As the Phoenix Mars Lander safely landed on Mars on May 25, Dr Prasun Desai and his colleagues released the breath they had been holding in, in a long exhalation of relief. "After months of work and days of high anxiety, now I feel relaxed," Dr Desai, senior engineer and Entry, Descent and Landing lead engineer at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, said.
Dr Joseph Chemplavil's novel weight-loss initiative inspired Dieting for Dollars, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Television broadcast January 13. Dr Chemplavil, a cardiologist based in Hampton, West Virginia, says patients who join his program must sign a contract: "You lose one pound of your original weight and I give you a dollar. But if you gain a pound you have to give me a dollar." He calls it "reward and punishment at the same time."
