There have been online courses in the US and UK for a number of years - but there has been a recent surge of interest as self-study courses have been put online by some of the world's most famous institutions.

BBC: Online university to charge tuition fees

Meanwhile, advertisers have released their own study arguing that self-regulation, as opposed to government-imposed restraints, are sufficient to combat dubious food and health claims in advertising.

FORBES: Chewing The Fat On Obesity

Some grow up in safe, nurturing environments, and although they react swiftly to challenges, they have more self-control and calm down quickly, the study says.

WSJ: Are You Hard-Wired to Boil Over From Stress?

For example, the students could have taken the photos for archival purposes or for further self-study.

FORBES: Judge Says It's Reasonable For Any Photo Taken To Go Viral. A Dangerous Precedent?

The Stanford study suggests that men have less need to self-monitor and use both masculine and feminine approaches.

FORBES: Can 'Feminine' Women Make It To The Top?

The work not only gives evidence of the potential of self-organisation in metamaterial creation, but could also have implications for the study of new types of optical devices.

ENGADGET: Alt-week 2.2.13: SpaceLiners, building a brain and the man made multiverse

The study of self-control is being increasingly studied by social psychologists, as they have found it to be as important to achievement as intelligence and grit.

FORBES: Lessons From Obama's Victory And Romney's Loss That You Can Apply To Your Cause

While a recent York University study concluded that both male and female heavy users of Facebook are narcissistic and have low self-esteem, one has to wonder if Facebook also fuels these qualities.

FORBES