Lifestyle

Over at Yahoo! Autos, Editor at Large Alex Lloyd highlights a burning question, something everyone has wondered at one point or another: "Question: I was thinking of giving my son my used Lamborghini as a first car. Is it a good idea?" Lloyd makes some solid points in the "No, of course not, are you insane?!" column. Specifically, a super-powered Italian luxury auto is likely to spend most of its time in the shop and attract an insane amount of tickets -- not to mention that the teen in question is far, far more likely to end up in jail or die in a fiery car crash. Fortunately, the loving father says he saw the light and decided to get his son a more reasonable first car, a Porsche Cayman. Meanwhile, in Europe, another rich teen offers a cautionary tale for any other parents considering ...

Driver’s education measurably reduces teen crashes and traffic violations, according to a new study that challenges the prevailing notion over the past 30 years that driver’s ed courses provide no significant benefit. In the 1980s, many states stopped paying for driver’s ed programs after a study questioning their effectiveness. Some insurance companies even quit giving discounts on premiums for drivers who had gone through formal driver training. But the more recent study, which followed more than 150,000 new drivers licensed over eight years, found that drivers who have not gone through driver’s ed are 75% more likely to get a traffic ticket, 16% more likely to have an accident, and 24% more likely to be involved in an accident in which someone is injured or killed. Researchers Duane ...

People make first impressions so quickly that they've already formed their opinions before they even realize they did. For example, research has found that it takes no more than 50 milliseconds -- 0.05 seconds -- for Internet users to form an opinion about a website. What's more, people decide whether a person is trustworthy or not within just a tenth of a second. The reason first impressions last so long in a person's mind may be because of the emotional impact those impressions have. A new study published in the journal ELife suggests that emotions directly influence learning and memory processes in the brain. Researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel analyzed the electrical activity in the brains of rats during social behavior. They found that a state of excitement produced ...

A group of architects and engineers is ready to build an epic piece of property in Southern England -- but they need nearly $2.9 billion to do it. The group aims to create a replica of Minas Tirith, the fictional city and capital of Gondor in Lord of the Rings. Fans of the series will remember this as the site of the Battle of Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King. Based on the design in director Peter Jackson's adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy, the property will feature both residential and commercial spaces. Luxury penthouses will be built on any of the property's five levels alongside resort-style spaces. In order to actually turn this fantasy into reality, the architects and structural engineers behind the project have set up an IndieGoGo campaign to crowdfund the elabor...

Although 20% of children live in poverty throughout the United States, there's a new group that's beginning to feel left out of the private education sector: the "mildly rich." The Los Angeles Times reported on some of the most opulent upgrades to L.A.'s private schools, including a $100 million expansion at the Archer School for Girls. The school, located in Brentwood, has battled for four years with neighbors because it needs area residents to move out to complete the construction. Meanwhile, schools like the Buckley School and the Marlborough School have state-of-the-art facilities -- including high-tech academic buildings, Olympic-sized pools, and rooftop athletic fields -- planned for the near future. All of this is in a bid to keep parents, who are shelling out $38,000 per year or...

Many can't imagine life without air conditioning during the hot summer months. But what if the very thing that's keeping you cool is also making you sick? This question is not a new one. In fact, people have been questioning air conditioned air quality since it became popular in the United States, in the years following World War II. For many people, air conditioning is not just a luxury -- it's actually life saving, as it helps mitigate the effects of chronic ailments such as allergies, asthma, and bronchitis by filtering out pollen, pollutants, and other irritants from the air. Many forget that air conditioning isn't just a cooling system; rather, air conditions literally condition the air, acting as a means of filtration. Not only do air conditioners remove pollutants from the air, b...

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that most U.S. teenagers start school too early, which prevents them from getting the sleep they need to be able to properly concentrate and stay healthy. "Getting enough sleep is important for students' health, safety, and academic performance," lead author Anne Wheaton said. "Early school start times, however, are preventing many adolescents from getting the sleep they need." Adolescents are biologically programmed to stay asleep longer than adults, according to research from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). They may also suffer from sleep problems, further preventing them from getting the rest they need to do well. For example, obstructive sleep apnea can cause sufferers to stop breathing while th...

According to surveys, approximately 40% of couples about to tie the knot report that their choice of wedding venue should reflect their personality. Apparently, couples haven't been feeling particularly spontaneous lately. A recent article in the Washington Post reports that Las Vegas weddings have seen a major plummet in the last 10 years, from 128,000 in 2004 to just 81,000 in 2014. Las Vegas, the Nevada city famous for its gambling, its endless buffets, and its popular tagline "what happens here, stays here," was once one of the top destinations for couples to tie the knot. The craze can be attributed to the late great Elvis Presley. In 1967, the King of Rock and Roll wed Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel. The whole affair took no longer than eight minutes; it was so low-key t...

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the most common treatment for sleep apnea, a sleep disorder plaguing over 18 million Americans. It is also frequently misused, with only 50% of patients properly securing CPAP masks and utilizing CPAP machines. While mastering these tools may be a time- and money-saving venture, it's hardly the only option out there. In fact, a new therapy, called upper airway stimulation (UAS) therapy, may supplement (or, in some cases, entirely eliminate the need for) CPAP machines. "Implanted during an outpatient procedure, the device acts as a nerve stimulator, moving the tongue each time the patient takes a breath, shifting the palate forward and opening the upper airway," WTOP.com writes. "Patients have experienced an overall reduction of sleep apnea sev...

Adults experiencing severe attention deficit problems, emotional instability, and mild cognitive impairment issues likely had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a child, a new report has found. As Reuters reported, medical professionals have long known that children suffering from TBIs are more likely to have attention deficit problems as adults. A new study found that these minor lapses of attention are also related to cognitive problems and prolonged attention impairment issues, and these problems could take a long time to develop. The study, recently published in the academic journal , was conducted by a team of researchers from Marsh Konigs of VU University Amsterdam in The Netherlands. The researchers looked at 113 children, ages six to 13, who had suffered a TBI (with severity rangi...