Money can’t buy happiness is possibly one of the most overused phrases in the world. But surprisingly, it often comes out from the mouths of those who have enough bucks to spare at their will. Nevertheless, money indeed doesn’t guarantee lifelong happiness. But a few extra dollars to pay the bills and perhaps go on a nice holiday can make you a great deal happier. A study reveals the same after examining the correlation between money and quality of life.

The Recent Study

For this study, the researchers gave $10,000 to selected people from different cultures and backgrounds. They found that having that extra amount of money made the receivers happier, but only to a limited extent. The people earning $123,000 yearly or more, didn’t appear to have increased happiness. This indicates that there’s a point or limit, at which money turns out to be less impactful on overall quality of life.

The Experiment

For this research experiment, selected people from diverse backgrounds were given a one-time payment of £8,500 or $10,000 and were told to spend it within three months. They were also asked to fill out a monthly survey form for three months and another survey after six months of the payment. Another control group comprised of 100 individuals, wasn’t given any money and was also included in the study.

The Findings

The study was conducted based on the 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale and a 1-5 score scale measuring positive and negative effects among the 200 cash-receiving participants. It revealed that those who received that extra money indicated significantly improved happiness compared to the deprived control group. Also, the effect was much higher, three times more to be specific, in the people belonging to lower-income countries. The causal evidence of the study proved that money can transfer significantly increased but varied happiness across people of diverse global backgrounds, and also it doesn’t always equate to a wholesome quality of life for everyone.

Today, at the bottom of the world, there is a landmass covered in ice and snow — and it’s home only to penguins, fur seals, and rich oceanic wildlife. However, it appears that this wasn’t always the case. New evidence recovered by a group of researchers proves that there was a thriving rainforest near Antarctica during the mid-Cretaceous period.

How the Evidence of an Ancient Rainforest Was Found

A team of researchers took seafloor sediment samples off the coast of West Antarctica. Within it, they discovered traces of pollen, fossilized roots, and chemical evidence of diverse plant life. Its location is less than 600 miles from the South Pole. The buried traces of vegetation allow scientists to reconstruct what the climate might have been like so many years ago. The findings were revealed by the team on the second of April in Nature. The researchers explain that the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were far greater then than they are now, which is the main reason why the existence of such a forest was possible in a place that doesn’t get a lot of exposure to direct sunlight.

What This Discovery Means

The discovery of the remnants of this ancient rainforest gives us a glimpse of what the conditions on Earth were like in the mid-Cretaceous period — between 83 and 92 million years ago. The annual temperatures, on average, would have been between 55°F and up to 77°F in the summer, which is quite a difference compared to the frigid temperatures of Antarctica today. Johann Klages, a marine geologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany, was part of the research team that made this discovery. He explains that, even in the mid-Cretaceous period, this part of the world saw almost no sunlight for almost four months a year. This shows the power of carbon dioxide that allowed this forest to grow and thrive.

The South Pole was largely ice-free at that time, and there was no sheet of ice to reflect the sunlight and keep the land cool. This shows us the importance of the polar ice caps when it comes to the preservation of our current world climate.