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The author of the windows copy dialog visits some friends

An international panel of leading anthropologists, cultural critics, biologists, and social theorists announced this week that Western civilization will reach its lowest conceivable point at 3:32 p.m. Friday.

The mixing of two distinct lineages led to most modern-day Indians.

Great footage of a firefighter airplane dropping "retardant" on the California wildfires. See around 3:40.

Duckworth has recently begun analyzing student resumes submitted during the college application process, as she attempts to measure grit based on the diversity of listed interests. While parents and teachers have long emphasized the importance of being well-rounded - this is why most colleges require students to take courses in all the major disciplines, from history to math - success in the real world may depend more on the development of narrow passions. “I first got interested in grit after watching how my friends fared after college,” Duckworth says. She noticed that the most successful people in her Harvard class chose a goal and stuck with it, while others just flitted from pursuit to pursuit. “Those who were less successful were often just as smart and talented,” Duckworth notes, “but they were constantly changing plans and trying something new. They never stuck with anything long enough to get really good at it.”

Crowdsourcing and other new, more open models of innovation are really byproducts of the low-cost communication and new networks of collaboration made possible by the Internet. So, in the Internet era, what is the continuing role and comparative advantage of the corporate R.& D. lab?

For all that scientists have studied it, the brain remains the most complex and mysterious human organ - and, now, the focus of billions of dollars' worth of research to penetrate its secrets. The Brain Power series looks in depth at some of the insights these projects are producing.