Top cosmetic surgeries in 2008:

• Breast augmentation: 355,671
• Liposuction: 341,144
• Eyelid surgery: 195,104
• Nose reshaping: 152,434
• Tummy tuck: 147,392

I was in line at the grocery checkout. A few feet in front of me, a mother guided her toddler ahead, anchored her baby on her hip, and elbowed her checkbook open to pay the clerk. In what seemed like one single gesture, she retrieved her toddler's hand from the candy rack, tore the check from her book and offered it to the clerk while placing a comforting smooch atop her baby's head. The baby drooled ...

Dove soap has released a series of commercials that question the beauty industry's relentless pursuit of the "perfect woman."

In a commercial called "Evolution," a woman wearing no makeup walks to a chair and sits down. As the camera focuses on her face, we see a series of time-lapse pictures that show her "evolve" into a billboard model.

First the make-up artists tone her skin to perfection. Then ...

In a 2008 article for Psychology Today magazine, Hara Marano writes about the constant pressure girls face concerning their image. Deprived of an internal compass, girls compete to be "hottest," turning colleges into incubators for eating disorders and numerous unrealistic, self-imposed expectations.

But why?

Marano cites Courtney Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters. Martin believes ...

The most powerful computer in the world is currently the IBM BlueGene/L, housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. It can perform 280 trillion calculations a second!

However, that's nothing compared to the computer they're trying to put together at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. It's called The Roadrunner Project, after New Mexico's speedy ...

According to a 2007 study by RTI International, a non-profit research organization in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, people are slightly more inclined to lose weight if they're getting paid to do so. Researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill offered different degrees of financial reward to 200 overweight or obese individuals. To a third of the group, they promised $14 for ...

The A & E documentary Beauty in a Jar is an examination of the $7 billion cosmetics industry in the United States. It covers the historical, cultural, and social aspects of women's make-up. As the documentary begins, Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure magazine, comments: "Women want to look better. It's such a simple wish for all women." Various scenes of women putting on make-up are shown. "It's ...

After discovering how to clone humans, two scientists challenged God:

"We don't need you anymore," they said. "We can make life by ourselves now."

"Okay," God replied, "let's have a man-making contest."

"All right," said the scientists. "We'll do it like you did in the beginning." Then they reached down to grab a handful of dirt to begin to form a man.

Then they heard God's voice from heaven: "Hold it—get ...

The New England Journal of Medicine recently exposed another factor that contributes to obesity: a person's circle of friends. Statistics say it isn't long before a person of stronger discipline and a smaller waistline soon matches a larger friend's desire for food. In fact, the study found that the threat of obesity increases 57 percent if a person's friends are overweight.

As a supermodel, Tyra Banks is used to the stares of others and the snap of camera shutters every time she steps out in public. But she recently experienced scrutiny of another kind when she donned a "fat suit" in public that made her appear to weigh 350 pounds. Banks wore the suit for an undercover taping of her talk show in an attempt to learn how it feels to be mistreated as an obese person.

"The ...