Young Billionaires or Billionares and still young

Whoever said youth was wasted on the young probably wasn't talking about the youngest members of our billionaires list.

Sure, a bunch of them were lucky enough to inherit their wealth. China's richest woman, Yang Huiyan, owes her $7.4 billion fortune to her generous father, Yeung Kwok Keung, the media-shy chief of real estate outfit Country Garden, who transferred all his shares to her in 2005, the same year she graduated from Ohio State University.

So too Hind Hariri, 24, the daughter of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri. A recent graduate of the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Hariri is a fashionista who frequents Paris shows and reportedly favors designer Chanel.

But many actually made their own fortunes. The Ukraine's youngest billionaire, Kostyantin Zhevago, was only 19 when he started out as a finance director at a bank. He later gained a majority stake in its holding company. Today the 34-year-old is worth $3.4 billion and is a deputy in Ukraine's parliament.

Then there is the Chinese billionaire nicknamed Light: Xiaofeng Peng, 33, who got into solar energy in 2005 and took his company, LDK Solar (nyse: LDK - news - people ), which makes silicon wafers used in solar panels, public on NYSE Euronext (nyse: NYX - news - people ) two years later.

American John Arnold whizzed through Vanderbilt University in three years. He became an oil trader for Enron, supposedly earning the company $750 million in 2001. After the business collapsed, he started his own hedge fund, Centaurus Energy. He has done well enough to debut on Forbes' World's Billionaires list with a net worth of $1.5 billion.

The richest and most celebrated of this overachieving lot are Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The pair, who are both sons of professors, met at Stanford University while pursuing Ph.D.'s in computer science and dropped out together when they were just 25 to start Google. They debuted as billionaires at ages 30 and 31. Today they are worth $18.7 billion and $18.6 billion apiece.

Still, one hopes all these hardworking billionaires take the time to enjoy their fortunes while they are young. After all, how many people in this world are lucky enough to become so fabulously wealthy before crow's feet and cellulite settle in? Larry Page seemed to take that to heart when he asked British billionaire Richard Branson, an old geezer at 57, to let him borrow Branson's private Necker Island for his wedding festivities last year; the 600-person guest list was said to include Bono and the Clintons. Earlier last year, Brin got hitched on a sandbar in the Bahamas; rumor has it that the bachelor party involved kite surfing on the coast of Greenland.

The young billionaire brat pack could learn a thing or two from dashing 24-year-old German Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis, who is truly living a near fairy-tale existence. A billionaire since he inherited a fortune at age 18, he lives in a castle, owns 75,000 acres of woodland and spends his spare time driving race cars. Not a bad life at any age, but particularly enviable for someone who hasn't even lived a quarter of a century.

10 Ways To Boost Employee Morale

Greenbacks are nice, of course, but barring those, Nelson discovered that most employees crave communication, involvement and autonomy. While a hearty pat on the back always feels good, extra attention and sense of ownership feel even better.

"Every employee should be given the chance to determine how best to do their jobs, as well as increased authority and leeway in the handling of company resources," says Nelson.

Arbill, a Philadelphia-based workplace-safety consultancy, takes that observation to heart. The company boosts morale by giving the troops more responsibility. "We created employee committees to do things like set up a health fair, a food co-op and other [projects]," says chief executive Julie Copeland.

But the extra work doesn't just make people feel good. "Watching how employees manage these committees helps us create a great bench of leaders for the company," says Copeland.

Taking an interest in your employees also means investing in their future. That's why training and development opportunities are energizing perks. Check out the local community colleges and university-extension departments for affordable classes, and foot part or all of the tuition for eager employees.

Company picnics? Chuck them. Employees don't care--in fact, they find them a burden. Better to grant the flexibility for personal time to handle family obligations. Four-day work weeks are becoming popular (though they come with their own complications). If possible, consider letting people work from home one day a week--with gas at $4 a gallon, that savings will feel a like a holiday bonus.

In a very small company, rewarding just one employee can make a huge difference. Take it from Sari Gabay-Rafiy and Anne Marie Bowler, two lawyers who left a large firm to start their own Manhattan practice two years ago.

When Myrna Greenfield, their 60-something, part-time legal assistant, was feeling a bit blue, the partners decided a makeover was in order. So, they booked an appointment at the Sparkle Beauty Studio, a trendy salon on Charles Street in Manhattan’s West Village.

Myrna left with a chic razor haircut and a smile on her face. After the salon visit, they continued their “girls’ day out” with cocktails and dinner. "We can’t give our staff thousands of dollars in bonus checks, but we can do little things for them," said Gabay-Rafiy.

Kathy Taggares, chief executive of K.T.’s Kitchens, a Carson, Calif.-based maker of frozen pizza and salad dressing, needed a cost-effective way to thank her overworked staff for winning a multi million-dollar grocery account. The previous year's glitzy, five-figure Los Angeles harbor cruise with open bar was too expensive to repeat, so she booked a nearby go-kart track for a Friday afternoon.

"We mixed up people from production, quality control and maintenance," she says. The drivers ranged from 20-something women to a 74 year-old manager; non-drivers got into the act as cheering "pit-crews." The afternoon ended with a feast of Mexican food and gooey cake served in the party room at the track. Price tag for the 35-person celebration: about $2,000.

"It was a great team-builder, because people from different departments are often at odds with each other," says Taggares, who handed out trophies to winning drivers. "You would have thought people were winning Oscars. Everybody was just thrilled."

Jane Applegate is a Forbes.com columnist and author of 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business

How To Boost Employee Morale On A Budget Jane Applegate

"Money can’t buy happiness" is not a cliche when it comes to boosting morale around the office. In these uneasy times, when many entrepreneurs are pinching every penny, knowing how to reward employees without spending a lot is crucial.

"You can do things for employees that don’t cost anything, but are worth a million dollars,” says Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, now in its fifty-second printing. Better yet, "small businesses can do [these things] because they aren't constrained by a 500-page policy manual."

Stop fretting about not being able to shower your employees with cash, says Nelson, who runs a consulting company based in San Diego. For his doctoral dissertation, Nelson conducted a landmark survey of 2,400 employees in 34 companies.

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'The Burning Plain' Photocall 2

Charlize Theron at the Venice Film Festival photocall of 'The Burning Plain', Palazzo del Casino, Venice, Italy. (Photo by Flynet Pictures)

65th Venice Film Festival:

Actress Hao Lei attend the Cry Me A River photocall held at the Piazzale del Casino during the 65th Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2008 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Europe)

65th Venice Film Festival: The Burning Plain - Photocall

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65th Venice Film Festival:Puccini e La Fanciulla - Premiere

65th Venice Film Festival: Around Venice - Day 3

Sneaky Sound System Play Sydney

65th Venice Film Festival: Vitral E A Santa Morta - Premiere

'The Burning Plain' Photocall

Victoria Beckham Launches New Fragrance At Harvey Nichols

Charlize Theron Arriving For The 'The Burning Plain' Photocall

65th Venice Film Festival: Inju,La Bete Dans L'Ombre - Photocall

65th Venice Film Festival: Cry Me A River - Premiere

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Brutality of parents leaves disabled kids in lock for 40 years in palestine

London, Aug 28 (ANI): A Palestinian couple locked their disabled kids in two urine-stained rooms for forty years because they were afraid the children would ruin the marriage prospects of a healthy child, police has revealed.

The case has highlighted the shame felt by families who have children with disabilities in Palestinian society “made worse because of poor services and the practice of first-cousin marriages in Arab communities.”

“This is sad, shameful and awful,” The Scotsman quoted Imad Abumohr, a disabled rights activist, as saying.

Few people in the rural town of Beit Awwa knew of Basam Musalmeh, 38, and his sister Nawal, 42 were kept in two crumbling concrete rooms that stank of sweat and urine behind their family’’s house.

Police found them during a raid on Tuesday night, while searching for Hamas loyalists and criminals in the village.

Palestinian police commander Samih Saify said that during the search police heard unusual noises and went to investigate. He said they found Basam Musalemeh naked, while Nawal wore a flimsy nightdress.

Their father was arrested, although it was not clear if he was detained for keeping his children locked up or because of his suspected loyalty to militant group Hamas. (ANI)

Can natural sugars help create stem cell therapies?

London, July 23 (IANS) Scientists are examining whether the body’s natural sugars can be utilised for creating stem cell treatments for heart disease and to repair nerve damage.

All cells that make up tissues, like skin, liver, brain and blood, are surrounded of a layer of sugars. These sugars help them know their types and to respond to other cells which surround them and the chemical messages that pass in between.

Catherine Merry, of the School of Materials, who is leading the study, said: “At present, the way in which cells make these sugars is not well understood. From the little we do know, we believe isolated fragments of these sugars could be used to instruct cells to behave in particular ways.

“We also think we might be able to force cells to make one particular type of sugar and not another, thereby influencing the way in which that cell grows and interacts with other cells.

“We also believe our research might suggest how sugars can be used to help embryonic stem cells grow in the lab - or how they can be instructed to become cell types which could be of use in human therapies to treat problems with nerve, heart muscle or blood cells.

“Although the prospect of creating cells from embryonic stem cells for use in humans is still a considerable time away, research such as ours helps move towards this goal.”

Mind it this does not mean that people start consuming excess sugar , afterall excess of anything is bad.

Scientists move a step closer to creating blood

Washington, August 29 (ANI): Johns Hopkins researchers say that they have identified the earliest form of human blood stem cells, and discerned how they replicate and grow.

The researchers say that these stem cells are pinpointed by a biochemical marker called angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which is well known for its role in the regulation of blood pressure, blood vessel growth, and inflammation.

They believe that their findings can revolutionise treatments for heart diseases, anemias, leukemia and other blood cancers, and autoimmune diseases because ACE plays a fundamental role in the very early growth and development of human blood cells.

“We figured out how to get the ”mother” of all blood stem cells with the right culture conditions,” says Dr. Elias Zambidis of the Institute of Cell Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Division of Pediatric Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

“There is real hope that in the future we can grow billions of blood cells at will to treat blood-related disorders, and just as critically if not more so, we”ve got ACE as a ”new” old marker to guide our work,” he adds.

He has revealed that the research team discovered the role of ACE unexpectedly.

“But were very pleasantly surprised to discover it as a beacon for finding the earliest blood stem cells known, as well as new ways to find and manipulate this marker to make them grow,” he says.

Reported in the online edition of the journal Blood, the new findings explain that the earliest stem cells marked by ACE, called hemangioblasts, first arise normally in the developing human foetus, when a woman is three or four weeks pregnant.

The researchers found not only that ACE was a marker for hemangioblasts, but also that turning off the enzyme also helped guide the cells” replication and maturation into either blood or endothelial cells.

When they treated the hemangioblasts with losartan, an ACE pathway blocking agent routinely used to treat high blood pressure, the rate of blood cell production dramatically increased.

Zambidis says that the next step will be to test this research in animal models and show that “we can make lots and lots of blood cells from human stem cells for transfusions, regenerate new vascular trees for heart diseases, as well as create test tube factories for making transplantable blood cells that treat diseases.

“We are very far from treatment, but this is a big step,” he adds.

If the new technique of mass producing progenitor blood cells is eventually proven to work in humans, it would allow patients getting bone marrow transplants to have their own stem cells creating the blood they need, significantly reducing rejection risk. (ANI)