Very few people can claim that they have achieved all that they are capable of. Do you have a nagging feeling that you could do much, much more with your life and career?

What is that is stopping you right now from making a much greater contribution to society? What is that is preventing you from fulfilling your potential?

1. You do not have enough belief in yourself. All successful people have enormous self-belief. This does not mean that they are arrogant, narcissistic or complacent -- on the contrary, they are self critical and push themselves hard because they know that they can achieve more. What is it that is special about you?

2. You do not measure yourself against written goals. It is hard to make progress if you have no clear goals for your life. Set yourself targets in the areas that are important to you. You can be flexible and adjust how you move forward but you must keep moving. Do you have written objectives that you track regularly?

3. You are too comfortable where you are. It is easy and natural to settle into a rut. High achievers take risks. They move out of their comfort zones. Where are you right now -- inside your comfort zone or taking risks?

4. You are lazy. Either that or you waste a lot of time every day on low value activities.  If you have clear goals but are not making progress towards them, look at your activity level. Persistence pays dividends. How high is your work rate?

5. You are not mixing with high achievers. Let’s face it -- your friends and family are really nice people but they are not challenging you to achieve more. Spend more time with high flyers and positive thinkers who understand ambition and achievement. They will encourage you and give you the direct advice you need. How much time are you spending with really successful people?

Biotechnology companies love to talk about how safe and effective their technologies are. If you’ve been paying attention to the news about genetically modified plants, you’ve probably heard corporate shills repeat at least some of the myths below. But bear in mind that myths are exactly what they are.

Myth: Genetic engineering is a continuation of traditional breeding methods

In fact, most GM crops are modified with the introduction of DNA from other species entirely. This never occurs in nature, or with traditional breeding methods.

Myth: Opponents of GM food are anti-science

Leading opponents of GM foods include the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Independent Science Panel, the U.S. Center for Food Safety, and numerous agronomic, environmental, and health scientists.

Myth: GM crops have higher yields

GM crops currently on the market do not increase yields, and in fact are not designed to. In fact, GM crops generally have lower yields.

Myth: Americans have been eating GM foods for 15 years without any health problems

How would anyone know? GM foods are not labeled in the U.S., which makes traceability impossible. There may or may not be health problems -- it is carefully designed so that no one can find out.

Myth: GM food sold in the EU, at least, is clearly labeled as such

In fact, a loophole allows meat, poultry, and dairy products from livestock fed GM ingredients to be sold without a label, and some restaurants use GM cooking oil without informing customers.

In general, GM foods are worse for the environment, worse for your health, and worse for world hunger. And those who claim otherwise are probably trying to sell you something.

Exercises involving the tongue and soft palate may reduce the severity and symptoms in patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). OSA is a condition in which the throat muscles collapse during sleep, preventing oxygen from getting to the lungs. These episodes are followed by loud snoring and labored breathing, resulting in overall poor sleep quality followed by daytime drowsiness.

A recent study showed that playing the didgeridoo to train the upper airway muscles significantly ameliorated OSA syndrome severity and associated symptoms. A didgeridoo is a wind instrument used by Australian Aborigines consisting of a long thick hollowed-out wooden pipe that makes a deep reverberating sound.

With this in mind, researchers tested a set of isometric and isotonic exercises for the tongue and soft palate area derived from speech therapy training that involved suction, swallowing, chewing, breathing and speech. At the end of 3 months, they found that the exercises caused the average number of apnea events to decrease significantly, from 22.4 to 13.7 events per hour.

A new study suggests that older adults who eat diets rich in citrus fruits, leafy greens and fish oil may have a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss among older U.S. adults.

AMD refers to gradual damage to the macula, a structure in the retina that allows for seeing fine detail. The condition affects more than 1 million Americans.

Researchers looked at the overall diet patterns of 4,000 older adults, and found that participants with diets high in omega-3 fats, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, lutein and zeaxanthin had a relatively lower risk of AMD. Lutein and zeaxanthin are plant pigments that act as antioxidants; the nutrients are found in broccoli, spinach and other leafy green vegetables, as well as egg yolks.

Factory workers exposed to high levels of formaldehyde were more likely to die of cancers of the blood and lymphatic system than workers with low-level exposures, according to new research.

The study looked at some 14,000 deaths among more than 25,000 workers who began working before 1966 at 10 plants that produced formaldehyde and formaldehyde resin.

In the four ensuing decades, workers with the highest peak exposures to formaldehyde had a 37 percent greater risk of death from blood and lymphatic cancers.

Formaldehyde is widely used in manufacturing and as a preservative and disinfectant. The chemical has long been suspected of playing a role in the unusual number of leukemia deaths among pathologists and embalmers, who are periodically exposed to high levels.

A leading scientists has warned that chemicals found in many food, cosmetic and cleaning products pose a real threat to male fertility. Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council, says that these hormone-disrupting chemicals are "feminizing" boys in the womb, leading to rising rates of birth defects, testicular cancer, and low sperm counts.

It is thought that all these conditions, collectively called Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome (TDS), are linked to disruption of the male sex hormone testosterone. Professor Sharpe concluded that exposure to a cocktail of hormone-disrupting chemicals in the environment is likely to be at least partly to blame by blocking the action of testosterone in the womb.

His latest report highlights animal studies showing that testosterone-disrupting chemicals can cause TDS-like disorders.

Although many believe that daydreaming is a sign of laziness, letting your mind wander can actually let the parts of the brain associated with problem-solving become active.

Researchers placed study participants inside an fMRI scanner while they performed the simple routine task of pushing a button when numbers appear on a screen. The researchers tracked subjects' attentiveness moment-to-moment through brain scans, subjective reports from subjects and by tracking their performance on the task.

Until now, scientists had thought that the brain's "default network," which is linked to easy, routine mental activity, was the only part of the brain that remains active when the mind wanders. But in the study subjects, the brain's "executive network", which is associated with high-level, complex problem-solving, also lit up. The less subjects were aware that their mind was wandering, the more both networks were activated.

Not only is your brain are very active when you daydream, bit it is in fact much more active than when you focus on routine tasks.

A chimpanzee that mauled a Connecticut woman had the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in its system, according to toxicology tests.

The 200-pound chimp, named Travis, attacked Stamford resident Charla Nash. She lost her hands, nose, lips and eyelids in the attack. She is blind and faces two years of surgical procedures.

Nash's family has sued the chimp’s owner, Sandra Herold, for $50 million. The suit alleges, among other things, that she had given Travis medication that further upset the animal.

Herold has made conflicting public statements about whether she gave Travis Xanax the day of the attack. Police have said Herold told them that she gave the animal Xanax that had not been prescribed for him to calm him because he was agitated.

The attack lasted about 12 minutes, and ended when police fatally shot Travis as he attempted to open a police cruiser's door.

Increased intakes of fruit and vegetables may reduce the risk of some cancers by 25 percent.

Data from more than 450,000 participants revealed that the highest average intakes of fruit and vegetables was associated with a 14 percent reduction in colorectal cancer risk, and a 24 percent reduction in the risk of colon cancer.

Over 8.8 years of follow-up, the researchers documented nearly 3,000 incident cases of colorectal cancer.

People have some pretty unusual approaches to money. Here are three of the common misconceptions that our society teaches, which are often not true:

It Takes Money to Make Money

Having money can make it easier to make more money. However, if you don’t have money, it doesn’t mean you can’t make any. Plenty of big earners today started off bootstrapping. You just need to put in some effort, some brains and be good at what you do. There are plenty of business plans that can be thought up and executed without the need for capital or loans.

Time and Money Are Proportionally Related

The industrial age and the model of employment it brought about is based on a proportional relationship between time and money. But the relationship between time and money is imposed by that employment arrangement, not the idea of money itself. If you’re clever with your business plan, you can create something that makes money based on other things, like product sales. Look at online membership training sites -- if you can find 100 customers for a $100 a month program you’ve made $10,000.

Money is the Root of Evil

Money is a tool like any other. Once you begin to see it for what it is, your business decisions can be based in reality and have a level of objectivity associated with them. Many people make stupid business decisions because they have developed certain mindsets regarding cash ,and these need to be put to the back of your mind. Fears about losing money, or the idea that money is evil, simply don’t help anyone.

If you’ve fallen prey to these misconceptions, it isn’t too late to change your mind. It can be hard to escape from old mindsets and habits imposed on you by the culture you live in, but that doesn’t make it impossible.

Avian influenza viruses do not thrive in humans -- the temperature inside the human nose is too low, according to new research. This may be one of the reasons why bird flu viruses do not cause pandemics in humans easily.

There are 16 subtypes of avian influenza and some can mutate into forms that can infect humans. But normal avian influenza viruses do not spread extensively in cells at 32 degrees Celsius, the temperature inside the human nose. This is probably because the viruses usually infect the guts of birds, which are warmer at 40 degrees Celsius.

This means that avian flu viruses are less likely to infect people, because the first site of infection in humans is usually the nose. If a normal avian flu virus infected a human nose, the virus would not be able to grow and spread between cells.

Australians have been by a class-action lawsuit that is pulling back the curtain on strategies that the American drug giant Merck used in its international marketing of the painkiller Vioxx.

The revelations include accusations that Merck’s Australian affiliate circulated a marketing publication in the guise of an independent medical journal for doctors, and that they countered safety concerns by giving its sales representatives a training manual called the “Vioxx Objection Handling Module.”

Merck removed the drug from the global market over safety concerns in 2004. The drug raises the risk of strokes and heart attacks.

Scientists are saying that they have finally worked out how and why the drug thalidomide caused limb defects in thousands of babies. A research team found that a component of the drug prevents the growth of new blood vessels in the developing embryo.

Mothers took the drug to relieve their morning sickness in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. About 10,000 babies whose mothers took the drug were born with disabilities. The most common defects were stunted arms or legs or, in some cases, no limbs at all.

It took some time for evidence of birth defects to be linked to thalidomide.

The two ends of a ruptured Achilles tendon are often stitched together before the leg is put in plaster, in order to reduce the risk of the tendon rupturing again. However, new research suggests that surgery may be unnecessary. Patients who do not undergo surgery have just as good a chance of recovery.

The Achilles tendon, which attaches your calf muscle to your heel, is your body's strongest tendon. The tendon can rupture upon sudden tensing, something that affects middle-aged men in particular, typically when playing sports such as  tennis.

Surgery increases the risk of infections and sores, but is often carried out anyway. However, when one hundred patients were randomly assigned to surgery or to early mobilization alone, a year after the injury there was no difference in the two groups' impressions of symptoms and function.

A randomized clinical trial has confirmed that ginger can decrease nausea caused by chemotherapy. The effect goes beyond that provided by standard anti-vomiting drugs.

The trial involved more than 600 patients, mostly women with breast cancer. All patients took a standard anti-vomiting drug, but also took specially made capsules containing either extracts of ginger root or a placebo for six days.

Those taking the ginger had a reduction of about 45 percent in nausea severity compared to previous rounds of chemotherapy. Those on the placebo showed almost no change.