesproken om in de toekomst het heelal in te gaan. Het kersverse Air and Space Warfare Center wil onder andere gaan bekijken of Defensie de beschikking moet krijgen over een eigen ruimtevaartuig.

Almost everywhere all around the world markets are quiet.

There's one exception: Turkey.

The Erdogan government is facing a massive corruption crisis, and the Turkish Lira is getting crushed.

Here's a look at the dollar vs. the Lira over the last week. You can see the big spike today in the dollar relative to the Lira, as investors are dumping lira the moment they wake up.

In the world of currencies this is a major collapse.

Meanwhile, the stock market is off 4%, and down 11% just over the last few days.

As trader and economist Mark Dow points out on Twitter, these kinds of huge dives during thin holiday trading are signature moves for emerging markets.

For more thoughts on the situation in Turkey, see Mohamed El-Erian's take here.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - Ferraris and Rolls-Royces have become common sights in China's cities as a new class of super-rich indulge a growing appetite for luxury, but tight regulation has meant the private jet, the ultimate status symbol of the global elite, remains rare.

Recent rules changes, however, indicate that China is preparing to open its skies to private aircraft, in a move that may herald the greatest expansion of business and private aviation in the last 30 years.

Last month, China's aviation regulator simplified flight approval procedures for private aircraft and lowered the threshold for obtaining a private pilot license.

More importantly, the implementation of little-noticed guidelines issued by China's State Council and the Central Military Commission in 2010 will gradually lift the ceiling for low-flying aircraft by 2020.

For companies such as Cessna, Gulfstream, Dassault Aviation SA and Bombardier Inc, which have spent the last decade trying to build their China business, it may present a unique opportunity to expand in the world's fastest-growing aviation market.

"This tells everyone publicly that China now endorses the use of business aircraft and general aviation just like any other countries worldwide," Roger Sperry, Gulfstream's senior vice president of international sales, told Reuters in an interview. "I'm nothing but optimistic."

General aviation, which refers to all flights that are not operated by airlines, charter firms or the military, is already a $150 billion business in the United States.

In contrast, there are only 1,610 registered general aviation aircraft in China, the latest figures from the China General Aviation Association show.

That compares with about 228,000 in the United States, according to Craig Spence, secretary general of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations.

"NO INTEREST"

Joseph Tymczyszyn, a former representative of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in China, said when he mentioned private aircraft to Chinese industry officials nine years ago he was told commercial aviation was the priority.

"When I talked to CAAC about general aviation in 2004, Ma Tao said, 'Don't waste your time and money, nobody is interested in that'," Tymczyszyn, a co-founder and executive director of the U.S.-China Aviation Cooperation Program, told Reuters.

Ma, then the deputy director general of the Flight Standards Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), was among a group of Chinese aviation officials who often visited the United States, where their experience of general aviation began to change attitudes, Tymczyszyn recalled.

Still, in a country where the military controls 80 percent of airspace there were formidable obstacles to expanding private air travel. Approval for a three-hour trip on a private plane would take at least two weeks and was never guaranteed.

Lack of facilities where small planes can take off, land or refuel, as well as a dearth of low-altitude aviation maps, have meant hopping on a private plane to visit the other side of the country for the weekend remains a dream for even the most well-heeled.

"We had a few sales in 2006, 2007 and 2008, but very limited in numbers," recalled Jean Michel Jacob, senior vice president of international sales with France's Dassault Falcon.

Sales started to pick up in 2010 and so far the French company has sold 30 jets in China, with 20 scheduled for delivery in 2014-2015.

For U.S. rival Gulfstream, owned by General Dynamics Corp, Greater China represents about 6 percent of a worldwide delivery of 2,150 jets, compared with 65 percent to the United States.

Business jet sales in China for Canada's Bombardier have topped 100, while Textron Inc's Cessna has sold more than 70 planes.

All are gearing up for growth.

BEAUTIFUL POTENTIAL

In November 2012, Gulfstream's Beijing maintenance centre, with an 82,000 sq ft (7,600 sq m) hangar, opened for business.

Dassault Falcon, which has maintenance facilities in Hong Kong and Shanghai, is scheduled open a new one in Beijing next year, and plans to recruit more native Chinese speakers to its sales team.

Cessna has already started delivery of its Grand Caravan EX made at its China venture with state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). Delivery of its Citation XLS+ jets built by a separate venture with AVIC is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to William Schultz, senior vice president of Business Development at Cessna Aircraft's China operations.

Bombardier forecasts overall business jet deliveries in Greater China at 2,420 in 2013-2032, with 1,000 to be delivered in 2013-2022, rising to 1,420 during 2023-2032.

The growth, industry insiders say, would be fuelled in part by demand for smaller jets in a country where large-cabin models, such as Dassault's Falcon 7x or Gulfstream's G550 and G650, are among the best sellers.

"There is a beautiful potential in this market," Beijing-based Jacob told Reuters.

BEAT THE JAMS

Guidance issued by regulators in 2010 aims to open up airspace below 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) by 2015 and expand to airspace below 3,000 meters by 2020.

Pilot scheme were started in Changchun in the northeast, and Guangzhou and Hainan Island in the south, where private aircraft owners need only submit flight plans before 3 p.m. the previous day, unless they encroach on militarily sensitive areas.

The experiment was expanded to other cities in 2012 and will spread other regions gradually.

"It's pretty much like the way China transformed itself from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy in the 1980s," said Ke Yubao, executive secretary general of state-backed Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of China.

"It all started from the Shenzhen special economic zone and then spread to other parts of the country."

Besides investing billions in new airport construction, for both commercial and general aviation, China has also been making progress with low-altitude aviation maps, a source told Reuters.

And once general aviation spreads its wings, there may be fewer frustrated drivers in China increasingly congested cities, where traffic can move at snail's pace in rush hours and weekends.

"I laughed when I saw people in a Ferrari going one mile an hour in a Beijing traffic jam. If you buy a Cirrus or Cessna, you can actually go 150 miles an hour and it's more fun," said Tymczyszyn.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

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One of the big stories on Christmas day was the huge theft of over $6000 worth of Dogecoin.

As soon as that news broke, we saw a bunch of people on Twitter asking: "What the hell is Dogecoin?"

Basically, it's a digital currency like Bitcoin that also incorporates bizarre "doge" meme, which involves a picture of a dog and some random words on it.

Rob Wile wrote about how the currency was invented. Basically it was a joke, but in less than a month, the total value of all the Dogecoins in the world are over $8 million, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

There are lots of digital currencies that are based on Bitcoin or competing with it in some way. Some seem more serious than others. All have little tweaks that distinguish it. Often the changes have to do with the mining process.

Dogecoin seems like a funny amusement, more than a serious thing, and in a sense that's true.

And yet in a way it's a really big deal. Here's something that was started by two guys (one in Portland, and one in Australia) and now Dogecoins are already a huge currency online for "tipping", basically giving away free coins to someone if you like something they do (like for example if they leave a great comment on Reddit).

The Dogecoin community on Reddit is already huge, bigger than all other digital currency communities, except the Bitcoin one.

What this means is that a community that has a taste for the absurd (people who are into weird internet memes) can have their own currency with real economic value in a short time. It seems like a symbol of things to come.

It's easy to imagine any number of communities or affinity groups having their own currency. A band for example could create a currency for fans to purchase merchandise.

Who knows if Dogecoin itself will go anywhere. In two weeks, the "doge" meme could be completely forgotten, and then the currency itself will seem like a funny joke from the good old days of 2013.

But the ease with which something can establish moneyness and serve a purpose within a community is impressive, and a sign of things to come.

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Hebben we net #defember afgesloten, krijgen we dit soort nieuws. De Telefout heeft onderzocht of de politie ook in de databanken van Translink Systems kijkt om te zien waar bepaalde mensen heen gereisd zijn. Hetzelfde geldt voor de servers van...

Equity markets are fairly quiet today, but currency markets are showing life.

As we mentioned earlier, the Turkish Lira is getting obliterated.

Meanwhile, the euro is on a tear, rising to its highest level against the dollar since late 2011.

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The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that is most definitely the future of gaming.

The device straps onto your head and completely immerses you inside a video game. It also has motion sensors so you can look around as if you were really inside the world. 

But it's nearly impossible to explain. The Oculus Rift is one of those things you have to see to believe. Several Business Insider employees gave it a whirl last week, and we took them on a trip through the solar system, on a medieval roller coaster, and put them into a death-by-guillotine simulation.

Additional camera by Justin Gmoser. Follow us on YouTube >

SEE ALSO: Here's How People Reacted When They Learned They Were Eating Breast Milk Lollipops

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In just a few days it will be time to celebrate one of the diciest holidays of the year: New Year's.

New Year's (well New Year's eve) can be fun, but can also be miserable because the parties are often bad, transportation is usually scarce, and there are expectations about staying up late.

Exactly 100 years ago today, someone named David Epstein wrote this great letter to the New York Times slamming the celebration. Hilary Sargent dug it out of the archives and tweeted it yesterday.

Well said David Epstein!

UPDATE: And here are some more letters from the same date, which show that the more things change, the more things stay exactly the same.

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Twitter and Instagram do not play nicely with each other. 

Several months ago, Instagram blocked photos from appearing as in-line images in your Twitter feed. Now, whenever you post an Instagram photo to Twitter, your Twitter followers have to click a separate link to view it in their Web browsers.

It's a minor inconvenience, but it's still not as nice as viewing photos directly in your Twitter stream, especially since Twitter updated its mobile apps a few weeks ago to put a bigger emphasis on those in-line photos.

But there's a way around it using a service called If This Then That (IFTTT). IFTTT is a service that lets you code "recipes" together for certain actions. San Francisco Chronicle reporter Caleb Garling made an IFTTT recipe today that solves the whole Instagram/Twitter problem. And it's super easy to set up.

Here's how to do it.

First, go to ifttt.com. If you don't have an IFTTT account, you can create one in less than a minute. Once you're signed in, head to this link, which is Garling's Instagram/Twitter recipe.

Click the blue "Use Recipe" button.

Next, you'll need to sync both Instagram and Twitter with your IFTTT account. Click "Activate" next to Instagram first.

A new window will pop up. Log in with your Instagram username and password and give IFTTT permission to access your Instagram account.

Do the same with your Twitter account.

Now click "Use Recipe" again. IFTTT will take you to this screen that confirms the recipe is working. It'll take 15 minutes or so to activate though, so be patient.

Now post a photo to Instagram. You don't need to select the Twitter sharing option in the Instagram app though. IFTTT will do that automatically.

There's a slight delay, but your Instagram photo will soon appear as an in-line photo in your Twitter stream. Easy!

Testing a new IFTTT pic.twitter.com/Xe8q6Y8BiX

— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) December 26, 2013

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Jesse Livermore: Successful Investors Are Constantly Fighting Two Deep-Seated Human Instincts  (The Gartman Letter)

Legendary trader Jesse Livermore was sometimes guilty of not taking his own advice. But he was wary of excessive trading, and well aware of the two biggest challenges to trading: hope and fear. In today's Gartman Letter, Dennis Gartman quotes what he described as "one of the most important passages" from the new annotated Reminiscences of a Stock Operator. 

"The speculator’s chief enemies are always boring from within. It is inseparable from human nature to hope and to fear. In speculation when the market goes against you you hope that every day will be the last day--- and you lose more than you should had you not listened to hope--- the same ally that is so potent a success-bringer to empire builders and pioneers, big and little. And when the markets goes your way you become fearful that the next day will take away your profit, and you get out—too soon. Fear keeps you from making as much money as you ought to. The successful trader has to fight these two deep-seated instincts. He has to reverse what you might call his natural impulses. Instead of hoping, he must fear; instead of fearing, he must hope. He must fear that his loss may develop into a much bigger loss and hope that his profits may become a big profit. It is absolutely wrong to gamble in stocks the way the average man does."

Why Young Advisors Should Tap Young Professionals As Clients (The Wall Street Journal)

Trent Porter, founder of Denver-based Priority Financial Planning writes that the young professionals group is underserved because most firms require clients to have at least $1 million in assets. But young professionals like doctors and lawyers are high-income earners nonetheless, though they might have student debt. 

These professionals are, however, in need of overall financial planning and there are certain benefits to working with them. First, it's easier to train them to be good savers and clients, compared with older clients that have set money habits. Though this age group is hesitant to invest in the stock market. "Taking them on when they've been turned away by many other advisers just as they face some of the toughest financial decisions of their lives will make them enthusiastic and loyal clients," he writes in a WSJ column.

Does It Still Make Sense To Invest In Farmland? (WealthManagement.com)

In the face of a tremendous stock market rally we've seen in 2013, many are losing interest in alternative and hard assets, writes Debbie Carlson of WealthManagement.com. Moreover, biofuels, which were the "primary growth engine for agriculture," are beginning to "stall out" and crop harvests have been good and all of this is making farmland price appreciation look "overripe." 

"I think it’s a great asset class, one that provides a nice stable return over a long period of time, but it’s not going to give you a consistent 20% return... You want to recalibrate the returns to the 6% to 7% appreciation and income region, I think," Brent Gloy, director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue told WealthMangement.com. Some still argue that it is great for diversification.

Hedge Funds Beat Out By Stocks Again (Reuters)

The average hedge fund is up 8.2% so far this year, compared with an almost 21% rise in the MSCI World Index for stocks, according to Tommy Wilker at Reuters. Hedge funds have seen returns of 9.4% since 2011 and 39.6% since 2009, according to data from Hedge Fund Research. This compares with a fund tracking global stocks that made about 32% since 2011 and 75% since 2009.

"If you look at the average hedge fund versus equity or directional markets, this year has been disastrous," Roberto Botero of Sciens Capital told Reuters. "In general you would expect hedge funds to underperform in an equity market rally. But the issue is they have been underperforming for the last five years, with very few exceptions."

4 Tips To Help Advisors Read Between The Lines When Dealing With Clients (Advisor Perspectives)

If advisors take everything their clients say at face value they can miss important insights. To avoid doing so San Richards has four suggestions to help advisors read between the lines. 1. "Practice active listening" by giving your clients 100% of your attention, asking for more information when something isn't clear, and even jotting notes. 2. "Ask questions that are easy to answer." Instead of asking if a client is happy with an advisor and his/her team, they can ask if there is any one thing they could to improve their experience. 3. "Look for hidden meaning," in what people say. Clients will often give advisors "soft letdowns" when faced with a request, and at such times advisors should always push for more information. 4. "Focus on what people don't say."

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What led early humans to begin cultivating grain some 10,000 years ago?

It was beer — not bread — a growing body of research shows.  

Archaeologists have long hinted that Neolithic, or Stone Age, people first began growing and storing grain, like wheat and barley, to turn it into alcohol instead of flour for making bread. The hypothesis was recently revisited by writer Gloria Dawson in the science magazine Nautilus. 

A botanist named Jonathan D. Sauer first posed the theory in the early 1950s. Sauer believed early farmers needed more incentive than just food to go through all the effort of planting and harvesting crops despite "the pitiful small return of grain." It was the discovery that "a mash of fermented grain yielded a palatable and nutritious beverage," he suggested, that "acted as a greater stimulant toward the experimental selection and breeding of the cereals than the discovery of flour and bread-making."

Solomon Katz and Mary Voigt from the University of Pennsylvania added to the argument in the 1980s in a publication titled "Bread and Beer: The Early Use of Cereals in the Human Diet." People didn't just enjoy the "altered state of awareness" that came from drinking beer, they argued, it was also nutritionally superior to every food in their diet other than animal proteins.

According to Dawson, one researcher even claims that beer was "safer to drink than water, because the fermentation process killed pathogenic microorganisms." 

Today, archaeologists continue to probe the role of beer in the domestication of grain. The most recent investigation was carried out by Brian Hayden, an archaeologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada. 

The earliest evidence of beer-making, Hayden has suggested, can be traced back to the Natufian culture, which pre-dates the Neolithic period that is generally associated with the beginning of farming. The Natufian were hunters and gatherers that inhabited an area in the Eastern Mediterranean called the Levant (which now makes up Syria, Jordan, and Israel) perhaps as early as 13,000 years ago. Archaeological remains found in this region, including grindstones and brewing vessels, are tools that could have potentially been used to make beer.

Hayden has pushed the idea that cultural factors, not environmental ones, fostered the domestication of grain. Once people understood the effects of alcohol, it became a central part of feasts and other social gatherings that forged bonds between people and inspired creativity. Political discussions could also take place at these get-togethers, which was important in chiseling power structures.  

"Some evidence suggests that these early brews (or wines) were also considered aids in deliberation," The New York Times explained. "In long ago Germany and Persia, collective decisions of state were made after a few warm ones, then double-checked when sober. Elsewhere, they did it the other way around."

"It's not that drinking and brewing by itself helped start cultivation," Hayden told LiveScience back in 2010, "it's this context of feasts that links beer and the emergence of complex societies." 

SEE ALSO: 33 Ways To Be Happier

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De Nederlandse economie daalt tussen nu en 2028 van de 18de naar de 30ste plaats op de wereldranglijst, zegt het onderzoeksbureau Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR). Het bureau heeft daarbij gekeken naar de omvang van de economie.

Volgens de voorspelling van het Britse CEBR wordt Nederland de komende jaren onder meer ingehaald door Egypte, Hongkong, Nigeria en Irak. Het bruto binnenlands product (bbp) van Nederland stijgt volgens het onderzoeksbureau wel: van 585 miljard euro naar 643 miljard euro in 2028.

Zonder euro

Het onderzoeksbureau stelt verder in zijn rapport dat Nederland, net als Duitsland, beter af zou zijn zonder de euro, omdat de economische groei wordt beknot door zwakke prestaties van andere eurolanden.

Het CEBR voorspelt ook dat China in 2028 de VS is voorbijgestreefd als grootste economie van de wereld. Groot-Britannië is volgens het bureau in 2030 de grootste economie van Europa. Nu is Duitsland dat nog.

It's bigger on the inside

Astronaut James H. Newman waves during a spacewalk preparing for release of the first combined elements of the International Space Station. The Russian-built Zarya module, with its solar array panel visible here, was launched into orbit fifteen years ago on Nov. 20, 1998. Two weeks later, on Dec. 4, 1998, NASA's space shuttle Endeavour launched Unity, the first U.S. piece of the complex. Endeavour's forward section is reflected in Newman's helmet visor in this image. During three spacewalks on the STS-88 mission, the two space modules built on opposite sides of the planet were joined together in space, making the space station truly international. Since that first meeting of Zarya and Unity, the space station grew piece by piece with additions from each of the international partners built across three continents and leading to the largest and most complex spacecraft ever constructed. The space station, now four times larger than Mir and five times larger than Skylab, represents a collaboration between NASA, Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, representing 15 countries in all. In support of station assembly and maintenance, station and shuttle crews have conducted 174 spacewalks totaling almost 1,100 hours – the equivalent to nearly 46 days of spacewalks to build and maintain the complex. The station, with a mass of almost a million pounds and the size of a football field, is second only to the moon as the brightest object in the night sky. Over the years, a great deal of research has been done on the space laboratory, which has already yielded tremendous results toward various fields. The science of the space station has provided benefits to humankind in areas such as human health, Earth observation and education. Many more results and benefits for both space exploration and life on Earth are expected in the coming years. > Celebrating 15 Years Since the Sunrise Image Credit: NASA

Try not to cry during this one.

Taylon Davis, 12, has an inoperable brain tumor. Her dying wish? To dance with Beyonce.

We first heard about this video on The Today Show.

Thanks to the Make-A-Wish foundation, Davis and her mother traveled to Las Vegas to the Mrs. Carter World Tour, where Beyonce gracefully hopped off stage and embraced Davis. 

The two then sang and danced to Beyonce's hits "Love On Top" and "Survivor."

You can watch the touching video below:

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Over the past decade China saw rapid economic expansion. But its growth model and controversial politics have not come without their fair share of problems.

Rising property prices, rising food prices, restrictions on investment, an emphasis on speed over safety, and lax environmental standards have led to some truly unique and sometimes crazy situations in China.

Rich people build mountain villas on top of apartment buildings, local governments incentivize burials at sea, and people are pour their money into everything from walnuts to cockroach farms.

We identified 35 strange things that have happened in China.

Businesses hang nets to prevent employees from committing suicide.

Foxconn installed nets outside its worker dormitories and hired mental health professionals to prevent suicides.

Firefighters are on hand to prevent self-immolations.

Immolations are a very popular form of protest. Before and during the leadership transition in 2012, Beijing positioned firefighters in Tiananmen Square to prevent self-immolations.

A national pork reserve exists to combat inflation.

China has replaced the U.S. to become the world's largest consumer of pork. The country has a national pork reserve that it releases when prices soar. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish prosecutor said on Thursday he had been removed from a high-level corruption case which has shaken Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government and that police had obstructed proceedings by failing to carry out some arrests.

"By means of the police force, the judiciary was subjected to open pressure, and the execution of court orders was obstructed," public prosecutor Muammer Akkas said in a written statement distributed to Turkish media.

"A crime has been committed throughout the chain of command ... Suspects have been allowed to take precautions, flee and tamper with the evidence."

Though Akkas did not identify anyone by name, his allegations looked likely to add to spiraling anger in Turkey over the case that erupted on December 17 with the detention on graft charges of dozens of people, among them the sons of three cabinet ministers and the head of state-run Halkbank.

Erdogan portrayed the probe as a foreign-orchestrated plot without legal merit and responded by sacking or reassigning some 70 of the police officers involved, including the chief of the force in Istanbul, where Halkbank is headquartered.

Akkas said he had ordered more suspects to be taken into custody on Wednesday but that police did not comply.

"As of today ... I have found out that I have been removed from my jurisdiction with no reason given," he said. "All of my colleagues and the public should know that my ability as a public prosecutor to conduct an investigation has been obstructed."

(Writing by Ece Toksabay, editing by David Evans)

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abc13.com

McDonalds pulls interal site that suggested its food unhealthy abc13.com McDonalds has taken down its employee resource website after it seemed to suggest the fast food chain's own meals were unhealthy. Related Content. More: Free ABC13 iPhone, iPad and Android apps · More: Discuss on our Facebook page. The site had a ... and more »

Zeker veertig burgers zijn omgekomen bij een aanval door rebellen in het oosten van Congo. De aanval was gisteren in het dorp Kamango, vlak bij de grens met Uganda. Dat meldde een lokale overheidsfunctionaris vandaag.

Volgens de provinciebestuurder zijn er veel huizen verwoest bij de aanval, die werd uitgevoerd door islamitische rebellen van ADF-Nalu.

Na de aanval bestookten VN-militairen de rebellen vanuit helikopters. Vervolgens nam het Congolese leger het dorp weer in. Bij die gevechten kwamen negen militairen en tien rebellen om.

19.000 militairen

De Ugandese ADF-Nalu wordt ook verantwoordelijk gehouden voor de aanval van vorige week op twee dorpen. Daarbij kwamen zeker twintig burgers om het leven.

In het oosten van Congo zijn zeker tien gewapende groepen actief. De Verenigde Naties hebben meer dan 19.000 militairen in het land, die de rebellenbewegingen moeten ontwapenen.

Redditor Tuttle_not_Buttle did some math on attendance at European soccer domestic league matches and made this map of the most passionate soccer nations on the continent.

The ranking is based on the percentage of the population that attends a professional soccer game over an average two-week period.

The top 10:

1. Faroe Islands, 10.2%
2. Iceland, 3.86%
3. Scotland, 3.81%
4. Cyprus, 3.67%
5. Netherlands, 2.87%
6. England, 2.85%
7. Norway, 2.63%
8. Denmark, 1.94%
9. Belgium, 1.92%
10. Switzerland, 1.85%

The methodology is biased toward countries with low populations. Only 50,000 people live in the Faroe Islands. In addition, attendance isn't the only thing that goes into "passion."

But it's interesting nonetheless.

Other takeaways: France is lacking and Scandinavians love live soccer.

The map:

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It's not a revelation that nowadays, musicians make almost all of their money through concert ticket sales.

Ever since the rise of high-speed Internet made it easy to pirate music about a decade ago, the industry and critics have been arguing back and forth on how to deal with the issue.

The argument has only grown more complicated with the introduction of legal streaming services like Spotify, and no one really seems to agree on how healthy the music industry is. But while the debate over piracy continues, classic heavy metal band Iron Maiden has figured out a way to make millions from it.

The band's holding company, Iron Maiden LLP, was one of the six music firms that outperformed the music sector according to a report from the London Stock Exchange.

British analytics company Musicmetric saw this report and ran an analysis of the band. It compiled data regarding things like social media fans and top streaming songs. Most importantly, it tracked illegal torrent downloads, and where they were most popular.

It turned out that the band had surging popularity in South America, especially Brazil.

As CITEworld put it:

Rather than send in the lawyers, Maiden sent itself in. The band has focused extensively on South American tours in recent years, one of which was filmed for the documentary 'Flight 666.' After all, fans can't download a concert or t-shirts. The result was massive sellouts. The São Paolo show alone grossed £1.58 million (US$2.58 million) alone.

And after its "Maiden England" tour that ended this past October, the band added five million online fans, with a concentration in South America.

"If you engage with fans, there is a chance to turn a percentage into paying customers," Gregory Mead, CEO of Musicmetric, told CITEworld.

So while this might mean bands like Metallica could benefit from online analytics instead of waging an all-out war on illegal downloads, not every band can be Iron Maiden. The average musician does not have the opportunities that come with 30 years of hits and die-hard fans.

According to Pollstar, concert ticket revenues more than doubled between 2001 and 2012, going from $1.8 billion to $4.2 billion. But the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) contended that due to losses from the sales of music, the industry has been on a continual decline, with combined revenues of music sales and concert tickets down 27 percent over that same period.

Some critics think that people will begin purchasing music en masse again when album releases once again become events worth the price. They point to the huge success of Beyoncé's new self-titled "visual album," which had a surprise premiere and offered iTunes customers a music video for each track. 

We first heard of the Iron Maiden story on Gawker, and the commenter "jjjschmidt" brought this to our attention — in addition to being legends, the band has the luxury of having its own huge private jet. And singer Bruce Dickinson is the pilot! Check it out at 3:30:

SEE ALSO: The Broken Model Of Music Streaming Services Will Take Them All Over The Cliff

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Dead battery blues could be a thing of the past

Nine out of 10 for ease of repair