Humans have expended a great deal of intellectual energy over the past few thousand years trying to understand the morality of seeking pleasure. Most of philosophy begins with the question of what defines the good life. But what if the answer to what makes us happy comes down to how much of a particular chemical is circulating in our brain at any particular moment? The neurotransmitter dopamine isn't quite that powerful, but evidence has been ...

He's the fastest runner ever, but Usain Bolt accepts that it will take people time to believe that he has no illegal assistance."The Olympics is going to be a very big thing for me because I did extraordinary things in Beijing," he said. "I'm definitely coming here to defend my titles and I'm looking forward to it because there are a lot of Jamaicans here so I know it's going to be a good Games. I'm just going to ...

The New England Patriots extended Tampa Bay's dismal run with a 35-7 victory at London's Wembley Stadium as NFL action returned to Britain for the third successive year on Sunday night.

From seabeds to mountaintops, people around the world were staging a day of demonstrations Saturday to call for urgent action on climate change.The number of 350 ppm originally came from a NASA research team headed by American climate scientist James Hansen, which surveyed both real-time climate observations and emerging paleo-climatic data in January 2008, according to 350.org. It concluded that atmosphere containing carbon dioxide above 350 ppm couldn't support life on earth as we know it, the group said. "It's ...

Chelsea are seeking to have the English club's worldwide transfer ban put on hold until an appeal is heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The London outfit have already lodged an appeal against FIFA's ruling, which prevents the club from registering any new players during the next two transfer windows. They had been found guilty of illegally inducing teenager Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with French club Lens two years ago. The CAS has now confirmed ...

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied Thursday that payments to the Taliban in Afghanistan were authorized to protect Italian soldiers deployed there. The accusation, published by the London Times, is "baseless," his office said in a written statement. "Berlusconi's government has never authorized nor allowed any form of money payment in favor of members of the Taliban insurgency, nor does it have any knowledge of these types of initiatives enacted by the previous government. "As a way of proving this, ...

British singer Leona Lewis was "understandably shaken" after a man attacked her during a book signing in central London Wednesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for her record label said. A 29-year-old man was arrested after he punched Lewis at the Waterstones bookstore in Piccadilly Circus at 4:36 p.m. (10:36 a.m. ET), according to a Scotland Yard statement. She was signing copies of her new autobiography "Dreams" when the "unprovoked attack" happened, said Sarah Weinstein Dennison of the RCA Music Group. "The ...

"I love the pre-Raphaelites!" gushes Jenny , with the unself-conscious exuberance of a bright 16-year-old. The star pupil at an lite London girls' school, Jenny has her eyes on Oxford, but can't help giving a longing glance at the world of luxe, of fine art and good restaurants, that she is mad to enter. Admission to the dolce vita is the apple held out by her new friend David , a suave businessman twice her age. He, in turn, ...

Like those of its competitors in New York or London, the sleek glass and steel offices of media company Rotana are filled with preening attitude and fashion-conscious staffers: assistants teeter in shoes that might have absorbed much of their monthly paycheck; executives parade the halls in power suits and pencil skirts. But Rotana isn't in New York or London; it's in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, a country in which women normally adhere to a strict dress code in ...

New research suggests penicillin is becoming obsolete, and antibiotic resistance could lead to a "major health crisis" unless governments act to promote research into new drugs. Antibiotics such as penicillin have been key to the decline of infectious diseases over the last 60 years, but bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to existing drugs. That means many antibiotics are no longer effective at combating common diseases, and a lack of research into new drugs means there is a dire ...