St. Louis: Wishing family and friends a “Happy New Year” is all well and fine, but if you’re serious about spreading cheer in the New Year, consider passing along more specific advice from a psychologist who studies the science of happiness at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Evanston: Northwestern University professor Nina Kraus shed light on one of the brain’s most complex tasks -- making sense of sound -- during the recent Falling Walls conference in Berlin.

It is evident that the seeds of modern concepts of ‘sarvodaya’ and ‘total revolution’ were sowed in Karnataka, during twelfth century itself by the great revolutionary-Basaveshwara. His practical approach and act of establishment of ‘Kalyana Rajya’  (Welfare state) brought a new status and position for all the citizens of the society, irrespective of class, caste creed and sex. Thus the main aim of Vachana (poetry) movement, led by Basaveshwara was welfare of all. He proclaimed this as- “Sakala jeevatmarige lesu” (welfare of all).

The comprehensive story on the socio-political dimensions of Patel’s life led to speculation that perhaps the person taking over as the first prime minister of independent India would be the “Sardar of Bardoli”, a title given to him by Mahatma Gandhi for successfully championing the cause of the peasants in Gujarat against anti-farmers policies of the British Raj. But, as aptly put by some commentators, Sardar Patel was destined to be the finest prime minister of his time that India never had. (Read in Hindi: भारतीय एकता के सूत्रधार थे सरदार पटेल)

“We are free people, the white men should not rule over us...” This was not a clarion call from any freedom fighter from the mainland of the country during the long freedom struggle. This was Rani Gaidinliu’s call to the ethnic Naga tribes from remote hills of North Eastern region that too when she was only 13.

Nashville: Juries in criminal cases typically decide if someone is guilty, then a judge determines a suitable level of punishment. New research confirms that these two separate assessments of guilt and punishment – though related -- are calculated in different parts of the brain. In fact, researchers found that they can disrupt and change one decision without affecting the other.