It's all how you look at it

With a few supplies and some careful cutting and pasting, you can build this gravity-defying structure that won the 2010 Best Illusion of the Year Contest. Created by Japanese mathematical engineer Kokichi Sugihara, the magnetlike slopes illusion is cleverly designed to make marbles roll "uphill." It's a trick of perspective.

“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggonit, people like me”

“Accentuate the positive,” the 1944 song by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen cheerfully implored us. 

Plug “positive thinking” into Amazon.com, and you will find a never-ending supply of products designed to help us see life through rose-colored lenses.

In fact, however, positivity is not all it is cracked up to be. Although having an upbeat attitude undoubtedly has its benefits, gains such as better health and wealth from high spirits remain largely undemonstrated. What is more, research suggests that optimism can be detrimental under certain circumstances.