Trapped under six stories of ruins after the Haiti earthquake leveled his hotel, Dan Woolley believed he was going to die. But rather than give in to despair, the film-maker spent 65 hours beneath the earth looking up ways t treat his injuries on his iPhone. He also wrote a moving diary for his family, thinking they would only read his last message of love and comfort after his death. Instead, he was pulled from the disaster after a week-and will soon be reunited with his family.

Mr. Woolley had travelled from America to Haiti with his colleague David Hames. Both had been working for charity. He was in the entrance-hall when the earthquake struck and just had time to dive into a comer before the building fell. Buried under tons of ruins, the film-maker downloaded a first aid application to his iPhone. He used the light from the iPhone to show him his injuries and diagnosed it properly as a broken leg. Then, he used the instructions from the app to treat the serious bleeding. The app advised him not to go to sleep if he felt he was going into shock. The resourceful Mr. Woolley set his phone alarm to go off every 20 minutes to keep him awake. New technology has played a huge part.

Mr. Woolley used a small black notebook to write messages to his family. He had thought his relatives would read them after he was dead. “I was in a big accident. Don’t be upset at God,” he wrote, “I’m still praying that God will get me out, but He may not. But He will always take care of you.”

Mr. Woolley was eventually located by a French rescue team and removed to the U.S. where he was reunited with his wife. Speaking after being flown to Miami for surgery, he said, “Boy, I cried. I wanted to use that time to do everything I could for my family. If it could be just to leave some notes that would help them in life, I would do that.”

He is now looking forward to seeing his family.

A report says older adults who test their minds with increasingly difficult projects have better mental ability than those who do less demanding activities.

To keep our brains sharp as we age, we are often told to keep our minds active. As the old saying goes, “Use it or lose it.” But, there is very little scientific evidence to support than.

Denise Park is head of the university’s Center for ? Vital Longevity. She designed a study in which she and her tern placed 221 healthy aging and older adults into one of three groups.

“We asked people to learn new things, like quilting or photography. We asked other people to just do fun things like being in a social group function but were not likely to have a very large effect.”

The subjects took part in their assigned activities for 15 hours a week over three months. At the end of that time, the researchers found that the adults who learned new skills, such as digital photography, showed the greatest improvements on memory tests.

No improvements were seen in the results of those in the social group that did activities together like going on field trips. There were also no improvements among the third group that listened to classical music or did crossword puzzles.

Denise Park believes one reason for improved memory in the active learning group is that its members were being pushed to learn new skills. The other groups took part in what she call receptive activities. Learning new skills may not cure age-related mental decline. But, Ms. Park thinks being mentally active slows down the process.

Denise Park says the latest information shows that the improvements lasted for at least a year. She and her team plan to do longer follow-up studies with all three groups. She also is interested in learning whether taking part in demanding mental activities delays the development of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

Finding time to red is an important part of developing literacy skills for all kids. And there are many easy and convenient ways to make reading a part of each day-even when it’s tough to find time to sit down with a book.

Reading opportunities are everywhere you go. While riding in the car, for example, encourage kids to spot words and letters (on billboards, store signs, etc.), turning it into a game (“Who’ll be the first to find a letter B?”). While shopping, ask your preschooler to “read” pictures on boxes and tell you about them. Point out the difference between the words and the pictures on the boxes. Encourage older kids to tell you what’s on the shopping list.

Even daily tasks like cooking can provide reading moments. You can read recipes aloud to younger kids, and older kids can assist you as your cook by telling you how much flour to measure. Give your child a catalog to read while you sort through the mail. Ask relatives to send your child letters, e-mails, or text messages, and read them together. Help your child create letters or messages to send back to the relatives. These types of activities help kids see the purpose of reading and of print.

Even when you’re trying to get things done, you can encourage reading. While cleaning, for instance, you might ask your child to read a favorite book to you while you work. Younger kids can talk to you about the pictures in the favorite books.

Make sure kids get some time to spend quietly with books, even if it means cutting back on other activities, like watching TV or playing video games.

Most importantly, be a reader yourself. Kids who see their parents reading are likely to resemble them and become readers, too!