When was the last time you helped another person? Maybe you helped an elderly person up some stairs or made a donation to a charity. Do you remember how this act of kindness made you feel? Research suggests that helping others can make us feel better and can even improve our physical health. This phenomenon is known as the Mother Teresa Effect. The term originated from a study conducted at Harvard University. Researchers showed 132 students a film about the work of Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who helped the poor and sick of 20th-century Calcutta, India. When the film finished, the researchers measured the students' level of immunoglobulin A, which is one of the body's first defenses against viruses. Amazingly, their levels of immunoglobulin A had increased significantly after simply watching Mother Teresa doing charity work. So, if watching someone performing acts of charity has such a strong effect on people, what are the effects of actually doing charity work yourself? A study of 3,000 volunteers conducted by Allan Luks and Penny Payne found a variety of psychological and physical benefits. The volunteers experienced a feeling of happiness and energy followed by a helper's high of peace and calm. Physically, the volunteers found that some of their health problems, such as stress, chronic pain, and insomnia, were reduced after volunteering.

If you are sick or hurt, a visit to your doctor could make you feel better. But there is one thing that almost no one likes at the doctor's office : getting a shot. But now scientists have invented something that might eventually replace shots, along with many other kinds of medicine and pills. It is a special microchip, as thin as paper and about the size of a small coin. Doctors simply place medicine inside special pockets located in the microchip. Then they put the microchip into your body. Once it's inside, the mircrochip releases just as much medicine as you need, exactly when you need it. How does it do this? Each pocket is sealed with different kinds of material called polymers. These various polymers begin to break down at different speeds when they are inside the human body. Once they completely break down, the medicine is released. This allows doctors to control the timing. Besides helping you avoid painful shots, there are a couple of important advantages to this new technology. For one thing, patients don't have to worry about remembering when to take their medicine; the chip remembers for them. It is also helpful for travelers who need several shots to protect themselves against a possible disease, and it save them repeated tips to the doctor's office. The microchips can keep providing medicine for up to five months. After that, they safely melt away into your body. It sounds a lot better than a sharp needle in the arm, doesn't it?