Beautiful Hadith is about Salat

Abu Hurairah RA reported that: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “The reward for Salat performed by a person in congregation is more than 20 times greater than that of the Salat performed in one’s house or shop. When one performs Wudu’ perfectly and then proceeds to the masjid with the sole intention of performing Salat, then for every step he takes towards the masjid, he is upgraded one degree in reward and one of his sins is eliminated until he enters the masjid, and when he enters the masjid, he is considered as performing Salat as long as it is the Salat which prevents him (from leaving the masjid); and the angels keep on supplicating Allah for him as long as he remains in his place of prayer. They say: ‘O Allah! have mercy on him; O Allah! forgive his sins; O Allah! accept his repentance’. This will carry on as long as he does not pass wind." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Allah's Anger

Abu Hurairah RA said: The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “Allah, the Exalted, becomes angry, and His Anger is provoked when a person does what Allah has declared unlawful.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Guardians

Ibn `Umar RA reported: Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "All of you are guardians and are responsible for your subjects. The ruler is a guardian and responsible for his subjects; the man is a guardian of his family; the woman is guardian in her husband's house and responsible for her wards; a servant is guardian of his master's property and responsible for his ward. So all of you are guardians and are responsible for your subjects." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Hadith is about Praising the Deceased

Anas RA reported: Some Companions happened to pass by a funeral procession (bier) and they praised him (the deceased). The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "He will certainly enter it.'' Then they passed by another funeral procession and they spoke ill of the deceased. The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "He will certainly enter it." Umar bin Al-Khattab RA said: "(O Messenger of Allah,) what do you mean by `He will certainly enter it?'" He (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) replied, "You praised the first person, so he will enter Jannah; and you spoke ill of the second person, so he will enter Hell. You are Allah's witnesses on earth." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Grudges

Anas bin Malik RA said: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "Do not harbour grudge against one another, nor jealousy, nor enmity; and do not show your backs to one another; and become as fellow brothers and slaves of Allah. It is not lawful for a Muslim to avoid speaking with his brother beyond three days." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Spiced Cocoa Coffee

Ingredients :- 

• 1 cup water
• 3 tbsp instant coffee
• 3 cups lukewarm milk, (doodh)
• ¼ cup cocoa power
• 1/3 cup sugar, (Cheeni/shakkar)
• ¼ tsp vanilla essence
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder,( dalchini)
• A pinch of red chilli powder, ( lal mirch powder)
• 4 tbsp whipped cream to garnish
• 4 tsp white chocolate to garnish
• 1 tsp Cocoa powder to garnish

Preparation method:- 

• Bring 01cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add instant coffee into it and simmer it.
• Switch off the gas and allow the coffee to rest for a minute.
• Add lukewarm milk. Cocoa powder, sugar,vanilla essence, cinnamon powder and red chilli powder.Give it a nice stir to mix everything.
• Now switch on the gas and heat the coffee. Do not boil just simmer while stirring continuously.
• Pour the coffe into cups.
• Garnish with whipped cream, cocoa powder and white chocolate flakes and serve hot.

Iced Coffee

Ingredients

• 4 cup water
• 4 tbsp coffee powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 lemon
• Crushed ice

Preparation method

• In a pan , add water and coffee powder and bring to a boil. Keep aside and cool.
• Remove ½ jug coffee decoction in a bowl , add sugar and mix well. In a separate plate, add 1/3 cup castor sugar . Cut a lemon and rub one half piece of lime on the edges of a tall glass. Now place the glass upside down in the plate with the castor sugar. Turn again , and add handbroken mint leaves and a lemon slice to the glass base. Add crushed ice .
• Pour the iced coffee from the bowl into the glass , and serve.

Serving Suggestions Serve in a coffee mug.

Beautiful Hadith is about Prohibition of Maligning

Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-As (RA) reported: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "A (true) Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe; and a Muhajir (Emigrant) is he who leaves the deeds which Allah has prohibited." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Superfast computers a step closer as a silicon chip's quantum capabilities are improved

Date:
March 20, 2015
Source:
University of Surrey

Rsearch has demonstrated laser control of quantum states in an ordinary silicon wafer and observation of these states via a conventional electrical measurement.

The findings -- published in the journal Nature Communications by a UK-Dutch-Swiss team from the University of Surrey, University College London, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, the Radboud University in Nijmegen, and ETH Zürich/EPF Lausanne/Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland -- mark a crucial step towards future quantum technologies, which promise to deliver secure communications and superfast computing applications.

The team demonstrated a quantum on/off switching time of about a millionth of a millionth of a second -- the fastest-ever quantum switch to be achieved with silicon and over a thousand times faster than previous attempts.

"Quantum computing exploits the fact that, according to quantum mechanics atoms can exist in two states at once, being both excited and unexcited at the same time. This is known as a superposition state, and is most famously illustrated by Schrödinger's quantum cat which is simultaneously dead and alive" said Dr. Ellis Bowyer, one of the Surrey researchers who made the laser measurements, He added "This superposition of orbital states is very delicate, but we discovered that silicon provides an amazingly clean environment for the phosphorus atoms trapped inside where our quantum information is being stored. We put the atoms into a superposition state with a very short (a few trillionths of seconds) laser pulse from the FELIX laser facility, and then, we showed we can create a new superposition which depends on the exact time at which a second laser pulse arrives. We found that the superposition state even survives when electrons are flying around the trapped atom while current was flowing through the chip, and even more strangely, the current itself depends on the superposition state."

The team has recently been awarded further funding from the UK EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) to investigate how to connect many of these quantum objects to each other, creating the bigger building blocks needed for quantum computers. This next phase of research could enable the creation of fast quantum silicon chips, and other kinds of devices such as super-accurate clocks and ultra-sensitive bio-medical sensors.

"Quantum superpositions and the resulting quantum technologies are only just beginning to make an impact, but we believe that with new advances in silicon, it is only a matter of time before it becomes more part of the everyday. This work brings that time closer by showing that exotic quantum features, more usually demonstrated with unimaginably tiny things in university physics labs can also be seen using an ordinary voltmeter," said Dr Thornton Greenland of UCL. "What is exciting is that we can see these exotic quantum phenomena in that most common material, silicon, using a measurement as simple as that of the electrical resistance" Thus the time is drawing nearer when we'll be able to take advantage of make a computer that does a tremendous number of calculations simultaneously, and that provides unprecedentedly secure computing, impenetrable to hackers."

Beautiful Hadith is about Anger

Abu Hurairah RA reported: Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "The strong man is not the one who wrestles, but the strong man is in fact the one who controls himself in a fit of rage." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Arrogance

Abdullah bin Mas'ud RAreported: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "He who has, in his heart, an ant's weight of arrogance will not enter Jannah." Someone said: "A man likes to wear beautiful clothes and shoes?'' Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "Allah is Beautiful, He loves beauty. Arrogance means ridiculing and rejecting the Truth and despising people." (Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Covering Faults of Others

Abu Hurairah RA reported: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "Allah will cover up on the Day of Resurrection the defects (faults) of the one who covers up the faults of the others in this world." (Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Seven Things to Avoid

Abu Hurairah RA said: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "Avoid the seven destructive things.'' It was asked: (by those present): "What are they, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied, "Associating anyone or anything with Allah in worship; practising sorcery, killing of someone without a just cause whom Allah has forbidden, devouring the property of an orphan, eating of usury, fleeing from the battlefield and slandering chaste women who never even think of anything touching chastity and are good believers." (Bukhari and Muslim)

An 'octopus' robot with eight limbs developed to clear rubble in Fukushima, Japan

Researchers in Japan have jointly developed a robot with four arms and four crawlers which can perform multiple tasks simultaneously to help clean up the rubble left after the 2011 quake-tsunami disasters in Minamisoma, Fukushima.

On March 13th, a remote controlled four-armed, four-wheeled crawler robot designed to clear rubble and save lives in areas with complex terrain was unveiled at the Kikuchi plant in Minami-Soma Fukushima, previously a designated no-go zone from the nuclear disaster crisis. The robot is a collaborative effort between Waseda University's Future Robotics Organization and the Kikuchi Corporation.

The robot's name, "Octopus," derives from the fact that it has eight limbs and is 1.7 meters in height and weights 70 kilograms. The robot can be equipped with a fiber laser capable of cutting through stone and a grappler capable of dealing with radioactive waste. It is expected to have a wide range of applications including assistance in lifesaving efforts for people trapped in buildings destroyed by earthquakes, tsunamis, and fires and radioactive waste management.

Robots of this variety have generally been focused on performing one function at a time on flat terrain. However, the Octopus robot's ability to utilize its four wheels and crawlers to traverse complex terrain and rubble and its ability to utilize all four of its arms simultaneously thanks to its hydraulic capabilities allows it to perform a wide range of tasks such as clearing rubble, fallen trees, and extinguishing fires. When traversing uneven terrain, the robot uses its two rear arms to support its body while climbing with its two front arms and crawlers. Each arm is capable of lifting objects of up to 200 kilograms and all four arms can be used to lift the robot's body from the ground. This type of robot that can utilize four arms simultaneously is very rare. Presently the robot is operated by two people from a remote location but is expected to be operated by one in the future.

During the robot's unveiling, Professor Masakatsu Fujie commented, "We are planning to establish a research facility in Kikuchi Minami-Soma plant. We hope to overcome the obstacles that come with natural disasters and an aging society, and use this robot to bring new industries to Fukushima prefecture.

A robot to assist in Fukushima reconstruction efforts

The Octopus robot was revealed at a conference for the Fukushima Disaster and Medical Welfare Project. Professor Masakatsu Fujie's robot was presented alongside other robots designed to deal with the issues presented by the Fukushima nuclear disaster and assist in reconstruction efforts.

Fukushima governor, Masao Uchibori, commented, "The revitalization of Fukushima's industries is essential and we are becoming a hub for innovation in robotics. Robotics are extremely important for Japanese industries and we must challenge ourselves to produce wonderful products and continue developing Minami-Soma." Katsunobu Sakurai, mayor of Minami-Soma, followed the governor and commented, "Before the disaster, Minami-Soma was a hub for robotics. Many employees left and spread themselves across Japan but an enthusiasm to rebuild Minami-Soma has reinvigorated our robotics initiatives. Kikuchi Corporation's enthusiasm has persisted despite the government's no-go zone designation and for that I would like to express my gratitude." The mayor continued by expressing his hopes for the robotics industry and his desire to revitalize Minami-Soma.

Beautiful Hadith is about Good Conduct

Nawwas bin Saman RA reported: I asked Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) about virtue and sin, and he said, "Virtue is noble behaviour, and sin is that which creates doubt and you do not like people to know about it." (Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Allah's Love

bu Hurairah RA reported: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "When Allah loves a slave, calls out Jibril and says: `I love so-and-so; so love him'. Then Jibril loves him. After that he (Jibril) announces to the inhabitants of heavens that Allah loves so-and-so; so love him; and the inhabitants of the heavens (the angels) also love him and then make people on earth love him". (Bukhari and Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Allah

Abu Hurairah RA reported: Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "Allah says: `I am just as My slave thinks of Me when he remembers Me.' By Allah! Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than one of you who unexpectedly finds in the desert his lost camel. `He who comes closer to Me one span, I come closer to him a cubit; and he who comes closer to Me a cubit, I come closer to him a fathom; and if he comes to Me walking, I come to him running." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Addressing long-standing mysteries behind anti-wear motor oil additive

Date:

March 13, 2015

Source:

University of Pennsylvania

The pistons in your car engine rub up against their cylinder walls thousands of times a minute; without lubrication in the form of motor oil, they and other parts of the engine would quickly wear away, causing engine failure. Motor oil contains chemical additives that extend how long engines can run without failure, but, despite decades of ubiquity, how such additives actually work to prevent this damage have remained a mystery.

Now, engineers from the University of Pennsylvania and ExxonMobil have teamed up to answer this question.

With a vested interest in the chemistry and performance of lubricants, scientists at ExxonMobil worked with scientists at Penn whose research focuses on nanoscale measurements of friction and lubrication. The team conducted research to probe nanoscale properties and mechanisms of lubricant films and ultimately uncovered the molecular mechanisms behind a common anti-wear additive.

The study was led by Robert Carpick, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Nitya Gosvami, a research project manager in his lab. Jason Bares and Filippo Mangolini, contributed to the study while members of Carpick's lab. They collaborated with two researchers at Corporate Strategic Research, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company: Dalia Yablon, currently with SurfaceChar LLC, and Andrew Konicek.

Their paper, "Mechanisms of Antiwear Tribofilm Growth Revealed In Situ by Single-Asperity Sliding Contacts," appears in the journal Science, published online ahead of print on March 12.

The anti-wear additive zinc dialkyldithiophosphate, or ZDDP, was essentially discovered by accident in the 1940s. Originally added to prevent rusting, engineers found it increased the anti-wear properties of motor oil by some then-unknown mechanism.

As analysis techniques improved, researchers discovered that ZDDP breaks down and turns into a "tribofilm," a thin, solid layer that adheres to the surfaces in contact and further protects them from wear. The exact process by which ZDDP makes this transformation, however, remained unclear.

"ZDDP has been used for more than 70 years," Gosvami said. "It's one of the most successful antiwear additives we have, but we still don't understand how it works. We do know that everything that happens during sliding is occurring on the first few atomic layers of the surfaces, so we have to use the knowledge we have from nanotechnology and apply it to understand what's going on there."

Researchers would like to find molecules to reduce or replace ZDDP altogether, because, although it reduces wear, it slightly increases friction in the engine. It can also generate byproducts in the exhaust that reduce the lifespan and efficiency of a car's pollutant-reducing catalytic converter. Additionally, ZDDP does not work as well on the lightweight engine materials eyed as potential replacements for steels.

"Our overall motivation is to make engines more efficient and sustainable," Carpick said. "Considering the massive use of vehicles, a small gain in efficiency has a big impact in saving energy and reducing carbon emissions annually."

The surfaces of a piston and cylinder in a car engine may look perfectly smooth to the naked eye, but, zoomed into the nanometer scale, they might look more like mountain ranges. Absent a buffering layer of a protective film, those peaks, known as asperities, would rub against each other and quickly wear down due to very high local stresses through direct steel-on-steel contacts. The resulting debris can further increase the friction between the surfaces and can cause severe abrasion, causing the system to catastrophically fail prematurely.

To see how the dynamics of this kind of sliding contributed to tribofilm growth, the researchers used the tip of an atomic force microscope to stand in for an individual point of roughness on those surfaces.

An atomic force microscope uses a nanoscale tip much like a record needle. Mounted on a flexible arm, or cantilever, the microscope measures the up-and-down movement of the arm as the tip is dragged over a surface, generating a topographical picture with nearly atomic resolution.

In their experiment, the researcher immersed the entire cantilever-tip apparatus in ZDDP-infused oil, simulating the environment surrounding a single asperity on a piston surface. They then slid the tip over an iron surface, which simulated the ferrous composition of engine parts and recorded what happened as the tribofilm formed.

"The surface of a real engine component will have millions of asperities," Gosvami said, "but, if we can understand what is happening to one of them, we can pinpoint the underlying physical mechanism and scale up that understanding. Limiting it to a single point allows us to control the parameters, like contact stress and geometry, and once we do our in situ sliding test, we can use the AFM to get an image of the area."

They found that films only began to form when the tip was slid at a certain pressure. This "stress activated" process meant that, the harder the tip squeezed and sheared the ZDDP-containing oil between the tip and sample, the faster the films grew.

The researchers also found an explanation to why these films grow to a certain thickness and then stop growing.

"It's essentially a 'cushion effect,'" Carpick said. "The film that grows is not as stiff as the steel. When you push on a stiff surface, you get a high stress due to the concentration of force. When you push on a less stiff surface, the force is spread out, so the stress is lower. The thicker the film, the more it acts as a cushion to reduce the stress that is needed to cause the chemical reactions needed to keep growing. It's self-limiting, or in other words, it has a way of cutting off its own growth."

The self-limiting nature of the films is beneficial, as they would otherwise quickly use up the small amount of ZDDP in the oil.

"The tribofilm knows when to stop itself from growing," said Mangolini. "That's one reason it's known as a 'smart material."

Such a discovery would not have been possible without the team's nanoscale approach. Without being able to control the stress and geometry of a single point of contact and observe the film growth at the same time, there would be no way to connect the pressure threshold with the point at which the film begins to form and when it stops growing.

"This is a fascinating example of what we call 'tribochemistry,'" Carpick said. "The combination of friction and mechanical pressure enhances the probability of chemical reactions by reducing the energy needed to break or form bonds. In this case, it helps break down the ZDDP molecules and also helps them react to form the tribofilm on the surface. And when the pressure drops, the film growth stops as needed."

The study provides a way forward for scientifically testing new anti-wear additives. Being able to pinpoint the level of stress at which they begin to break down and form tribofilms allows researchers to compare various properties in a more rigorous fashion.

"Nanotechnology's not just for doing cool science," Gosvami said. "You can bring your industrial products into the lab and we can do research on them in a big way. We can get a better understanding of them on the molecular scale."

"We think the methods we've developed here can be applied even further," Carpick said. "Ultimately we hope this will help us to rationally design even smarter engine oils; there's a lot of opportunity to improve fuel economy in vehicles, but the scientific understanding of how all the additives work is still in development. So the challenge now is to put this new knowledge to good use."

Beautiful Hadith is about Brevity in Preaching

Ammar bin Yasir RA reported: I heard Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) saying, "Prolonging Salat (prayer) and shortening the Khutbah (religious talk) indicate the religious knowledge of the person. Make your Salat long and your sermon short." (Muslim)

Coffee Dark Chocolate Roulade

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hours 

Ingredients:

Coffee Roulade

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup – 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1tbsp instant coffee

Coffee Syrup

• 1/4 cup water
• 25g brown sugar
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 1tsp Kahlua {optional}

Filling/Chocolate Ganache

• 120g dark couverture chocolate
• 100g single cream
• 1 tbsp Kahlua {optional}
• Icing sugar for sifting

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Line a jelly roll pan with baking parchment.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric beater, whisk the eggs and brown sugar until tripled in volume and light and mousse like, about 8 minutes.
3. Add the coffee and vanilla extract, and beat for another minute.
4. Sift the flour over the bowl, and gently fold in making sure you don’t release the beaten in air.
5. Turn batter into prepared tray, smoothen out and bake for approx 25 minutes until light golden and firm to touch. Keep an eye during the last 5 minutes.
6. Lay a kitchen towel flat on the counter and sift over with powdered sugar. Turn the baked cake onto it, and gently peel off the parchment. Sift over with icing sugar, cover with sheet of parchment and roll gently into a tight roll, using the kitchen towel to guide you. Leave to cool completely.
7. Coffee Syrup
8. Place all ingredients in a small pan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Cool and stir in the Kahlua if using. Reserve
9. Filling/Chocolate Ganache
10. Place the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Heat until the chocolate is 3/4 done in the microwave, one minute at a time, or over a double boiler. Whisk until smooth. Add the Kahlua if using, whisk again. Cool completely. Reserve 2 tbsp in a piping bag if you wish to decorate the outside.

Assemble

1. Gently unroll the cake, paint over with syrup, and then spread the chocolate ganache all over it. Roll back gently but firmly, wrap in cling wrap and allow to chill seam down for an hour or two {or overnight} to allow the flavours to develop.
2. Unwrap and place on serving platter. Pipe a design over the roll if desired, slice and serve.

Beautiful Hadith is about Fulfilling Covenants

Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Umar and Anas RA said: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "For every one who breaks his covenant, there will be a (huge) flag on the Day of Resurrection and it will be said: 'This flag proclaims a breach of covenant by so-and-so.'" (Bukhari and Muslim)

Beautiful Hadith is about Entering the Masjid

Abu Qatadah RA reported: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "When anyone of you enters the mosque, he should perform two Rak`ah (of voluntary prayer) before sitting." (Bukhari and Muslim)

How color images can influence consumers

Date:

March 10, 2015

Source:

Ohio State University

When it comes to buying things, our brains can't see the big, black-and-white forest for all the tiny, colorful trees.

That's the conclusion of a study at The Ohio State University, which found that people who were shown product images in color were more likely to focus on small product details -- even superfluous ones -- instead of practical concerns such as cost and functionality.

The findings, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, mesh well with notions of how vision evolved in the brain, and suggest that viewing objects in black and white helps our brains focus on what's most important.

"Color images help us notice details," said Xiaoyan Deng, an author of the study and assistant professor of marketing at Ohio State. "But black-and-white images let us see the 'big picture' without getting bogged down by those details."

The findings also suggest how marketers can strategically use color -- or its absence -- to change how we feel about a product.

"Marketers may take it for granted that color is always the best presentation format for advertising," Deng added. "This study shows that while color is desirable in most situations, it's not desirable in all situations."

If a product has broad features that set it apart from the competition, then black-and-white images will help customers cast aside minor details and focus on those key features, the researchers found. If a product's details are what set it apart, color images will make those details stand out.

In one part of the study, 94 college students were asked to imagine that they were traveling to a remote campsite where they could receive only one radio station. There, the campsite manager offered two radios for rent: a basic analog radio for $10 a day, or a fancy digital radio with many station preset buttons for $18 a day. Not only was the digital radio more expensive, but its preset buttons would be useless at the campsite.

Students who saw pictures of the radios in black and white tended to make the practical choice -- the analog radio. Only 25 percent chose the digital radio.

But among students who saw the radios in color, twice as many chose the digital radio. In that scenario, 50 percent of students were willing to pay a higher price for a radio with features that they could not use.

"Color drew their focus away from the most important features to the less important features, and their choice shifted to the more expensive radio," Deng said. "I think that's surprising -- that just by manipulating whether the product presentation is in color or black and white, we can affect people's choice."

Color also proved to be a distraction when study participants were asked to sort objects into groups. The researchers recruited people through Amazon Mechanical Turk, a service that provides online study participants.

The 287 participants were shown pictures of shoes and asked to sort them. Each grouping contained two types of shoes that differed greatly in form and function, such as open-toe high heels and rain boots. In that particular example, half of the high heels and the boots were a solid red color, and the other half were red with white polka dots.

When people viewed the shoes in black and white, they sorted the high heels into one group and the rain boots into another 97 percent of the time. But when they saw the shoes in color, that number dropped to 89 percent, with 11 percent sorting the solid-color high heels and boots into one group and the polka-dot heels and boots into another.

The polka dots were clearly visible in black and white, but they had more impact on participants' decision-making when they were seen in color.

Study co-author Kentaro Fujita, associate professor of psychology at Ohio State, has an idea why. It has to do with the origin of our visual systems, and how our brains process night vision.

Of the light-sensitive rod and cone structures in the retina, it's the cones that detect color and the rods that give us night vision, peripheral vision and motion detection. Rods outnumber cones in the eye 20 to 1, and at night, when the cones don't receive enough light to let us distinguish colors properly, we rely on the rods to see what's happening around us -- in black and white.

This would have been especially true for early humans, who didn't have sources of artificial light. At night, being able to tell the difference between objects by shape would have been key to survival.

"Our visual systems evolved to work in both optimal and suboptimal conditions," Fujita explained. "Optimal conditions might be during the day, when I want to distinguish a red apple from a not-so-red apple. The form of the object tells me it's an apple, but I can focus on the color because that's what's important to me. Suboptimal conditions might be at night, when I have to tell whether that object that's moving toward me is my friend or a hungry lion. Then the form of the object is critical."

He suspects that when our eyes see black-and-white images, our brains interpret them in ways similar to night vision: We focus on form and function, and tend to ignore details.

Deng pointed out another circumstance in which people "see" in black and white: when we imagine the distant future. Other studies have shown that people who are asked to think of an event from the near or distant future and then presented with a series of photographs tend to pick less colorful photos as most closely matching their vision.

"It's almost like seeing in black and white is a vehicle for time travel," she said. "When you need to visualize ambiguous, uncertain future events, you want to get away from all those details, to construct that future event in your mind in a meaningful way. Seeing in black and white allows you to construct that event."

Marketers can take advantage of our ability to time travel, too. Deng said that black-and-white images would probably work well in ads for products that will be used in the distant future, such as retirement plans, INVESTMENTS or insurance.

Co-authors on the paper included marketing doctoral student Hyojin Lee, who performed this research for her dissertation, and H. Rao Unnava, senior associate dean and W. Arthur Cullman Professor of Marketing in Ohio State's Fisher College of Business.

Beautiful Hadith is about Allah's Forgiveness

Anas RA said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) saying, "Allah, the Exalted, has said: 'O son of Adam! I shall go on forgiving you so long as you pray to Me and aspire for My forgiveness whatever may be your sins. O son of Adam! I do not care even if your sins should pile up to the sky and should you beg pardon of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam! If you come to Me with an earthful of sins and meet Me, not associating anything with Me in worship, I will certainly grant you as much pardon as will fill the earth.'" (Tirmidhi)

Beautiful Hadith is about Respect for Someone Praying

Abul-Juhaim Abdullah bin Al-Harith RA said: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, "If the person who passes in front of a praying person, realizes the enormity of the sinfulness of this act, it will have been better for him to wait forty than to pass in front of him." (Bukhari and Muslim) (The narrator was not sure whether the Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said forty days, months or years.)

Beautiful Hadith is about Falsehood

Ibn Umar RA reported: The Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) as saying: "The worst of lies is to pretend to have seen something which he has not seen." (Bukhari)

Beautiful Hadith is about a Dua

Abu Musa Al-Ashari RA reported: When the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam), feared mischief from a people, he would supplicate: "Allahumma inna naj'aluka fi nuhurihim, wa na'udhu bika min shururihim (O Allah! We ask You to face them, and seek Your Protection against their evil."(Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i)

Beautiful Hadith is about Patience during Loss

Abu Hurairah RA reported: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said: "Allah, the Exalted, says: 'I have no reward except Jannah for a believing slave of Mine who shows patience and anticipates My reward when I take away his favourite one from the inhabitants of the world.'" (Bukhari)

Beautiful Hadith is about Fever

Jabir RA reported: The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) visited Umm Sa'ib (or Umm Musaiyyab) and asked her, "What ails you O Umm Sa'ib (or Umm Musaiyyab)? You are shivering." She replied: "It is a fever, may Allah not bless it!" He said to her, "Do not revile fever, for it cleanses out the sins of the sons of Adam in the same way that a furnace removes the dirt of iron." (Muslim)