Why does real life feel like high school? (Photo: Thinkstock)If you've ever encountered a mean girl at work or spent time worrying about making the wrong impression, you may have felt a sense of deja vu along with all of the stress. Didn't you deal with this stuff in high school -- and weren't those years behind you already?

Related: What will you be like 10 years from now? You're probably guessing wrong

Yes -- and no. The reason life sometimes seems a lot like high school, research shows, is because life really is a lot like high school.

In American high schools, "People are in a large box without any clear, predetermined way of sorting out status," Robert Faris, a sociologist at the University of California at Davis who studies high-school aggression, told Jennifer Senior at New York Magazine. "There's no natural connection between them." Kids are grouped by age, rather than by any other identifying characteristic or interest, and left to figure out their own hierarchy.

It ends up being a bit like "Lord of the Flies": social norms, values,

Read More »from If Life Seems like High School, That's Because it Is, Research Shows

Zoe Moon Astrology Weekly Forecast

The first part of this week ahead is going to rock, pure and simple.

Set Monday aside for talks and meetings, writing projects and pitches, sales and agreements, and anything you need to attend to out locally or in a short trip to a nearby town. If you need to take your vehicle in for service or look at new cars, or need to take care of electronics or purchase new ones, today's your day.

This week for Aries: Schedule talks, writing opportunities, negotiations...

Tuesday brings great communications and news involving your aspirations, take this to heart and let someone know about your dreams today. It is also amazing for anything involving friends, groups, the internet, astrology, charities, social networking, parties, or events.

This week for Taurus: You will have luck making money or attracting income opportunities...

Wednesday carries forward what you heard or decided about yesterday and gives it more action, again positive moves are in the works so figure out what you can

Read More »from Zoe Moon Astrology Weekly Horoscopes JAN 21-25

Doctors LeRoy Carhart, Warren Hern, Susan Robinson and Shelley Sella at the film's premiere. On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a new documentary about the only four doctors in the U.S. who perform third-trimester abortions has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.


The film is titled 'After Tiller' in acknowledgment of the murder of George Tiller, a doctor who continued to perform third-trimester abortions in Kansas in spite of the many threats made against his life. Tiller's clinic was bombed in 1989. In 1993, Tiller survived an attack outside his clinic, only to be gunned down as he was leaving church in 2009 by an anti-abortion extremist.

Protests mark anniversary of landmark abortion ruling

There are only three states in the U.S. that allow abortion into the third-trimester of pregnancy. The definition of "third-trimester" is itself controversial. According to the Mayo Clinic, the third trimester doesn't begin until the 28th week of pregnancy. The physicians featured in this documentary define it as the 25th week of pregnancy or later. As "late-term" abortion is

Read More »from The Only Four Doctors in the U.S. Who Perform Third-trimester Abortions Go Public with Documentary

Abortion opponents rally at the steps of the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion. And while the majority of Americans under age 30 support a woman's right to choose, new research from the Pew Forum finds that most of them don't know that Roe v. Wade was the landmark case that that a protects that right.

Related: What if Abortion Wasn't Legal?

"For 40 years, access to safe and legal abortion has been the law of the land," said Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards in a statement. "As the nation's leading women's health care provider and advocate, Planned Parenthood understands that abortion is a deeply personal and often complex decision for a woman to consider, if and when she needs it."

According to the Pew Religion and Public Life poll, 68 percent of men and women under age 30 do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, yet only 44 percent of that age group could correctly say what the case was about. Forty-one percent of respondents younger than 30 thought it had to do

Read More »from 40 Years After Roe V. Wade, Young Adults Not Sure What It's All About

Friendships: highly influential.It's been a bad day. Your bank account is overdrawn, you're stressed at work, you had a fight with your significant other, and it seems like nothing is going your way. Sometimes the only thing that will make it better is talking it out over a bottle of wine with your best friend.

And perhaps many of us would acknowledge there have been times when a friend (along with a bottle of wine) offered more support than a boyfriend or a family member. But now there's actual science behind the importance of friendship. Recent studies have shown that women who have close friendships are more likely to survive breast cancer than those who don't. And a new book claims that our friendships can be a bigger influence on who we are than our relationships with our partners, or even our family.

8 Ways to Rekindle a Friendship

In Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are, Carlin Flora, a former writer for Psychology Today, argues that our friendships may be the most important

Read More »from Friends Are More Influential Than Family or Partners, New Book Claims

ThinkstockHere's weighty news: Americans' expanding waistlines have caused some alarming beefing-up in places you wouldn't expect.

Ambulances: American Medical Response, the largest ambulance company in the United States, introduced bariatric ambulances in 2001. Their cots can accommodate up to 1,600 pounds, compared with older models that hold only up to 800 pounds.

PLUS: 13+ Things Facebook Won't Tell You >>

Caskets: A standard-size casket for adults used to be 24 inches wide, but 28-inch-wide models are becoming more common, according to the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America (CFSA), a trade association for the funeral-supply industry, based in Lake Bluff, Illinois. One company, Goliath Casket, began making 29-inch caskets in the 1980s (the new models hold up to 1,000 pounds) but sold only about one per year. Now they ship half a dozen oversize models every month.

PLUS: 50 Secrets Your Surgeon Won't Tell You >>

Fuel Usage: Extra pounds cause cars, trucks, and planes to Read More »from America’s Weight Gain Has Supersized Some Surprising Things

Cool finds, festive neighborhoods, cozy cafés, and artsy winter days Related:

12 Cozy Winter Lodges

Top 10 Ski Trip Hotels

Top 10 Ski Towns in the West

Read More »from 12 Fun Winter Towns

When I'm having a bad day, unless I go way out of my way to change it up, things get progressively worse. The more I obsess, the more cranky or hopeless or defeated I feel. Learning different ways to snap myself out of my funk(s) with minimal time and/or effort has made all the difference in changing my bad moods to better ones. Here are 7 quick and easy tricks I've tried (that have actually worked!) to simulate a swift, distracting, kick in the behind and serve as the diversion necessary to change your perspective and swing your mood from crappy to happy (or at least happier): - By Tracey Clark

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Read More »from Snap Out of It! 7 Quick Cures for a Bad Mood