10 Youngest PhDs of All Time

Here is fair warning: this article may make you feel stupid. While you were a kid, learning about the mysteries of the screen door, prodigies at your age were solving differential equations and being nominated for Nobel Prizes. Invariably these geniuses skip elementary school altogether, teach themselves high school in a matter of months, and are off to collegearound the time they hit puberty. Some tire of academia and move on to other interests, but a few have proceeded to get doctoral degrees at incredibly early ages. Here are 10 of the youngest PhD recipients ever.

1. Kim Ung-Yong

   His world-record IQ of 210 makes him a genius nearly twice over. By age 3 (that’s not a typo) he was a physics student at university. NASA brought him from Korea to do research for them at age 8. He worked there for 10 years while earning a PhD in physics at the age of 16. When he left NASA and returned home, amazingly he could not find a job because he needed elementary, middle, and high school diplomas, all of which he had skipped and had to go back and earn.

2. Norbert Wiener

   
   This brilliant man died in 1964, but two prestigious awards, a math center at the University of Maryland, and a crater on the moon all bear his name. Norbert Wiener went to high school at 9, was out by 11, and by 14 had completed a college degree at Tufts. At the ripe age of 18, for his thesis on math logic, Harvard awarded Wiener a PhD. He would go on to work with guided missiles in World War II, acquiring knowledge that helped him create the field of cybernetics in 1948.

3. Sho Yano

   
   A 1500 SAT score is great, but every year dozens of students score higher. Only, Sho Yano earned his score when he was 8 years old. By that time he’d been reading for six years and composing music for four. At 9 he enrolled at Loyola University, and would graduate summa cum laude four years later and enter med school. Five years after that, when other kids might have celebrated an 18th birthday by buying cigarettes or emancipating themselves from their parents, Sho was reveling in his hard-earned PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology from the University of Chicago.

4. Sergey N. Mergelyan

   
   The Armenian man who gave us the theorem for finding holomorphic polynomials was clearly no dummy. After graduating from Yerevan State University at the age of 19, Mergelyan really picked up the pace, earning a doctor of science at age 20. To this day, no younger Russian has done the same. Four years later, he became the youngest ever member of the USSR’s Academy of Sciences. Mergelyan died in 2008 at the age of 80.

5. Akshay Venkatesh

   
   At the age of 12, Ashkay Venkatesh climbed the medal winners’ podium at the International Mathematics Olympiad and the bronze medal was placed around his neck. In 1997, at the age of 14, he was admitted to the University of Western Australia, becoming the school’s youngest student ever. He headed to the States to work on his PhD in number theory at Princeton University, finishing it in 2002 at just 20. He has since taught at MIT, NYU, and Stanford, lecturing on “equidistribution questions on homogeneous spaces, the interplay between ergodic and spectral techniques,” and other topics that are completely over our heads.

6. Tathagat Avatar Tulsi

   
   It was never his dream to break records, says Tathagat Avatar Tulsi. But even so, his name went down in the books for world’s youngest post-graduate degree holder at the age of 12 with his Master of Science. Once that was done, he apparently decided to keep the ball rolling by becoming India’s youngest doctorate. It may have taken him longer than he expected, seeing as he was on pace to finish by 17, but the doctorate in quantum computing he earned at the age of 21 was still an incredible feat.

7. Wolfgang Pauli

   
   Just reading Einstein in your teens puts you in a special category of intelligence. Wolfgang Pauli not only read him, he had published several definitive papers on the theory of relativity by the time he was 18. He had been encouraged by his physics professor at the University of Munich who realized he had nothing to teach the young man. Einstein himself praised a later paper of Pauli’s. Then, in 1921 at the age of 21, Pauli received his doctorate in theoretical physics. Nearly 25 years later, thanks to a nomination from Einstein, Pauli was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

8. Christopher Hirata

   
   Kim Ung-Yong may be in Guinness as the world’s smartest man, but that may need to be updated. Christopher Hirata’s IQ is a mind-boggling, “verified” 225. His life is a stream of similarly amazing facts. He skipped seventh through tenth grades. He would fill in for his physics teacher in high school while himself not even yet a teenager. At 13, he did so well at the International Physics Olympiad that a “Youngest Medalist” award was created and then given to him. His PhD came at the age of 22 from Princeton in the field of astrophysics. Smart kid.

9. Michael Kearney

   
   The only partying Michael Kearney did in college involved birthday cakes and fruit punch. In 1995 he became the youngest college grad ever at the age of 10, with a bachelor’s in anthropology. A master’s degree in biochemistry from Middle Tennessee State University followed four years later, and by 2006 he was set to receive his doctorate at 22. Kearney had been more an infant prodigy than a child prodigy, telling his doctor “I have a left ear infection” at the age of six months.

10. Ronnie Pavlov

    
    Ronnie Pavlov was used to being the youngest person at graduation by the time he received his PhD in math from Ohio State University in 2007 at 24 years old. He had been the youngest at his high school graduation in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, too, when he graduated at 13. The story was the same four years later, when he received his undergrad degree at 17. But he said of his doctorate work, “You meet so many brilliant people in graduate school; there are lots of people who could have done what I did.”

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Source: (http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/04/02/the-10-youngest-phds-of-all-time/)

0 Proven Brain Benefits of Being Bilingual

These days, attaining fluency in two or more languages looks fabulous on college and job applications and presents opportunities in numerous corners of life completely denied to the monolingual. Old or young, however, bilingual individuals enjoy some decidedly physiological rewards for their linguistic capabilities, which aren’t always immediately noticeable. Come to find out, the human body’s most important organ receives generous stimulation from soaking up multiple tongues as well. So before griping about that mandatory foreign language course, take a look at some of the most excellent things that could happen after mastering one.

1. STAVES OFF DEMENTIA

   Bilingual individuals with Alzheimer’s take twice as long to develop symptoms as their monolingual counterparts, and scientists at St. Michael’s Hospital believe a distinct correlation exists between language development and delayed dementia. However, the symptoms between both demographics remained equally destructive; the only difference lay in the amount of damage needed for them to materialize. The prevailing hypothesis regarding why this phenomenon occurs involves how the multilingual mind strengthens itself by switching between tongues, which bolsters brain function overall.

2. IMPROVED COGNITIVE SKILLS

   In general, the bilingual tend to enjoy far sharper cognitive skills, keeping the brain constantly active and alert even when only one language prevails. Studies conducted on preschoolers revealed that those capable of speaking multiple languages performed far better on sorting puzzles, both in speed and success. Their ability to strike a balance and switch between different “modes,” as it were, eased the transition between various tasks with swapped out goals. Categorizing shapes by color and form, specifically, even if the denoted form sports a different color than that of the bin.

3. HEIGHTENED CREATIVITY

   Learning a new language as either a child or an adult greatly benefits those pursuing creative careers or hobbies. Even the more technical still get something amazing out of the bargain, however, as bilingualism still nurtures the “outside-the-box” thinking necessary for sharp problem solving and innovation. Numerous studies linking acumen in multiple languages and creativity exist, and this one by Texas Women’s University stands as one of the clearest, straightforward examples.

4. EASIER TIME FOCUSING ON TASKS

   When presented with distractions, the bilingual individuals studied by York University maneuvered them more adroitly and displayed heightened concentration on their assignments than the monolingual. The specific languages spoken held no influence over this mental flexibility; anyone fluent in more than one tongue reaps these cognitive rewards. However, some evidence exists that knowing two or more with structural similarities to one another might offer up a slight advantage.

5. GREATER CONTROL OVER LITERACY SKILLS

   York University also noted improvements in literacy and literacy skill acquisition in bilingual children. “Metalinguistic” abilities, which promote a more intimate understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication, receive the biggest boost here. Such abilities do come at cost on the front end, however, as language acquisition in multilingual individuals does progress at a slightly slower pace.

6. HEIGHTENED ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

   University of Pompea Fabra researchers noted that their subjects fluent in one or more languages seem to express a much higher degree of environmental awareness. Essentially, this means their ability to process and “monitor” external stimuli sharpens alongside their verbal abilities. Because they must toggle between tongues, the bilingual’s brains come fine-tuned to pick up on subtleties and patterns both on and off the page.

7. EASIER TIME SWITCHING BETWEEN TASKS

   As many of these other studies have no doubt already proven, the bi- and multilingual out there can brag that their brains multitask like a dream. Obviously, this directly ties into their sharpened cognitive skills resulting from bouncing back and forth between languages; which they do even when they’re only using one daily. Being able to switch off distractions with greater aplomb than the monolingual certainly doesn’t hurt the mental gear shifting, either.

8. DENSER GREY MATTER

   Most of the brain consists of gray matter, which is responsible for dictating intelligence, particularly when it comes to acquiring and processing language, dictating attention spans, and establishing and storing memories. The bilingual possess more gray matter at a higher density than monolingual counterparts, and a team from Wellcome Department of Imaging and Neuroscience noted that the left hemisphere enjoyed more nervous loving than the right, thought the latter certainly doesn’t get left out of the festivities. Seeing as how the left side impacts language skills, it makes perfect sense that it’d come out a little thicker in the end.

9. FASTER RESPONSE TIME

   When learning more about bilingualism and the brain, York University researchers noted that individuals who spoke both English and Tamil answered questions faster than those only fluent in the former. Understandable, considering how multilingualism acts as a sort of cognitive steroid dialing up the brain’s Six Million Dollar Man potential. Scientists tested the phenomenon using a series of non-verbal reasoning questions between groups of similarly-educated individuals from more or less homogenous backgrounds.

10. HIGHER SCORES ON INTELLIGENCE TESTS

    Crush together the swelling creativity, greater multitasking, generous environmental awareness, and other hallmarks of bilingualism and it probably comes as little surprise that speakers typically score higher on intelligence tests. Studies conducted in 1974 and 1986 dissected the phenomenon using both verbal and non-verbal measures. Everything seems to boil down to “greater intellectual flexibility” in general, with the language centers of the brain receiving an all-around power up the more a thinker engages with different tongues.

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Source: (http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/04/02/10-proven-brain-benefits-of-being-bilingual/),

7 Reasons Facebook’s Timeline Still Sucks

You've read the posts: "Help! Timeline is coming for me!" "Me no likey timeline!" "Agh! Timeline! I'll see you in hell, Mark Zuckerberg!" We didn't ask for it, and if we had known in advance what it was, we would have begged to be spared. Since late January of 2012, like something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Facebook's Timeline has replaced the Wall and Profile of each one of your friends, one hapless soul at a time. On Facebook, no one can hear you scream. As a last stand, we offer to you seven reasons why Timeline sucks, even though we'll continue to post, share, and "like" photos of cats and what we ate for lunch.

1. It's non-optional: Facebook is free. Therefore, Facebook can and will do whatever it wants to with its users. Privacy? Choice? The customer is always right? Get over it. That's the Facebook business model in a nutshell. Like his hero Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg has never wasted time asking the consumers what it is they actually want. Why should he? He's made millions convincing people to accept a social networking site that is invasive, confusing, and maybe even doesn't do all that good a job of helping you keep in touch with your friends.
2. Even Mark Zuckerberg can't explain what it is: You know public speakers who really aren't all that good at public speaking, but everyone just tries to be supportive, not fall asleep, and applaud at the right moments? Well, that's Mark Zuckerberg. At the official roll-out of Timeline, Zuckerberg offered one of the most unexciting and unhelpful speeches ever delivered by a billionaire CEO, returning again and again to the mantra, "Timeline is the story of your life." Watching Zuckerberg speak, you almost feel sorry for the guy — that is, until you realize Timeline is not the story of your life. It's an ugly, visually confusing collage of photos, useless apps, and personal information that shouldn't be shared with every single person on the planet.
3. Timeline will suck up even more of our time: Timeline is insanely complicated. Sorting out what it does and how you can make it look a little more pleasing takes time that most people, who jump on and off Facebook a few minutes a day to blow off steam, just don't have. For all of Zuckerberg's insisting that Timeline is streamlined and visually more appealing, there are more links, more stats, more apps, and more useless information than anyone who wants to entertain some semblance of an existence beyond their computer can ever hope to "control" and process.
4. Nobody wants to spend seven days "teasing" their Timeline into shape: The assumption of the part of Zuckerberg and blogging enablers happy to suck on the Facebook teat is that you have nothing better to do over the course of seven days than "tease" your Timeline into shape. By "tease" we mean sitting in front of a computer and methodically updating privacy settings, checking to see who can and who can't see photos of you getting wasted after work, and deciding if something you posted more than five years ago is really appropriate for the current chapter in the story of your life. Zuckerberg and bloggers love spending hours, even days on computers, and don't understand that there are people who don't. Timeline reflects this disconnect.
5. It's a playground for stalkers: When it comes to too much information, Timeline is the ideal resource for stalkers, identity thieves, the federal government, and, of course, your mom! You know that Facebook friend that "likes" every single one of your updates, no matter what they happen to be about? Well, get ready, because thanks to Timeline, your very own sort-of stalker now has an overwhelming collection of updates and photos to troll through and "like." He or she might even download all of the photos you've posted, make a collage on the wall of their one-room apartment, and "share" a grainy and chilling photo of the results on your Timeline!
6. Too many apps: You know your friend who decided to log onto Facebook with their Yahoo email account probably didn't want to share with the world the fact that they'd read yet another article about the Kardashian sisters. But there it is, evidenced on their Timeline, thanks to an "app" that further erodes the boundary between what you do in your private life and what everyone else in the world knows about you. If you find that you too are curious about Kim and her dingbat family, chances are when you click on the link, you'll be asked to grant certain permissions to Yahoo so that everyone can see the idiotic articles you're reading as well. Oh, but first, you'll have to fill out several fields with your personal information and then wait for an email confirming that you can use the app. Isn't sharing wonderful?
7. You'll realize, you're spending WAY too much time on Facebook: And maybe, that's not such a bad thing. Facebook has begun to dig its own grave as more and more users commit "Facebook suicide" due to the overwhelming amount of work that goes into maintaining a Timeline. You may, after wasting yet another hour of your life trying to figure out how to eliminate that creepy "map" app in the upper right of your Timeline — the map that helpfully shows everyone where you've been — decide that Zuckerberg's vision for a "new way to tell your story" is just a front for making money from advertisers. After deleting your Facebook page, you might even sit down and, with a pen in hand, try writing in a diary.

Source: http://www.onlinecertificateprograms.org/blog/2012/7-reasons-facebooks-timeline-still-sucks/)

10 Tips for Teaching Kids to Care for their Teeth

by Ken

Proper dental hygiene is such an important part in maintaining healthy teeth and gums for a lifetime, and learning these good habits early on is crucial. When kids make brushing and flossing part of their daily routine it will become second nature by the time they reach adulthood. On the other hand, people who don’t learn proper dental care as children have a difficult time correcting bad habits later on. Since this is not something that comes naturally it needs to be taught, and some children aren’t going to be willing pupils. Here are 10 tips for teaching reluctant kids to care for their teeth.

1. Lead by example – Kids love to emulate their parents, so leading by example is a must. Let your children watch you brush and floss and explain to them what you’re doing and why. They’ll love to feel like they’re able to something just like the grown-ups do.
2. Start early – Children won’t be able to brush their teeth by themselves until the ages of 3 or 4, so you’ll have to do it for them until then. This will give them time to get used to the idea that this is a part of a normal daily routine and they’ll look forward to when they can do it on their own.
3. Make it fun – Try to make brushing and flossing a fun activity and something to look forward to instead of just a chore. You can invent little games to play and be excited about it when they do a good job.
4. Rewards – Be sure to reward kids when they achieve goals like brushing by themselves for the first time or not having to be reminded. Give them an extra bedtime story or let them stay up another 15 minutes to prove how grown-up they are.
5. Plaque monsters – You can invent stories to help explain what happens if they don’t take care of their teeth. Tell them that after they eat food invisible plaque monsters are hiding in their teeth and they need to be brushed and flossed away.
6. Give them choices – Get children involved in the dental hygiene process by giving them choices. Let them pick out their own toothbrushes and toothpaste, and keep a variety on hand so they don’t get bored. Floss and mouthwash even come in different fun colors and flavors that they can choose from.
7. Music – It can be difficult to get kids to brush long enough, so music can help. Play their favorite song and tell them to keep brushing until the music stops. Pretty soon they’ll be brushing and flossing to the rhythm of the beat.
8. Egg trick – Children have a hard time grasping the concept of why it’s so important to care for their teeth. Explain how a hard boiled egg is like a tooth because the hard shell is like enamel. Place the egg in vinegar for 2 days and let them see how the shell has softened and explain that’s what happens to teeth with acid and bacteria in the mouth.
9. Apple cavities – Another experiment that helps explain cavities can be done with an apple. Cut a small chunk out of an apple and tell the kids it’s just like a cavity in a tooth. Set the apple somewhere so they can observe what happens over time. This will give them a visual example of how cavities rot the teeth just like the apple.
10. Start off right – Make sure kids learn how to brush and floss properly from the very beginning and correct them until they get it right. Muscle memory will keep them doing it correctly for a lifetime instead of having to relearn later and try to break bad habits.

Regular visits to the dentist will help to reinforce what you teach your children at home. The kids are more likely to listen to the dentist and hygienist as authorities while they go over proper dental care techniques. These tips should help get your children off to a good start when it comes to caring for their teeth. Putting in the time and effort from the beginning will pay big dividends down the road for both your children’s teeth and your pocketbook.

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Source: (http://www.nannypro.com/blog/10-tips-for-teaching-kids-to-care-for-their-teeth/)