A recent CareerCast survey found that most Americans list employment as their predominant source of stress. Job instability played a role, but daily on-the-job stress was also a major factor.

(Canadians are likely no different when it comes to job-related stress.)

The study found that the least stressful jobs are ones that often boast both a high degree of stability and relative work flexibility; healthcare, computer and math-related occupations came out on top.

Audiologists topped the low-stress list; the field is seeing growth, isn't physically demanding, and pays well. "Low-stress" doesn't mean "easy," though. Audiologists need doctoral degrees and the job requires "a keen attention to detail and focused concentration."

The most stressful jobs? According to the survey commercial pilots and public relations executives are most at risk.

Here are the least stressful jobs in America:

1. Audiologist
2. Dietitian
3. Software Engineer
4. Computer Programmer
5. Dental Hygienist
6. Speech Pathologist

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It's a heartwarming case of life imitating art.

Director Damian Cruden recently arrived in Toronto to stage his hit production "The Railway Children" at the Roundhouse Theatre.

The play concludes with a long-awaited family reconciliation. But he could not have known that his time in the city would reunite him with his 78-year-old Aunt Margaret.

Cruden, the artistic director of the York Theatre Royal, told the Toronto Star in a recent interview that his estranged aunt, Margaret Agnew, once lived in Toronto; he hadn't seen her for over 30 years. His grandfather also once called Toronto home.

Fortunately for him, Jenny von Buchstab — a Star reader and genealogy buff — contacted the paper with a lead as to Aunt Margaret's whereabouts; von Buchstab found that Margaret's husband, Kenneth Agnew, died last December in Orangeville.

Star librarian Astrid Lange tracked down the death notice; within an hour of a call to a funeral home, Margaret's son, Don, was on the phone with Star columnist

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It sounds too good to be true: Leave work early for greater success on the job.

Psychological Review recently published a study that claims that the key to success is working hard in short bursts of time.

It comes down to focus and choosing specific tasks over multitasking and taking breaks.

The study found that "deliberate" four-hour violin rehearsals accomplished more than seven-hour sessions of steady practice. The best performers set specific goals, practiced with greater intensity for shorter periods of time, and took planned breaks.

The study graphed their hours of productivity, noting that the most intense periods of work were before noon and again after 4. Eventually they found that successful individuals in other professions mirrored this work-less-for-success model.

Business Insider quotes the study:

"While completing a novel, famous authors tend to write only for 4 hours during the morning, leaving the rest of the day for rest and recuperation. Hence successful authors, who

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Meet Elliot and Bowie.

Elliot fell for the girl next door in an online video and now everyone's falling for him.

Their innocent, adorable and high-five-seeking first kiss — captured on camera by accident — is melting hearts everywhere.

Elliot's shirt says "All you need is love"; coincidentally, Bowie's middle name is Love.

Oh, young love.

Last year, Colin Furze broke a world record when he hit a speed of 71.59mph (just over 115 kph) on his custom mobility scooter.

Mobility scooters typically average at speeds of 6 to 13 kph.

Recently, to further challenge his speedy scooter, the 31-year-old plumber pitted the petrol-powered machine against a propeller plane.

Its acceleration speed surpassed expectations.

He spent three months fitting his scooter with a 125cc motorbike engine, five gears and twin exhausts.

"I decided to change the gear ratio to help the scooter accelerate faster and thought it would be fun to test out against a plane," he told Orange UK.

"I was worried about how it would perform but amazingly it accelerated away from the starting line quicker than the plane and left it behind."

When it came time to race, the mobility scooter accelerated faster than a Robin DR400 single-engine propeller aircraft. During each of the 20 runs, the plane would gain on the scooter as it started to take off.

"The scooter did

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Most of us want to do our part to help preserve the environment, but would you live in a 3m x 3m x 3m home to do it?

Maybe if it was inside the Cube Project. Thought to be the world's smallest eco-friendly home, the Cube was designed by Dr. Mike Page of the University of Hertfordshire's School of Psychology and was recently put on display at the Edinburgh Science Festival.

Clever design made it possible to include a living room, kitchen, toilet, shower and bedroom inside the tiny space. Check out this 360 Panorama to get a sense of the space and watch the tour below with the Cube's creator.

Page says the home has everything a single person, or "two friendly people," would need to live comfortably.

Power is provided in summer months by solar panels on the roof. Excess electricity is sold back to the grid, which means the Cube's inhabitant (or inhabitants) would collect roughly $1,600 a year for living there. Other prominent energy-efficient features include LED lights, an air-source

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For many, it's a childhood dream come true.

Thanks to some brilliant minds and three XBox 360 Kinects, anyone can be an action figure.

Barcelona's Blablablab set up an interactive "Be Your Own Souvenir" installation that used Kinects and a 3D printer to create on-demand action figures of those who passed by.

Watch the process in action:

The souvenirs result from 360-degree scans taken by three Kinect sensors. Visitors watch as their scans are then processed by custom software and printed as little action figures by a 3D printer called a RepRap machine.

Blablablab posted the following about the fun project:

"This proposal aims to connect street users, arts and science, linking them to under-laying spaces and their own realities. The installation was enjoyed during two weekends in January 2011 by the tourists, neighbours of La Rambla and citizens of Barcelona, a city that faces a trade-off between identity and gentrification, economic sustainability and economic growth."

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It wasn't her usual route. But when dog walker Traci Healy chose to lead her canine charge down Albany Avenue, she set herself up to become a local hero.

Healy was walking a client's dog in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood when she noticed smoke coming out of a Victorian home.

She responded instinctively, running toward the house and calling 911.

The 42-year-old married mother of one tied up the dog before banging on the front door. As flames spread onto the banister, she pulled furniture and garbage off the veranda.

"I threw a cup through the window, but I didn't hear anybody and I couldn't open the door because the flames got too hot. Then I heard someone shout, 'I'm here,' so I ran to the back of the house and found a disoriented woman in her 20s on the ground floor," Healy told the Toronto Sun.

Healy helped the woman find her cats and rescue a few belongings before running upstairs to bang on other apartment doors.

She screamed for people to get out of the house.

"People thought I was

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