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Hate it when that bag of apples you bought with the best of intentions goes to waste?

Maybe you need to think beyond a healthy snack to one of the fifteen other ways Care2′s Katie Waldeck found for using this favorite fruit, from stopping a migraine to making stamps.

1. Improve Lung Health. Apples contain several phytochemcials that are thought to promote lung health. Studies have shown that apples help people suffering from allergies and asthma!

2. Treat Your Skin Right. Apples are a great way to give your skin that glow it deserves. Click here for a great recipe.

3. Boost Your Workout. Squeeze an apple between your thighs the next time you’re doing crunches to add extra challenge to your workout routine.

4. Get Rid of a Migrane. Take a whiff of a green apple the next time you feel a migrane coming on. Studies have shown that the smell of green apples helps ease the pain and shorten the time they last.

Full story at Care2.

No need to waste food.

Photo credit: Fotolia

Looking to soak up some quality rays under that 50 SPF sunscreen and floppy hat?

If your summer plans are still in the works, you might want to check out one of the top ten beaches as determined by the director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research, Stephen Leatherman (aka, “Dr. Beach,” perhaps because his real name doubles as a cautionary tale).

Despite damage sustained in Superstorm Sanday, New York’s Main Beach East Hampton won the top spot for its delightful sand dunes and clear water.

If you’re not New York-bound, though, something on the list may tickle your fancy and tan those shoulders.

6. Barefoot Beach, Bonita Springs, Florida

7. Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida

8. Cape Hatteras, Outer Banks of North Carolina

9. Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

10. Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Full story at LiveScience.

Time to go to the beach.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” George F. Burns

One good life skill is to be able to chill out. To be calm in negative situations and not overreact about all kinds of things. Or invent big, big problems in your mind – or create them in your world as you drag other people in through arguments – by making mountains out of molehills.

By being able to chill out when needed to you will:

• Have a lot less stress, worry and pointless conflicts with other people.
• Waste less of your time on things that aren’t really that useful.
• Attract what you are. To be able to draw people who are more relaxed and positive about life into your life then you have to be that person yourself. People like to hang out with people who are like them (because it’s comfortable, because it brings more fun and success, because people have 24 hours in a day and so choices need to be made). Being someone that can be cool and relaxed about things is a positive and attractive social quality for any kind of relationship.

So how do you do it?

1. Ask yourself if this really matters

2. Get a life

3. What would someone else do?

4. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, sweetie!

Full article Positivity Blog

More tips for relaxing

Photo credit Florin Gorgan

In a world obsessed with multi-tasking and becoming an instant “expert” on the latest gadget or platform, it would seem the concept of true mastery has gotten lost in the shuffle.

What Pamela Slim at Escape from Cubicle Nation terms “deep expertise,” be it in business, the arts or any skill one wishes to truly do well, can only come with time and careful application.

If mastery is your goal, here are ten things you can do to put your mind in the right place.

Learn patience

My mother in law has taught me that Diné people (Navajos) have ceremonies for every part of life. There are baby’s first laugh ceremonies and puberty ceremonies and seasonal ceremonies. There are water ceremonies and lightening ceremonies and beauty way ceremonies. In these sacred gatherings, conversation is slow and deliberate and unhurried. An elder can take an entire hour to share a teaching, or bless food before eating. I have watched elders see a young person squirm with impatience, then choose to talk slower and longer. They do this because they know that learning to settle down and develop patience is going to help young folks develop thoughtfulness, depth and wisdom.

Practice the basics
When we first learn a new skill, we dive into it with abandon, taking classes, learning from mentors and practicing like crazy. When we reach a certain level of success, we often get lazy. True masters never stop practicing the basics. Martial artists do push ups and sit ups every day of their lives. Artists practice brush strokes. Writers write daily. Entrepreneurs create, market and sell. When you don’t practice the basics, they go away.

Full story at Escape From Cubicle Nation.

Avoid getting distracted by social media.

Photo credit: Fotolia

Useful list of what to do after a car accident. Simple stuff, but it’s good to have this list.

More automobiles.

Photo credit: Thue on Wikipedia

On my last day in Auckland, two people came up to me to tell me that they had seen me speak at the Air New Zealand social media breakfast.

They said they worked for Sir Peter Blake Trust and saw me standing on the dock from their building. Then they gave some of these red socks.

I had no idea about the history of these socks until today. Learn more about Sir Peter Blake and the red socks.

More about Kiwis.

Neuroscientists trying to explain cocaine’s effects on the brain have stumbled onto a chemical compound that blocks cravings for the drug in addicted mice.

A drug once tested as a possible treatment for Parkinson’s disease appears to reduce cocaine cravings in addicted mice. Researchers are hopeful the drug will become the first approved medication to treat cocaine addiction in people.

“It was remarkably serendipitous that when we learned which brain pathway cocaine acts on, we already knew of a compound . . . that blocks that specific pathway,” says Solomon Snyder, a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Not only did CGP3466B help confirm the details of cocaine’s action, but it also may become the first drug approved to treat cocaine addiction.”

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: Valerie Everett/Flickr

The U.S.S. Catfish sailed around SF in 1951. It took these fifteen photos using a periscope during this visit.

More on History.

If you had big plans for a future in apparel knitting mills, we’ve got some very bad news for you regarding industry growth by way of this infographics from Masters-in-Human-Resources.org.

Since we’re guessing that might only apply to a tiny fraction of our readership, though, check out the direction in which your industry is heading according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Via Masters-in-Human-Resources.org.

Crystal ball infographics.

Two compounds found in cinnamon may delay the onset of—or even ward off—the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

New research shows the compounds—cinnamaldehyde and epicatechin—are showing some promise in preventing the development of the filamentous “tangles” found in the brain cells that characterize the disease.

The older we get the more susceptible we are to these twists and tangles, but Alzheimer’s patients develop them more often and in larger amounts.

Although the research shows promise, Donald Graves, adjunct professor in the department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at UC Santa Barbara, says scientists are “still a long way from knowing whether this will work in human beings.” The researchers caution against ingesting more than the typical amounts of cinnamon already used in cooking. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if a small molecule from a spice could help?” says Graves, “perhaps prevent it, or slow down the progression.”

Full story at Futurity.

More research news from top universities.

Photo credit: CINNAMON VOGUE/Flickr