University professor is the least stressful job available to U.S. workers in 2013, a job-search website said Thursday.CareerCast.com said teaching at the college level combines relatively high pay with a median annual salary of more than $62,000, prestige and a comfortable environment."Their students are largely those who choose the classes they attend, and thus want to be in class," the website said. "Unlike elementary and secondary educators, the performance of college professors isn't evaluat

This is your brain on sugar ― for real. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating.After drinking a fructose beverage, the brain doesn’t register the feeling of being full as it does when simple glucose is consumed, researchers found.It’s a small study and does not prove that fructose or its relative, high-fructose corn syrup, can cause obesity, but experts say it add

As the cold spell tightens its grip on the country, reports of flu-like illnesses have grown in the last few weeks. Health authorities advised Thursday that people maintain personal hygiene and consider flu shots to avoid illness.The number of people suspected of having influenza per 1,000 outpatients was 2.8 in the third week of December, a slight increase from 2.7 surveyed a week before, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report. If the rate reaches more than 4, the hea

People often make New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking or start regular exercise to improve their health. However, many fail to keep to their resolutions for even a month. Everyone knows how to keep healthy, but it is no simple task to hold back on things you want and do things you do not like. It is very difficult to keep to your goals without a special motivation when you are tired or busy. If a friend of the same age as you dies suddenly or is diagnosed with a serious disease unexpectedly,

The Twelve Tribes of HattieBy Ayana Mathis(Knopf)In “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie,” first-time author Ayana Mathis walks upon some of the richest thematic terrain America’s history can offer a novelist.Her protagonist, Hattie Shepherd, arrives in Philadelphia from Georgia in the mid-1920s, one of a legion of travelers in the great migration, that movement of African-Americans from the Jim Crow South to the promise and relative freedom of the North.The great migration gave us the Harlem Renaissanc

Researcher examines letters written by American ambassador’s wife and her sister in late 1800s

Shall We Play That One Together? The Life and Art of Jazz Piano Legend Marian McPartlandBy Paul de Barros(St. Martin’s Press)Paradise may be a great place to live, but the implicit lack of conflict makes it a lousy home for a dramatist. In similar fashion, it’s challenging for any biographer to take on the life of an exemplary human being and fashion a compelling story out of it.Consider the case of Marian McPartland, pianist, composer and longtime host of NPR’s peerless “Piano Jazz” series. For

OSLO (AFP) ― He may be acclaimed in the art world and coveted by thieves but Edvard Munch is starved of recognition in his native Norway, where squabbles have delayed a new museum worthy of his oeuvre.This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the expressionist master, who painted the now iconic “The Scream.” But the anniversary is clouded by the city of Oslo’s inability to provide a proper setting for the art gems the painter left in his will.Munch, who died in 1944, bequeathed an en

Exhibition highlights the 500-year history of civil service exam

Suh Young-duk, a Korean lawyer, was elected as the new leader of an association of Korean alumni of American University in Washington D.C., the association said Thursday.He will succeed Chung Joo-taek, president of Hansung University in Seoul, to head the association.The 53-year-old Daegu native is an auditor of the National Health Insurance Service and also sits on the board of the Korean Bar Association. He recently opened a practice in Seoul.He unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate f

An apparent loss of weight by Ri Sol-ju, the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, fueled speculation in Seoul Thursday that she may have given birth.A government source, who declined to be identified, said images on the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station showed a slimmer Ri watching a live New Year’s performance with her husband and other high-ranking dignitaries.He claimed local experts who saw the footage of the first lady speculated that, judging by the weight loss, she may have given

One more Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II died Friday, a civic group said, raising concerns that the aging victims may die before receiving compensation or apologies from Tokyo.At the age of 92, Hwang Kum-ju died earlier in the day, according to the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.Her death put the number of South Korea’s government-registered surviving victims of Japan’s enforced sexual enslavement at 58, the

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong has been selected as one of the figures with a big impact on Chinese life.China News Service, a state-owned news agency, announced a list of people influential in Chinese life on Tuesday, Yonhap news agency reported Thursday.The roster has only two business executives, Lee and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Their companies have released a series of rival smartphones, the iPhone and Galaxy series, which influenced Chinese consumers, China News Service said, add

People who feel low in status try to compensate by buying high-status goods such as fur coats, cuff links, caviar and Italian suits, U.S. researchers say. Lead author Philip Mazzocco of Ohio State University‘s Mansfield campus said the findings cast doubt on the notion urban minorities have developed a corrosive “bling culture” unique to them.“Minorities don’t buy high-status products because of some ‘bling culture.’ It is a basic psychological tendency that we all share when we‘re feeling infer