Music can assist stroke victims in their recovery, says a recent report from BBC News. Researchers from the University of Helsinki discovered that stroke patients who listened to music for a couple of hours a day appeared to recover faster than those who listened to either books on tape or nothing at all.

Patients listening to music were better able to recover memory and attention skills, and also held a more positive outlook on their situation. After three months, verbal memory improved by 60 percent in the music-listening group, compared with only 18 percent in the audio book group, and 29 percent in the group who listened to nothing at all. Moreover, the ability to resolve conflicts and perform mental operations improved by 17 percent in the music-listening group, but did not appear to improve at all in the other groups.

However, as promising as this discovery may be, researchers admit that further examination into the study still needs to be conducted.

Source

I received this link in an Email the other day -- It's a list of the world's cleanest cities. The city that took the top spot? Well, it's none other than my home town -- Calgary, Alberta. I complain about my city often--it's cold, windy, dry and far too busy these days--but I don't think I've ever seen an ounce of smog and amount of litter is pretty low compared to other cities I've been to (with a few annoying exceptions of course. Yes, I'm talking to you! Stop leaving your Tim Horton's cups all over the place!)

What else made the list? Honolulu, Helsinki, Minneapolis and Ottawa rounded out the top five.

Did your city make the list?

Source