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A science-backed trick can help you develop an exercise habit

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workout

Starting up an exercise routine can be difficult, but now researchers have discovered a trick: Whether it is the end of the workday, or the ring of your alarm clock in the morning, any regular cue that you can use to signal the start of your exercise sessions can help you maintain your habit, according to a new study.

In the study, researchers found that adults who followed certain cues that prompted them to exercise without thinking much about it tended to exercise more frequently over the course of a month than those who did not follow such cues.

"If you can decide to exercise automatically, without having to convince yourself, you are more likely to stick to it," said study author Alison Phillips, an assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State University.

For example, many people exercise right after work, Phillips said. They see the end of the workday as a cue it is time to work out, and they drive to the gym instead of going home. For others, hearing the sound of the alarm clock in the morning is the cue to go for a run or a bike ride, she said. [9 Healthy Habits You Can Do in 1 Minute (Or Less)]

Previous research has suggested that it may take at least a month of repeating a certain behavior, such as exercising, in order for such cues to kick in and trigger that behavior automatically. But sticking with the same time of the day can be helpful in the process, Phillips said.

Research has also suggested that picking a type of exercise that a person finds enjoyable helps the individual form an exercise habit, Phillips told Live Science.

For the new study, researchers looked at 123 healthy adults; including 87 university students ages 18 to 33 and 36 university employees ages 21 to 73. The people in the study either already exercised regularly, or were willing to exercise for at least 20 minutes twice a week for a month.

The investigators asked the people how they decided whether to exercise; specifically, the researchers wanted to know how automatic the decision process was for the individuals. Investigators also asked the participants whether they typically did the same exercise routine, or whether their routine varied.

It turns out whether people stuck to the same routine or switched things up did not matter at all in terms of how frequently the participants exercised, the researchers found.

Rather, it was using a cue that helped. The findings suggest that "regardless of which way you go — whether you choose routine, or choose variety — it will not derail you," Phillips told Live Science.

Changing your routine can still make a difference, however, Phillips said. Following the same exercise routine may help beginners to get started, she said. But people who have been exercising for a while may get into a rut, which can derail them, Phillips said. Changing the routine can help people stay interested, she said.

The new study was published July 6 in the journal Health Psychology.

Follow Agata Blaszczak-Boxe on Twitter. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Originally published on Live Science.

Copyright 2015 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SEE ALSO: We asked an exercise scientist which supplements actually work

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There are two end-credits scenes in 'Ant-Man' — Here's what they mean for the future of Marvel movies

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Ant Man

Warning: If you haven't seen "Ant-Man," there are major spoilers ahead!

"Ant-Man" is finally here, and with it one of the new summer blockbuster traditions returns: The Marvel post-credits scenes. 

If you're heading out to see the new film this weekend, don't head out right before the movie ends. 

Unlike "Avengers: Age of Ultron," which only featured one scene after the stylish main credits, "Ant-Man" has two: One after the main credits (the "mid-credits" scene), and another after the long crawl.

If you headed out early or were left scratching your head, here's what you should know.

The Mid-Credits Scene

What happens:

In probably the most puzzling choice for a Marvel post-credits scene, the first rejoins Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) at home with his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly). Pym tells her there's something she should see. 

evangeline lilly ant man

Pym reveals the wall at the back of the vault where he kept the Ant-Man suit he gave to Scott Lang was in fact false, and behind it lies a newer, more advanced suit modeled after the one her mother, Janet Van Dyne, wore as The Wasp. (We never see Janet in the movie, but she briefly appears in costume during a flashback scene. Janet's Wasp costume, however, was identical to the one Hank wore — just with wings). 

The new suit is predominantly blue and silver, and the tech powering it looks far more advanced. Pym tells Hope that it was a "prototype" that he and Janet were working on together. He says he thought they were working on it for Janet, but he supposes that they were really working on it for Hope. 

Hope, meanwhile, tears up with validation, before saying the final line in the scene:

"It's about damn time."

What's so puzzling about this scene:

Frankly, it has no business taking place after the credits. It's such a clear conclusion to Hope's arc throughout the film — who spends most of it resenting Hank for not letting her wear his suit and take on Cross herself (while also demonstrating that she's far more capable a choice than Scott) that it deserves to be part of the film proper. It certainly is a better place to leave Hope than her actual last scene — which is making out with Scott. The WaspAs for the future of the Marvel Universe ...

It seems like it's clearly setting up Hope Van Dyne as another hero in the Marvel Universe. But which one? Smart money says she assumes her mother's code name and becomes the Wasp, much like Scott Lang took on Hank Pym's old Ant-Man alias. 

But.

"Ant-Man" is extremely careful to never show Janet Van Dyne's face. Even in photographs! That, taken in conjunction with an Easter egg director Peyton Reed hinted at that sharp-eyed viewers should be able to see during Scott's climactic trip into the Quantum Zone seems to suggest that Marvel has plans for Hank Pym's lost love, plans that might even result in someone being cast to play her in the future. 

If that's so, then it adds an interesting wrinkle: If Janet Van Dyne returns, will she be the Wasp? And if so, what will Hope be? 

It should be noted that Hope Van Dyne does not really exist in the comics. There is a Hope Pym that resides in an alternate universe where all the Marvel heroes have grown old and their children have now taken over, but there she's the villainous Red Queen.

She looks like this:

Revengers

Given that Marvel's plans for the next few years are pretty thoroughly laid out, it's doubtful we'll see this — but given the studios penchant for remixing the greatest hits of the comics, don't be surprised if it's referenced somehow. 

The Second Scene

Remember "The Winter Solider?" bucky barnes the winter soldier The next scene is brief, and a bit unclear as to what's happening.

We see Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/The Falcon (who appears in one of  the very best scenes in "Ant-Man") meeting up with Steve Rogers in a garage somewhere. They're in a jam — they've found Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who went missing at the end of "The Winter Soldier." 

It looks like he's in bad shape, but we don't know why. Cap and the Falcon (in their civilian garb) need help, but they can't call Tony Stark — they say he'll be busy with something called "the accords." They have to go off-book for whatever it is they need to do. But it's no problem, because Falcon says "I know a guy," right before the message "ANT-MAN WILL RETURN" appears on-screen. 

What this means:

The next post-credits scene is a cryptic nod to the next Marvel movie, 2016's "Captain America: Civil War," but also picks up a plot thread from the previous Cap movie. 

There's not nearly as much to unpack here, other than the first notion of what may cause a rift between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark: Steve goes on a mission without any oversight, and Tony is working on some sort of policy. The center of it all then, will probably be Bucky Barnes. 

It's a hunch, but I feel pretty good about it. 

SEE ALSO: The most obscure 'X-Men' characters ever come to life in new 'Deadpool' photos

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Microsoft's new web browser is up to 112% faster than Google Chrome (MSFT, GOOG)

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Microsoft

Google's Chrome web browser is the most popular web browser in the world right now, according to StatCounter. But Microsoft's new web browser for Windows 10, called Edge, might prove to be superior.

In a Windows blog post on Wednesday, Gabe Aul, Microsoft's head of the Windows Insider program, announced a new set of benchmarks for Microsoft Edge, the company's new web browser made for Windows 10.

Microsoft Edge showed significant performance gains over Google Chrome, but what's most impressive is that Microsoft used benchmarks created by Apple and Google: Edge was tested using Google Octane, Apple JetStream, and WebKit Sunspider. That last one is actually a benchmark created by Apple's WebKit development team that's intended for the iOS, Mac, and Windows versions of Safari, Apple's web browser.

According to the benchmark results, Microsoft Edge was 112% faster than Google Chrome on WebKit Sunspider, 11% faster on Google Octane, and 37% faster on Apple JetStream.

"We're really pleased with those performance gains and we hope that you'll enjoy faster browsing with Microsoft Edge along with the many great features we've added over the last several builds," Aul said.

If these results are accurate, Microsoft Edge could soon be the web browser of choice for Windows users, considering its power and efficiency. At the very least, these kinds of performance improvements could spur other web browsers like Chrome to innovate and improve their own products. But as it stands right now, this looks like a great reason to try Windows 10 when it launches later this year.

Windows 10 will be a free download for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users.

SEE ALSO: Dear Apple: Let me delete your apps from my iPhone

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How smartphone companies are screwing with your Android phone

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Android phones

Phone makers like Samsung, HTC, and LG technically make Android phones, but what you see on their screens barely resembles the "clean" version of Android that Google develops.

That's because phone makers add their own software features, or "skins," on top of the pure version of Android so that they can differentiate themselves from other phone brands.

Unfortunately, while some skins add great features that you wouldn't find on any other phone brand's phone, it also means that you get a lot of extra apps from the phone maker and carrier.

And more often than not, apps made by phone makers and carriers tend to be poorly designed both aesthetically and functionally. It's the reason why a lot of Android fans prefer Google's version of Android over the bloated versions phone makers create.

Here's a look at all the ways phone makers are changing Android compared to the clean version from Google's own Nexus phones.

 

SEE ALSO: How two of the best smartphone cameras ever made compare to each other

This is the pure version of Android with no skin layer on top, and this phone (the Nexus 5) was bought unlocked directly from Google. That means all the apps you see here are Google's own, and it results in a clean, simple interface that's not confusing. It also means no carrier apps. Even though LG made this particular phone, there are no LG apps, either.



The Galaxy S6 has Samsung's TouchWiz layer on top of Android. As you can see, it looks much different than pure Android, and there are many extra apps from Samsung and the carrier (AT&T in this case). There are several duplicate apps for messaging and emailing, for example, which can be confusing. There are also a bunch of apps, like Yellow Pages, Uber, and Facebook that come preinstalled, which is somewhat intrusive, as the user should chose which apps to install on their devices. Notice the sharing menu on the bottom right with so many apps that it's hard to find the one you want to share to.



HTC has a skin layer called Sense. It looks quite classy, but it still carries a lot of HTC's and carrier bloatware. (T-Mobile, in this case).



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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This ad perfectly slams all of the worst buzzwords and cliches used at the office

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Office lingo is a language all of its own.

Phrases like "Let’s talk offline" or "Ping me later" are things you would never say to a friend or family member, but for some reason these phrases are tossed around the office everyday.

And how many times have you heard someone at work describe a company as a “disruptor” or as the “Uber of ….”?

A video by tech company Avaya has created a hilarious video that nails just how ridiculous all of these words and phrases can sound and how odd they must seem to anybody not fluent in office jargon.

Check out the video below.

 

SEE ALSO: We've reached a tipping point where technology is now destroying more jobs than it creates, researcher warns

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Researchers discovered a way to deliver drugs to the brain using a remote control

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brain

Taking your daily meds could look a lot different in the future.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have created a wireless device that can be implanted in the brain and controlled with a remote to deliver drugs.

The researchers successfully implanted the device, which is about the width of a hair, into mice for the first time recently, but the technology could one day be used in humans to treat depression, pain, epilepsy and other neurological disorders, according to a statement on the university's website. The research was recently published in the journal Cell.

The implantable device works by delivering light or drugs to certain parts of the brain. By using targeted drugs that are only delivered to certain regions of the brain, side effects from drugs could potentially become much less severe.

“In the future, it should be possible to manufacture therapeutic drugs that could be activated with light,” said co-principal investigator Michael R. Bruchas, PhD, associate professor of anesthesiology and neurobiology at Washington University in a statement.

“With one of these tiny devices implanted, we could theoretically deliver a drug to a specific brain region and activate that drug with light as needed. This approach potentially could deliver therapies that are much more targeted but have fewer side effects.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The implanted device, which is soft like brain tissue, has four chambers that can deliver drugs with the push of a button. The device can also be used to activate certain brain cells by using flashes of light, triggered by the remote. 

SEE ALSO: This professor thinks he has the key to controlling your home with your mind

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Fly over Pluto's giant icy mountains and frozen plains in this awesome new footage from NASA

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Thanks to NASA's New Horizons historic flyby of Pluto, we now know the dwarf planet has giant, icy mountains, comparable to the Rocky Mountains here on Earth.

And on Friday NASA released this incredible footage of the spacecraft flying over Pluto's mountain chain:

pluto mountain gifScientists have named the mountain chain "Norgay Montes" after Tenzing Norgay — one of the first two humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Scientists think the mountains are made of water ice, but they still aren't sure what's causing them to form. Either way it's clear that some kind of mountain-forming tectonic process has been happening near Pluto's surface.

The rest of the small planet's geology isn't easy to explain either. There's a frozen plain on the face of Pluto that scientists have named "Sputnik Planum" (named after the world's first satellite). Here's a picture of it taken from about 48,000 miles away:

pluto ice plains on pluto new horizons labeld origial image"The first time I saw this image, I decided to call it 'not easy to explain' terrain," Jeffrey Moore, New Horizons co-investigator, said during a July 17 press briefing on the new data.

With only a small percentage of the data from New Horizons, the team can only guess as to what might be causing the strange features in the image.

For starters, the patch of land is so smooth that the New Horizons team says it can't be more than 100 million years old. These features could be "a week old for all we know," Moore said.

He thinks the pitted surfaces could be coming from some kind of sublimation happening on Pluto's surface — solids making up the ground are turn directly into gas.

The irregular-shaped segments might be caused by contraction of the planet's surface — sort of like what happens when mud dries. Or they could be caused by convection starting in Pluto's warmer core and bubbling up to its carbon monoxide, methane, and nitrogen surface layer.

The dark streaks are trickier to explain, but since they are all aligned in the same direction, the team speculates they might be caused by wind — similar to wind streaks we see here on Earth.

It's just a happy coincidence that New Horizons flew past such an interesting part of Pluto during its closest approach, Moore said.

"Twenty years from now, people are going to think we planned it out," Moore said.

Scientists have not spotted winds or geysers, but they'll be searching for those features in future data. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is more than two million miles past Pluto now, but we're still waiting for the spacecraft to transmit all the data back to Earth.

You can watch the full fly over video below:

SEE ALSO: Scientists simply can't explain Pluto's 3 biggest surface features

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5 reasons your workout isn’t working

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gymWorking out is hard. But when feel your body become stronger, your energy levels heighten and your pants becoming less snug, it's worth it.

The problem is, at one point or another, everyone has put in work and felt like they were reaping zero gains. Besides being incredibly frustrating, it can easily cause even "gym rats" to throw in the proverbial towel. Sound familiar?

Not anymore. Here are five prime reasons you might not be seeing the fitness gains you want, plus easy ways to get your workout working for you.

1. You're Doing the Same Ol' Thing

Whatever you do, whether that's sitting on the couch eating bonbons or running five miles a day, your body gets used to it. "Your body is an amazing adaptive machine. When you go to the gym and lift weights, your body adapts by getting stronger and adding more muscle. When you perform cardio, your body adapts by increasing your endurance and aerobic capacity," says exercise physiologist and certified strength and conditioning coach Mike T. Nelson, who's based in Minnesota.

It adapts to the point that your workout is no longer challenging. So while you might have felt yourself becoming stronger, faster and slimmer during the first weeks or months of your workout, if you do the same thing workout after workout, eventually your body will stop changing. Plus, since your body becomes more efficient at performing a given exercise over time, you'll actually burn fewer calories on that five-mile run than you used to.

The Fix: Tap the benefits of "progressive overload," gradually increasing the stress you place on your body during a given exercise. Basically, once you feel that your workout is becoming easier, add more weights or reps to your strength routine, run faster or longer or try more advanced progressions of your favorite yoga pose, he says. Every person is unique in how fast his or her body will adapt to exercise, but as a general rule of thumb, plan to increase your workout's difficulty every four to six weeks.

2. You Perform Whatever Workout You Feel Like That Day

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some people never complete the same workout two weeks in a row. They hit up a few spin classes, move on to yoga and then get bored and try out running. Called "program hopping," switching between programs also goes against the concept of progressive overload because it doesn't allow you to stick with any one workout long enough for you to advance at it, says certified strength and conditioning coach Tony Gentilcore, co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance training centers in Massachusetts and Florida.

The Fix: Pick one discipline, whether it's swimming, strength training or kickboxing, to be your bread-and-butter workout for at least a couple of months at a time. You still can (and should) sprinkle in other workouts to keep things from becoming stale and prevent muscular imbalances. But you should always feel like you are getting better at something, he says.

3. Your Body's Stressed Out

Exercise stresses your body, hopefully just enough to lead to change but not cause injury, burnout or excess inflammation. However, things outside the gym, such as a bad breakup, work drama, financial troubles, processed foods and shoddy sleep can also trigger a stress response in your body and cause your cortisol and inflammation levels to skyrocket. Eventually, if those exercise and life stressors become too much, your body is going to start breaking down rather than getting stronger between every workout, Gentilcore says.

"A lot of time, when people come in saying they are working out hard, but not progressing, I ask them, 'How much are you sleeping? How much water are you drinking? How's work?' Oftentimes, there is nothing wrong with their program. It's the rest of their lives that need work," he says.

The Fix: For your body's sake, you have to reduce the amount of stress in your life, whether that means cutting back on your work schedule or (we hate to say it) your workouts, he says. However, if you want to get more fit, tapering your workout should only be temporary. At a certain point, you're going to have to get serious about life-stress management.

4. You Try to Crunch Your Way To a Flat Stomach

"Trying to spot-reduce fat is a myth that just won't die," Nelson says. Sure, crunches are a great way to target your rectus abdominis, the muscle famed for its six-pack look. But if you have too much fat hanging out between that muscle and the mirror, you still aren't going to see anything. By and large, core exercises don't burn a lot of calories because they work a relatively low proportion of your body's muscles.

The Fix: Dial in your nutrition strategy to aid in slow-and-steady weight loss so that you can burn fat, but not those core muscles you want to show off. Meanwhile, back in the gym, compound, total-body exercises such as squats, dead lifts and burpees burn major calories because they work various muscles, including your body's largest ones, which are in your butt and legs, at once. Use crunches and other core exercises to build muscle, not reduce your waist size.

5. You're Eating Too Much – or Too Little

The foods you eat can either fuel your workouts or completely counteract them. "Many people tend to go to extremes with their diets," Nelson says. "Either they deprive themselves of the calories and carbohydrates they need to really be able to work out hard or they inhale two birthday cakes because they hit the gym that day and made the pink dumbbells move."

While the former can make you feel sluggish, cause your muscles to break down and actually slow your metabolism, the latter can easily cause you to take in more calories than you're burning – even if you're counting calories. For instance, fitness trackers' calorie-count displays are, on average, between 10 and 15 percent off, according to a 2014 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. According to the American Council on Exercise, those calorie-count displays on treadmills, ellipticals and stationary bikes may be even more inaccurate.

The Fix: Treat food as something that should fuel your body both in and out of the gym, rather than something that either 1) makes you fat and should be kept to the bare minimum or 2) is your "reward" for hitting the gym, he says. That mind shift takes work, but it will help you keep your diet balanced and allow your workouts to show.

SEE ALSO: A science-backed trick can help you develop an exercise habit

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A YouTube star made an app that wants to be an even better version of Snapchat

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beme

How often are you actually yourself on social media?

Posting a photo to Instagram usually involves adding filters and light touch-ups. Tweets can be carefully crafted. Even Snapchat, which prides itself on the experience of sharing what you're doing right now, can be doctored with filters, emojis, text, and hand-drawn doodles. 

A new app called Beme wants to be the simplest way of sharing short video clips of your life. And it tries to do this by eschewing all of the editing and sharing options we have grown accustomed to on social networks like Snapchat and Instagram.

Created by YouTube maven Casey Neistat, who's created morethan a fewviral hits in his day, Beme's tag line in the App Store is "Share video. Honestly."

Here's how it works: videos on Beme are no more than four seconds long, and you're unable to see what you share before you post it. The way Beme shoots video on the iPhone is unique. The app taps into a sensor on the iPhone called a proximity sensor, which is next to the camera on the front of your iPhone.

It's the sensor that detects how close the iPhone is to your body, and when it's covered and Beme is open, the app starts shooting video.

Neistat demonstrated how shooting on Beme works in a video posted to his 800,000 YouTube subscribers on Friday. To take a video with the iPhone's rear camera, he held the screen to his chest with the app open.

Screen Shot 2015 07 17 at 12.51.15 PMScreen Shot 2015 07 17 at 12.52.23 PMBeme makes a notification noise when it begins to shoot and when it finishes. The upload process happens automatically, and your followers will instantly be able to view your video.

You add people you want to follow in Beme by entering their usernames. The app presents a list of users you follow along with strangers it thinks you might find interesting. Tap and hold on a name to view a four-second video clip.

beme app

You have to hold your finger on the screen while watching, and once the video is over it's deleted forever. The viewing experience is almost identical to Snapchat, although that app recently removed the need to tap and hold to play videos.

While you're watching, you can send quick reaction selfies by tapping the screen with another finger. The person whose video you are watching will see your reactions under a dedicated section of the app.

Screen Shot 2015 07 17 at 12.50.03 PMBeme is an interesting concept. The posting experience feels nearly instant, and watching videos others have shared makes you feel like you have a raw, unfiltered window into what they're seeing.

Beme is free to download in the App Store, but to unlock the app you have to get an invite code from someone already using it. There are no in-app purchases, and it's not clear how the app will make money.

It will be interesting to see if people embrace the idea of what-you-see-is-what-you-get video sharing. Not only do you have no way of seeing what you shoot before you share it, but you can't delete videos later if they're embarrassing or you mess up.

Beme has plenty of issues it needs to address. Namely, it doesn't appear to have been designed with women in mind, as Casey Johnston, a writer, pointed out on Medium.  It also is difficult to find people to follow, and there are bugs that cause the app to glitch or crash. Neistat has even cautioned people to wait to download the app until an update with bug fixes comes out next week.

Given Neistat's strong social media following and the app's bold take on sharing video, Beme is sure to at least make an initial splash. But whether it will make a lasting impression in such a crowded space remains to be seen.

SEE ALSO: Filmmaker and his son spend an extremely weird night in Germany's giant indoor water park

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A Tibetan monk is communicating with the world through his stunning Instagram feed

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Tibetan Monks

The life of a Buddhist monk is filled with study, meditation, and... Instagram?

That's the case for @gdax, or Gedun Wangchuk. He's a Buddhist monk living and Instagramming in Tibet, Huffington Post reports.

His account, first spotted by the blog Redbubble, depicts the beauty and peace of his daily life. Instagram itself appears to be the only outlet that's been able to get in contact with the hard-to-track-down Wangchuk. They interviewed him for their blog.

Wangchuk's account features shots of the Tibetan countryside, wildlife, his fellow monks, and places of worship. He even posts the occasional video.

Here are some of his most spectacular Instagrams. Sit back, relax, and enjoy one of the most charming accounts on Instagram.

SEE ALSO: Meet the Instagram celebrity who wrestles sharks with his bare hands

Wangchuk's Instagram documents both the religious and administrative responsibilities of a monk.

 



Instagram Embed:
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“Mankind shares and lives on planet Earth as one family with each continent having its own different nationalities, religions, faith, customs, unique culture and languages,” Wangchuk told the Instagram blog.

 



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"But aside from such differences, we all have the same common desire for happiness," he continued. “That’s why Instagram, as a window to this global family, is a joy." 



The spiritual leader of Tibet is the Dalai Lama.

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Source.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

'Back To The Future' is coming back to theaters on a date fans will love

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marty mcfly, back to the future, delorian

It's 2015 and the flying cars, auto-adjusting clothing, and inexpensive hover boards we saw in "Back to the Future" are still naught but a distant dream.

But that's okay. Universal Studios is bringing the film trilogy back to the theaters (see what I did there) on October 21, 2015 — the exact date Marty McFly travels to in the second film.

back to the future date

Since the only thing better about imagining the future is being nostalgic about it, Universal Home Entertainment also announced that they'll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the classic films by rereleasing them in several new collections— the most expensive ones will even come with a light-up flux capacitor package and the DVD debut of "Back to the Future: The Complete Animated Series."

Remember that?

 Time, it flies. 

SEE ALSO: Ant-Man, explained

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Marvel will soon release an insane $250 movie box set — Here's what you get

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ant man antony

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) — the series of interlocking superhero films that began with "Iron Man" in 2008 — is an ambitious plan broken down into three phases. The first phase ended with "Marvel's The Avengers" in 2012, and this week's release of "Ant-Man" officially marks the end of "Phase Two." Phase Three of the MCU is expected to conclude in 2019 with a two-part "Avengers" film.

To celebrate the close of Phase Two, Marvel is putting together a limited edition Blu-ray box set with all of the Phase Two movies, plus a host of extra goodies, just as it did for all the Phase One films.

Here's everything you get in Marvel's next big box set, which is currently an Amazon exclusive:

  • "Iron Man 3"— Available in Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and a digital copy
  • "Thor: The Dark World"— Available in Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and a digital copy
  • "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"— Available in Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and a digital copy
  • "Guardians Of The Galaxy"— Available in Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and a digital copy
  • "Avengers: Age of Ultron"— Available in Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and a digital copy
  • "Ant-Man"— Available in Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and a digital copy
  • A top-secret bonus disc!
  • More goodies, including "collectible, specially designed disc holders and exclusive Marvel memorabilia"

marvel box setThere's no information yet about the product's release date, or what the final box set will actually look like. However, the Amazon listing includes the above image, which might give us a hint: It shows an alien metal orb, the same ball that appeared in "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron" that contained one of the six "Infinity Stones," which will be eventually be wielded by the evil mad titan Thanos in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Considering Marvel lists "specially designed disc holders," you can expect the final box set to appear something like the image above.

Though there's no official date for the box set, we imagine the launch will coincide with the DVD release of "Ant-Man" later this year. We've reached out to Marvel for more information and we'll update the post if we hear back.

In the meantime, you can still buy the box set for Phase One of Marvel's Cinematic Universe on Amazon, which includes "Iron Man,""The Incredible Hulk,""Iron Man 2,""Thor,""Captain America: The First Avenger," and "Marvel's The Avengers," plus a host of other Marvel memorabilia and a briefcase that contains another one of the six Infinity Stones. That box set also included a bonus disc, which offered Marvel featurettes, deleted and extended scenes from each film, and an exclusive look at Phase Two of Marvel's Cinematic Universe.

SEE ALSO: 'Ant-Man' might be Marvel's best superhero movie yet

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NOW WATCH: Marvel celebrates the release of ‘Ant Man’ with a microscopic art show

There's a real risk that many of our advancements to human health could be lost

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Earth from space

Traditionally, we've thought of health as living longer — fighting diseases that cut our lives short and reducing infant mortality rates.

Focusing on these things has helped humanity accomplish tremendous things. Life expectancy in developed countries has almost doubled since 1840.

But thinking of health just in terms of human lifespan is incomplete, according to a new report published by a commission organized by the Rockefeller Foundation and The Lancet. When we talk about health, we also need to take into account the environment surrounding us.

They call this concept "planetary health."

We need to redefine health and talk about people and the planet together because, according to the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet commission, we've been operating as if we can keep on improving health forever and living longer without simultaneously considering the changes occurring in our surrounding environment. That's short-sighted and probably wrong.

And if we look at those environmental changes, we might currently be headed towards a crisis.

Why we need to redefine health

The improvements we've made to human health and lifespan around the world are impressive, but they have come at a cost.

"We may have mortgaged the future in order to sustain our current level of health and development," explained Sir Andy Haines of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the chair of the commission that wrote the report.

Haines, speaking at a discussion releasing the report on July 16, said that "most concepts of health ... just assume any benefit to health is good and it can be sustained indefinitely." Planetary health, meanwhile, says "we need to pay attention to these natural systems on which our human health and development is founded."

As we've improved our lives up to this point, we've simultaneously changed the world, taxing its resources. Population and life expectancy have boomed and poverty has fallen, especially in the past 50 years, the report shows.

Yet at the same time, energy use has skyrocketed, along with tropical forest loss, water use, fertilizer use, fishing capture, ocean acidification, and carbon dioxide emissions. This has led to extreme water shortages, higher temperatures, and biodiversity loss.

drought river boat

The world is still growing, and as economic situations improve, each person on the planet consumes more of its resources. We don't want poverty rates to rise or life expectancy to fall, but at some point, this strain on resources will become unmanageable unless we take steps to address it. By 2040, the world will need to produce 50% more food than it does now.

Urbanization and globalization have also exposed humanity to new disease threats. Polluted air can lead to respiratory ailments and airborne diseases spread more easily in densely populated areas. As wild environments are destroyed, people are exposed to more and more animal diseases that could potentially jump species — like Ebola and HIV both did.

These changes threaten to reverse some of our greatest achievements in health over the past century and could mean that future generations don't just have to deal with a changing climate – we could also be headed for food and water shortages and new infectious diseases, along with extreme weather events.

Solutions

Without doing anything, we'd essentially be "betting that the inherent ingenuity of the human species will be enough to transcend the problems," said Richard Horton, the editor-in-chief of The Lancet.

But that's a bet with disastrous consequences if we're wrong.

As part of creating this new interdisciplinary health concept, the report outlines some of the potential ways to address the environmental challenges we face.

Up to 30% of agricultural land right now produces food that's wasted, so cutting food waste could significantly help ensure we don't deforest more land — while still providing enough to feed the world. Technological innovations like genetic modification could help improve plant productivity.

Economic incentives to produce more sustainable energy (instead of subsidizing fossil fuels, as we do now) could make a significant difference.

But perhaps most importantly, governments and businesses need to better value the environmental and planetary resources that we have.

As Dr. Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, explained: "We are in a symbiotic relationship with our planet, and we must start to value that in very real ways."

SEE ALSO: Scientists are on the cusp of these 15 discoveries that will transform the world

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NOW WATCH: A devastating look at the California drought

NASA just found something big hiding out behind Pluto

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pluto tail

NASA and the team behind its New Horizons spacecraft announced today that Pluto — the dwarf planet — has a giant tail.

It's not a physical tail like a dog's, of course, but rather a frigid cloud of ionized gases trailing an estimated 48,000 to 68,000 miles behind Pluto, according to a NASA press release.

This giant tail is actually part of Pluto's atmosphere. Except that the bits of atmosphere are being stripped away by solar wind, a torrent of electrically-charged particles that constantly pours out of the sun in all directions.

"We see the atmosphere way far out,"Randy Gladstone, a New Horizons co-investigator at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said during a NASA press conference on Friday. "We see it from the ground out to 1,000 miles above the surface."

Because Pluto is such a tiny planet — its a fraction of a percent as massive as the Earth — its atmosphere escapes directly into space, Gladstone said.

Gladstone and others discovered the tail after examining data from the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on the New Horizons spacecraft. The device found an anomaly in the solar wind around Pluto: a depression composed of nitrogen ions. This depression is the tail, and it extends an unknown length behind the planet.

"We have actually flown through this [tail]," Fran Bagenal, a New Horizons co-investigator from the University of Colorado, Boulder, said during the press conference.

Ionized gas forms when a bunch of energy pummels atmospheric atoms and molecules. This bombardment pops electrons off the atmospheric gas particles, allowing their electrons to freely circulate. The end result is plasma: a fourth state of matter after solids, liquids, and gases.

As far as we know, plasma is the most common state of matter in the universe. There's simply a lot of energy pouring out of stars, and a lot of gas floating in space to form plasma. So, while it might seem surprising, plasma tails like Pluto's aren't new. They even exist behind other planets in the Solar System, including Venus and Mars.

The team still hasn't determined the precise shape of Pluto's newly discovered tail. They also don't know exactly how the was formed.

So, NASA is anxiously waiting for New Horizons to beam back more data. By August the team hopes to calculate how fast Pluto is losing its atmosphere to space — and, likewise, how quickly the icy world is shrinking.

SEE ALSO: The biggest discovery in new images of Pluto is what scientists didn't see

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NOW WATCH: Scientists just discovered 11,000-foot ice mountains, geysers and volcanoes on Pluto


Stephen Colbert just released a genius 'choose your own adventure' game online and you can play it right now

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Stephen Colbert browser game

Stephen Colbert and his team has just created something wonderful.

On the CBS website today you can play an in-browser, text-based "choose your own adventure" type video game that is so witty it seems like it was written by Colbert himself (maybe it was?).

"You are Stephen Colbert. Congratulations!" goes the opening screen. "You are wandering the office because your show doesn't start for two months and they won't let you drive go-karts inside anymore."

From there I rapidly found myself lost in a very Colbert-ian narrative that found me locked in the titular man-sized cabinet, kicking and biting at the walls. Soon, I found myself at this screen:

colbert screen one

Maybe I should have followed Colbert's prodding to explore deeper into the cabinet.

Business Insider editor Matt Johnston took that route and encountered centaurs, fantastic illustrations, and "Duke Nukem" references. (He's still playing and calling out quotes as I type this up.)

Colbert game screen 2

We don't want to spoil the rest of this silly, wonderful adventure so please do give it a shot.

Colbert's script plays out through a clever piece of open-source storytelling software called "Twine" embedded on the CBS website. You can play through Colbert's mad world here, or make a game of your own with the software.

Give it a shot. Trust us, it's worth it.

SEE ALSO: 14 Old School Apple Games You Can Play In Your Browser Right Now

AND: Everyone is talking about 'Rocket League,' a crazy game that blends soccer with rocket-powered cars

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NOW WATCH: Watch Stephen Colbert Complain About His Title 'Chief Of Secrecy' At The Apple Event

Here's what the 'Suicide Squad' stars look like in real life

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Hitting the big screen shortly after "Batman vs. Superman,""Suicide Squad" is based on DC Comics' supervillain team of the same name. The first trailer was shown at San Diego Comic Con, and fans went nuts for how amazing everyone looks. The movie has some big named attached – including Jared Leto, Will Smith, and Margot Robbie. Here's what they look like compared to their characters.

Produced by Matthew Stuart

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There’s a million little reasons to see Amy Schumer’s ‘Trainwreck’ — but there’s one thing that’s holding it back

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Trainwreck

"Trainwreck" follows the pattern of recent Judd Apatow directed films that are good but maybe just a little too long for their own good and less like a coherent film and more like a series of hit-or-miss sketches.

Some of those sketches are great. There is one moment involving throwing up that is a tremendous feat in comedic timing, thanks to both the acting and directing. Meanwhile, the repeated use of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" is so memorable and catchy that I actually witnessed a group of people singing the song outside the theater.

The loose structure of "Trainwreck" worked well for "This Is 40," which simply told the complex story of a marriage. "Trainwreck" sometimes veers too far from the romantic comedy formula that it wishes to follow, and that can be an issue.

Most romantic comedies revolve around at least one person trying to find true love. Meanwhile, in the opening moments of “Trainwreck,” a child, who turns out to be the younger version of the lead, is told that “monogamy is not realistic.” The opening flashback provides the film with its darker context. 

At first, “Trainwreck" isn’t about someone trying to find love, but rather someone who is trying to avoid it.

Trainwreck

If you watched the trailers for “Trainwreck,” you were probably expecting a much different film. In fact, much of the footage shown didn’t even make it into the final cut. But misleading advertising isn’t always a bad thing. Albeit, a romantic comedy put together by a lot of talented, funny people. But it has a surprisingly serious core that grounds it.

In “Trainwreck,” Amy Schumer plays Amy, a reporter for a men’s magazine, who is told by her boss (Tilda Swinton, once again showing that she can play literally any role) that she could be up for a big promotion. To prove her worth, Amy is assigned to write an article about sports doctor Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), despite the fact that she knows nothing about sports. When asked what her favorite team is, she answers "The Orlando Blooms." 

Trainwreck

After a one night stand, the two of them, very quickly, find themselves falling in love. Once the two of them meet, the trouble for Amy is not falling in love, but rather staying in love.  

Trainwreck

Most romantic comedies end with the beginning of a relationship, the moment where the couple realizes that they truly were meant to be together. Typically, that relationship begins at the end, in an airport terminal, a New Year’s Eve party, or on a bridge. What is so interesting about “Trainwreck” is that it doesn’t wait that long to start the relationship. We get to see what Aaron and Amy actually look like as a couple. And thus, we must stick around for some fights.

Besides being one of the sharpest comedic minds working today, Schumer is also a tremendous dramatic actress. She helps to provide the movie with some of the pathos that truly sets it apart. In a very rare case, Schumer was able to write her first feature film starring role. She has earned this level of control. Given that she was just nominated for an Emmy for "Inside Amy Schumer," it seems like she is having a pretty good week.

Trainwreck LeBron James.JPG

The supporting cast of "Trainwreck" is fantastic, and widely consists of the people who would normally perform with Schumer at 1:00 AM on a Thursday night at the Comedy Cellar. Colin Quinn, best known as an anchor on Weekend Update on "Saturday Night Live," steals every scene he is in as Schumer's mean but lovable father who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (this is based on Schumer's real dad). Meanwhile, comedian Mike Birbiglia spends most of the movie in the background, but he is hilarious even when he is just roller skating.

The movie's greatest blessing, and its greatest curse, is time. "Trainwreck" clocks in at 125 minutes, much longer than the average comedy.  This has become Judd Apatow's trademark following "Funny People" (153 minutes) and "This Is 40" (134 minutes). Just like those films, "Trainwreck" can be very hit-or-miss.

There is one long scene where Amy and her sister Kim (Brie Larson) clean out their father's house. Amy wants to keep whatever old stuff she can find, while Kim is ready to throw it all away. This scene is long, but it perfectly captures the dynamic between the two sisters. And while Lebron James is hilarious (just seeing him get worried about trying to split a lunch bill is delightful), some of his scenes could have been cut down and they still would have been funny.

Trainwreck

When "Trainwreck" does follow the rom-com formula, it feels like it is reinvigorating it.

Sometimes, you can make the movie everybody is expecting and still make it a little different. Whenever it feels like "Trainwreck" is achieving that, it is great. "Trainwreck" is sort of like the feature length version of watching a comedian work out material on stage at a comedy club. Sometimes it works, and sometimes they need to scribble something down in their notebook and fix it later.

SEE ALSO: LeBron James is actually a really good actor in the new comedy 'Trainwreck'

AND: Amy Schumer and Bill Hader had to go on a date to prove they had chemistry for 'Trainwreck'

AND: Amy Schumer came up with the idea for 'Trainwreck' during a very personal conversation with Judd Apatow

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NOW WATCH: WWE superstar John Cena shows up in the trailer for Judd Apatow's new movie 'Trainwreck'

This 'sinkhole of the 21st century' will be our biggest challenge when everyone lives for 100 years

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Elderly woman

Scientific breakthroughs have allowed humans to live longer than ever, and it's not impossible to imagine a point at which most people live to be over 100.

There are lots of things to like about a world where everyone lives a century or longer: having the opportunity to meet great-great-grandparents, keeping people around to remind us of the silly mistakes that we keep repeating throughout human history, giving people a chance to try out new careers and relationships late in life.

But when people live longer, they also tend to get more age-related diseases, like cancer and Alzheimer's disease. As gerontologist Ken Dychtwald explains in this XPRIZE video on the future of growing old, the latter problem needs to be solved quickly — or we'll all suffer.

He says: "The rate for people with Alzheimer's and related dementia over the age of 85 is one in two. And so, as more and more of us live very long lives, unless we have a breakthrough to eliminate Alzheimer's disease, it will be the sinkhole of the 21st century.

 That's just one of the quandaries we'll face, according to Dychtwald. Among his other questions: How can we create a better and more efficient medical system for the elderly? And how will they find purpose in those decades of extra life?

"How do [the elderly]...essentially give birth to the next version of themselves? Which is going to be necessary if we're going to live these very long lives, because one dream for life doesn't go the distance," says Dychtwald. "You'll need to continually reboot yourself and reimagine yourself along the way."

There's one thing that he doesn't mention about a scenario where everyone lives extraordinarily long lives: the added population pressure at a time when the world is already overpopulated. That could one day prove to be a bigger problem even than Alzheimer's. 

SEE ALSO: This futuristic presidential candidate is about to drive a giant coffin across America for one unusual reason

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NOW WATCH: This drummer created a whole song by only using the sound of coins

A professor tested the 'Prisoner's Dilemma' on his students by bribing them with extra credit points

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prisoners inmates

A professor at the University of Maryland threw his class a curveball when he allowed them to each choose how many extra credit points they wanted to add to their final paper grade.

Sounds generous right? Well, not really. 

Here's what Professor Dylan Selterman positioned for his students:

Select whether you want 2 points or 6 points added onto your final paper grade. But there's a small catch: if more than 10% of the class selects 6 points, then no one gets any points.

Shahin Rafikian, a junior at the University, snapped a picture of the question and tweeted it. Now his tweet has over 7,000 retweets, mostly because people are agonizing over making the right choice.

Here's why they're having a hard time!

Selterman is demonstrating the "Prisoner's Dilemma and the Tragedy of the Commons,"Buzzfeed News reports. It's concept in game theory in which a signaling problem inevitably leads to an unfavorable outcome. 

scratching head

Here's how it works: Two conspiring prisoners are arrested and questioned in separate rooms, with no way to communicate. If they both confess, they will be sentenced to two years in prison. If neither confess, they will both receive only one year in prison. The latter is obviously the best option, explains the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

The catch: If one confesses and the other doesn't, the prisoner who confesses will go free and the silent prisoner will serve a 3 year sentence. Thus presents the problem — the temptation of going free. Ideally, neither prisoner would confess, but by presenting the temptation, it's now more likely both will confess and both will end up serve a longer sentence.

In the case of Selterman's class, the students are the prisoners. All would benefit from two additional points on their final papers, but the majority will give in to the temptation of six additional points. As a result, no one will get extra credit.

He's been presenting the dilemma to students since 2008, but Selterman says only one class has successfully received an extra two points each. 

It was not this year's class.

SEE ALSO: Kids in Hong Kong can solve this logic puzzle in 20 seconds, but it completely stumps adults

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NOW WATCH: The 10 trickiest Goldman Sachs interview questions

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