Cindy: Where are you going? Jimmy: I am going to my family picnic. We will have a barbecue in the park together. Cindy: Wow, that’s great! Who will be there? Timmy: My big brother Jimmy and little sister Emma will be there. Cindy: Do you have other brothers and sisters? Jimmy: No, I don’t. We have three children in our family. I’m Jimmy’s little brother. Emma is my little sister. Cindy: Who else will be there? Timmy: My mom and dad will be there too. Do you want to come? Cindy: Yes, I do. I will bring some fruit.

Timmy: Mom, how’s the weather? Mom: It’s snowy outside. Timmy: Great! I will play hockey with my friends. Cindy: Where are you going? Timmy: We are going to the lake. Cindy: I will go too. Cindy: Can we play hockey in the lake? Sam: Yes, we can. Cindy: Can you hit the puck? Sam: Yes, I can hit the puck.

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast Before March, 2011, I was a photographic retoucher based in New York City. We're pale, gray creatures. We hide in dark, windowless rooms, and generally avoid sunlight. We make skinny models skinnier, perfect skin more perfect, and the impossible possible, and we get criticized in the press all the time, but some of us are actually talented artists with years of experience and a real appreciation for images and photography. On March 11, 2011, I watched from home, as the rest of the world did, as the tragic events unfolded in Japan. Soon after, an organization I volunteer with, All Hands Volunteers, were on the ground, within days, working as part of the response efforts. I, along with hundreds of other volunteers, knew we couldn't just sit at home, so I decided to join them for three weeks. On May the 13th, I made my way to the town of Ōfunato. It's a small fishing town in Iwate Prefecture, about 50,000 people, one of the first that was hit by the wave. The waters here have been recorded at reaching over 24 meters in height, and traveled over two miles inland. As you can imagine, the town had been devastated. We pulled debris from canals and ditches. We cleaned schools. We de-mudded and gutted homes ready for renovation and rehabilitation. We cleared tons and tons of stinking, rotting fish carcasses from the local fish processing plant. We got dirty, and we loved it. For weeks, all the volunteers and locals alike had been finding similar things. They'd been finding photos and photo albums and cameras and SD cards. And everyone was doing the same. They were collecting them up, and handing them in to various places around the different towns for safekeeping. Now, it wasn't until this point that I realized that these photos were such a huge part of the personal loss these people had felt. As they had run from the wave, and for their lives, absolutely everything they had, everything had to be left behind. At the end of my first week there, I found myself helping out in an evacuation center in the town. I was helping clean the onsen, the communal onsen, the huge giant bathtubs. This happened to also be a place in the town where the evacuation center was collecting the photos. This is where people were handing them in, and I was honored that day that they actually trusted me to help them start hand-cleaning them. Now, it was emotional and it was inspiring, and I've always heard about thinking outside the box, but it wasn't until I had actually gotten outside of my box that something happened. As I looked through the photos, there were some were over a hundred years old, some still in the envelope from the processing lab, I couldn't help but think as a retoucher that I could fix that tear and mend that scratch, and I knew hundreds of people who could do the same. So that evening, I just reached out on Facebook and asked a few of them, and by morning the response had been so overwhelming and so positive, I knew we had to give it a go. So we started retouching photos. This was the very first. Not terribly damaged, but where the water had caused that discoloration on the girl's face had to be repaired with such accuracy and delicacy. Otherwise, that little girl isn't going to look like that little girl anymore, and surely that's as tragic as having the photo damaged. (Applause) Over time, more photos came in, thankfully, and more retouchers were needed, and so I reached out again on Facebook and LinkedIn, and within five days, 80 people wanted to help from 12 different countries. Within two weeks, I had 150 people wanting to join in. Within Japan, by July, we'd branched out to the neighboring town of Rikuzentakata, further north to a town called Yamada. Once a week, we would set up our scanning equipment in the temporary photo libraries that had been set up, where people were reclaiming their photos. The older ladies sometimes hadn't seen a scanner before, but within 10 minutes of them finding their lost photo, they could give it to us, have it scanned, uploaded to a cloud server, it would be downloaded by a gaijin, a stranger, somewhere on the other side of the globe, and it'd start being fixed. The time it took, however, to get it back is a completely different story, and it depended obviously on the damage involved. It could take an hour. It could take weeks. It could take months. The kimono in this shot pretty much had to be hand-drawn, or pieced together, picking out the remaining parts of color and detail that the water hadn't damaged. It was very time-consuming. Now, all these photos had been damaged by water, submerged in salt water, covered in bacteria, in sewage, sometimes even in oil, all of which over time is going to continue to damage them, so hand-cleaning them was a huge part of the project. We couldn't retouch the photo unless it was cleaned, dry and reclaimed. Now, we were lucky with our hand-cleaning. We had an amazing local woman who guided us. It's very easy to do more damage to those damaged photos. As my team leader Wynne once said, it's like doing a tattoo on someone. You don't get a chance to mess it up. The lady who brought us these photos was lucky, as far as the photos go. She had started hand-cleaning them herself and stopped when she realized she was doing more damage. She also had duplicates. Areas like her husband and her face, which otherwise would have been completely impossible to fix, we could just put them together in one good photo, and remake the whole photo. When she collected the photos from us, she shared a bit of her story with us. Her photos were found by her husband's colleagues at a local fire department in the debris a long way from where the home had once stood, and they'd recognized him. The day of the tsunami, he'd actually been in charge of making sure the tsunami gates were closed. He had to go towards the water as the sirens sounded. Her two little boys, not so little anymore, but her two boys were both at school, separate schools. One of them got caught up in the water. It took her a week to find them all again and find out that they had all survived. The day I gave her the photos also happened to be her youngest son's 14th birthday. For her, despite all of this, those photos were the perfect gift back to him, something he could look at again, something he remembered from before that wasn't still scarred from that day in March when absolutely everything else in his life had changed or been destroyed. After six months in Japan, 1,100 volunteers had passed through All Hands, hundreds of whom had helped us hand-clean over 135,000 photographs, the large majority — (Applause) — a large majority of which did actually find their home again, importantly. Over five hundred volunteers around the globe helped us get 90 families hundreds of photographs back, fully restored and retouched. During this time, we hadn't really spent more than about a thousand dollars in equipment and materials, most of which was printer inks. We take photos constantly. A photo is a reminder of someone or something, a place, a relationship, a loved one. They're our memory-keepers and our histories, the last thing we would grab and the first thing you'd go back to look for. That's all this project was about, about restoring those little bits of humanity, giving someone that connection back. When a photo like this can be returned to someone like this, it makes a huge difference in the lives of the person receiving it. The project's also made a big difference in the lives of the retouchers. For some of them, it's given them a connection to something bigger, giving something back, using their talents on something other than skinny models and perfect skin. I would like to conclude by reading an email I got from one of them, Cindy, the day I finally got back from Japan after six months. "As I worked, I couldn't help but think about the individuals and the stories represented in the images. One in particular, a photo of women of all ages, from grandmother to little girl, gathered around a baby, struck a chord, because a similar photo from my family, my grandmother and mother, myself, and newborn daughter, hangs on our wall. Across the globe, throughout the ages, our basic needs are just the same, aren't they?" Thank you. (Applause) (Applause)

Timmy: Hey Cindy, what are you doing? Cindy: I am getting ready to go swimming. Timmy: Where do you swim? Cindy: I swim in the pool. Cindy: Do you want to swim with me? Timmy: No, thank you. I have soccer practice. Cindy: What do you like about soccer? Timmy: I like kicking the ball and scoring goals.

Timmy: Hey, Cindy, what are you looking at? Cindy: I am looking at the map of our school. Timmy: Where is our classroom? Cindy: Our classroom is on the third floor. We are in the first grade. Sam: How about the second grade? Cindy: Their classroom is on the fourth floor. Anna: Is the new computer lab on the sixth floor? Cindy: No, it's not. It's on the fifth floor.

Anna: Excuse me, Cindy. What are you looking at? Cindy: Hi, Anna! I am looking at my cat, Coco. Anna: I can't see Coco. Where is she? Cindy: She is on the right side of the garden. She is hunting mice. Anna: Is that your dog on the left side of the garden? Cindy: Yes. That's Eric. He is sleeping in the sun. Anna: What is that in the middle of the garden? Cindy: That is my rabbit. It is eating a carrot.

Of the 7 billion people on Earth roughly 0:02 6 billion own a cell phone which is 0:05 pretty shocking given that only 4 and2 0:07 billion have access to a working toilet 0:09 so how are these popular gadgets 0:11 changing your body and brain If you're 0:13 looking down at your phone right now 0:15 your spine angle is equivalent to that 0:17 of an 8-year-old child sitting on your 0:19 neck which is fairly significant 0:21 considering people spend an average of 0:23 4.7 hours a day looking at their phone 0:26 this combined with the length of time 0:28 spent in front of computers has led to 0:30 an increase in the prevalence of myopia 0:32 or nearsightedness in North America in 0:34 the 1970s about one quar of the 0:36 population had myopia where today nearly 0:39 half do and in some parts of Asia 80 to 0:41 90% of the population is now nearsighted 0:44 and it can be hard to put your phone 0:46 down take for example the game Candy 0:48 Crush as you play the game you achieve 0:50 small goals causing your brain to be 0:52 rewarded with little bursts of dopamine 0:54 and eventually you're rewarded in the 0:56 game with new content this novelty also 0:58 gives little bursts of dopamine and 1:00 together create what is known as a 1:01 compulsion Loop which just happens to be 1:04 the same Loop responsible for the 1:05 behaviors associated with nicotine or 1:07 cocaine our brains are hardwired to make 1:10 us novelty seeking and this is why apps 1:12 on our phones are designed to constantly 1:14 provide us with new content making them 1:16 hard to put down as a result 93% of 1:19 young people aged 18 to 29 report using 1:21 their smartphone as a tool to avoid 1:23 boredom as opposed to other activities 1:26 like reading a book or engaging with 1:27 people around them this has created a 1:29 new term nomophobia the fear or anxiety 1:32 of being without your phone we also see 1:35 a change in brain patterns Alpha rhythms 1:37 are commonly associated with wakeful 1:39 relaxation like when your mind wanders 1:41 off whereas gamma waves are associated 1:44 with conscious attentiveness and 1:46 experiments have shown that when a cell 1:47 phone is transmitting say during a phone 1:49 call the power of these Alpha Waves is 1:52 significantly boosted meaning phone 1:54 Transmissions can literally change the 1:56 way your brain functions your smartphone 1:58 can also disrupt your sleep the screen 2:00 emits a blue light which has been shown 2:02 to alter our circadian rhythms 2:03 diminishing the time spent in deep Sleep 2:06 which is linked to the development of 2:07 diabetes cancer and obesity Studies have 2:10 shown that people who read on their 2:11 smartphone at night have a harder time 2:13 falling asleep and produce less 2:15 melatonin a hormone responsible for the 2:17 regulation of sleep wake Cycles Harvard 2:20 medical school advises the last 2 to 3 2:22 hours before bed be technology free so 2:24 pick up a book before bed instead of 2:26 course smartphones also completely 2:28 change our ability to access information 2:30 most notably in poor and minority 2:32 populations 7% of Americans are entirely 2:35 dependent on smartphones for their 2:37 access to the internet a 2014 study 2:40 found that the majority of smartphone 2:41 owners use their phone for online 2:43 banking to look up medical information 2:45 and searching for jobs so while phones 2:47 are in no way exclusively bad and have 2:50 been part of a positive change in the 2:51 world there's no denying that they are 2:53 changing us but many successful people 2:56 have now decided to take smartphone 2:58 vacations in order to increase 3:00 productivity in our new ASAP thought 3:01 video we break down the top six reasons 3:04 you should take a smartphone vacation 3:06 and how it could benefit your life right 3:08 now and subscribe for more weekly 3:09 science videos

Maria's Family Celebration It is Mexican Independence Day! Maria and Luis are getting ready for a big party. "We can decorate the house," says Maria. "Let's paint a picture of our family." "Mama was born first. She is the oldest," says Maria. "Papa was born second," Maria says. "He is one year younger." "Next is Emily," says Maria. "She is Mama and Papa's first child." "After Emily, you were born," says Luis. "That's right!" says Maria. "I am Mama and Papa's second child." "What about me?" asks Luis. "You were the last to be born," says Maria. "You are the youngest." "There!" says Maria. "Our family picture is done!" "Green, white, and red are the colors of the Mexican flag," says Maria. Maria and Luis blow up five green balloons. They blow up five white balloons and five red balloons, too. "I'm out of breath!" says Luis. "Let's see," says Maria. "We painted a picture first. We blew up balloons second. The third thing we can do is fill the piñata." Maria gets the striped fish piñata from the shelf. Maria and Luis stuff the piñata with candy. When Luis thinks Maria isn't looking, he pops a piece of candy into his mouth. Maria gives him a hug. "You are silly," she says. Papa hangs the piñata. "We need a blindfold," says Maria. "We need a stick to break the piñata, toо." Abuela finds a red-checked scarf for Maria and a long stick for Luis. "The piñata is ready!" says Maria. "The fourth thing to do is practice dancing, Luis!" Maria and Luis dress in their party clothes. Then, they dance and spin. Soon, the house fills up with food, family, and music. There are six cousins, two aunts, three uncles, and three grandparents. There is Papa, Mama, Emily, Maria, and Luis, too. "There is one last thing we can do," Maria says. "And it's the most fun!" "What is it?" asks Luis. "CELEBRATE!" says Maria.

Carlos's Family Celebration It's Mexican Independence Day! Carlos and Selena are getting ready for a big party. "We can decorate the house," says Carlos. "Let's paint a picture of our family." "Mama was born first. She is the oldest," says Carlos. "Papa was born second," Carlos says. "He is one year younger." "Next is Mateo," says Carlos. "He is Mama and Papa's first child." "After Mateo, you were born," says Selena. "That's right!" says Carlos. I am Mama and Papa's second child." "What about me?" asks Selena. "You were the last to be born," says Carlos. "You are the youngest." "There!" says Carlos. "Our family picture is done!" "Green, white, and red are the colors of the Mexican flag," says Carlos. Carlos and Selena blow up five green balloons. They blow up five white balloons and five red balloons, too. "I'm out of breath!" says Selena. "Let's see,"says Carlos. "We painted a picture first. We blew up balloons second. The third thing we can do is fill the piñata.” Carlos gets the big star piñata from the shelf. Carlos and Selena stuff the piñata with candy. When Selena thinks Carlos isn't looking, she pops a piece of candy into her mouth. Carlos gives her a hug. "You are silly," he says. Mateo hangs the piñata in the apartment's grassy yard. "We need a blindfold," says Carlos. "And a stick to break the piñata, too." Abuela finds a red-checked scarf for Carlos and a long stick for Selena. "The piñata is ready!" says Carlos. "The fourth thing to do is practice dancing, Selena!" Carlos and Selena dress in their party clothes. Then, they dance and spin. Soon, the house fills up with food, family, and music. There are cousins, aunts, uncles, new babies, and new friends. There is Papa, Mama, Mateo, Carlos and Selena, too. "There is one last thing we can do," Carlos says. "And it's the most fun!" "What is it?" asks Selena. "CELEBRATE!" says Carlos.

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