LIFE STYLE
Blast From the Past
September 30, 1846
William T. G. Morton, a dentist, used ether for the first time as an anesthetic to extract a tooth painlessly from his patient in Boston, MA. Before this discovery, surgery often necessitated unimaginable pain, hair-raising screams, and writhing patients.

September 25, 1956
The world’s first transatlantic telephone cable system was inaugurated after it took the summers of 1955 and 1956 for the HMTS Monarch to lay the twin cables. They stretched 2,250 miles underwater from Clarenville, Newfoundland, to Oban, Scotland, and cost $42 million. The cable system’s vacuum tubes never failed in 22 years of continuous service from 1956 to 1978.

September 8, 1966
The USS Enterprise set out on its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man had gone before. Although this stardate was the first time Star Trek aired on NBC, it was not the first episode shot. In the pilot for the series, Jeffrey Hunter played Captain Christopher Pike. Hard to imagine outer space and galaxies far, far away without William Shatner and Captain James T. Kirk out there bending the prime directive. —Andrew Matthius

OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD
Go East, Young Grads
Once upon a time, America was the land of opportunity, and
immigrants streamed to our shores in the pursuit of happiness and wealth. But now during the Great Recession, the tide has turned. Recent college graduates in the U.S. are heading straight to China. Americans are enticed by China’s surging economy and a chance to skip a few rungs on the career ladder, despite their lack of Mandarin language skills. Instead of scrambling for unpaid internships in the U.S., they can become program directors in China. It also doesn’t hurt that more people seeking jobs are successful there: Last month, the U.S. federal government reported an unemployment rate of 9.4%, while China’s unemployment rate in urban areas is 4%, according to the CIA’s World Factbook. China’s gross domestic product is up 7.9% from last year. In such a strong economy, more opportunities exist for entrepreneurs, and start-up costs there are cheaper. For the equivalent of $12,000, two Americans founded an academic consulting firm for Chinese students wishing to study in the U.S., according to the New York Times. The fact that Americans understand America is one quality that makes them attractive to Chinese employers. Many Chinese companies are looking to hire people who can act as liaisons to the West with their understanding of its customs and nuances. Sometimes, the outspoken, take-charge aspect of the American way can work to their advantage in China. However, the global recession may be winding down, and some China hands may want to return home eventually. Not all the 20-somethings in Beijing and Shanghai have figured out their transition job back Stateside yet.—A.M.

EXERCISES
Look Your Best
It may be time to add eye lifts to your daily exercise regime—not to preserve your youthful beauty but to keep your eyesight sharp. Over one million Americans suffer vision loss each year, and one out of six Americans age 55 and older develops macular degeneration. Maoshing Ni, PhD, of Yahoo! Health offers his secrets of vision longevity with seven eye-strengthening exercises.

• Warm the Eyes Rub palms together, creating warmth. Place palms against eyes for 5 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
• Press the Rim of the Valley Press each thumb slowly from the inside outward along upper rim of both eye sockets. Use the same motion along lower eye socket rims with index fingers. Repeat 3 times.
• Roll the Marble Press the back of thumbs gently against eyeballs; slowly roll up and down 12 times. Roll side to side 12 times.
• Turn the Wheels of Fortune Place thumb knuckles at both temples and massage in circular motion 3 times. Repeat the same action above midpoint of eyebrows at the forehead and below eyes on both sides of the bridge of the nose.
• Stare at the Light Hold an object in front of you at arm’s length. Focus on object while slowly moving it toward you until it is 6 inches from your nose. Focus on the object again as you move it slowly away from you. Repeat 3 times, relaxing in between.
• Spin the Basketball With eyes open, roll eyes clockwise, then counterclockwise 3 times each. Try to look up into the sockets of your eyes as you do this.
• Take a Nap on the Job Put your head back, close your eyes, and relax 3 minutes.

—A.M.

RUNNING BAREFOOT
The human body is built to run: It has short toes, an Achilles tendon, and a head-stabilizing ligament. It sweats to release heat. It can breathe in a rhythm independent of its stride. Nevertheless, 80% of runners suffer an injury each year, according to a 2007 report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Is the reason for this simply that the human body is not built to wear running shoes? Christopher McDougall argues in his best-selling book Born to Run (Knopf, 2009) that humans evolved to run—more specifically, to run after prey in long-distance hunting. Forget weapons, all you needed to do was chase an animal until it collapsed from exhaustion.

When McDougall took up running five years ago, he was constantly sidelined with injuries. He found the cure to his ailments through a reclusive tribe in Mexico’s Copper Canyons. The Tarahumara run hundreds of miles over harsh terrain while outlasting deer, and they do it with thin strips of tire rubber on their feet and a smile on their face. The only time the Tarahumara get injured from running is when they fall. McDougall believes the absence of running shoes is the key to their running health and happiness. The bare foot actually delivers sensory feedback and adjusts to reduce impact and, in turn, damage. Shoes alter the biomechanics of running by encouraging a longer stride and a heel-first strike with raised heels and cushioned soles. Since going barefoot, McDougall has worked his way up to 50-mile runs and remained injury free, according to the Washington Post.

Shoe manufacturers such as Nike, Vibram, and Terra Plana have met the first steps of the barefoot movement with thin-soled shoes (and some five-toed models), but heated debate about its benefits and risks continues among the sports medicine establishment, athletes, coaches, running groups, and run-of-the-mill joggers. —A.M.