Of course, none of these achievements will count for much if the euro zone collapses, bringing about economic chaos and political turmoil.

WSJ: Nobel Prize for EU an Inspired Decision

The artist has since returned to Baghdad but can no longer count on selling paintings in the Green Zone.

FORBES: Smart Collecting

"Clearly the definitive abandonment of dependence on trees... has to count as one of the most radical shifts in adaptive zone ever made by any vertebrate since the very first tetrapod heaved itself out of water and on to terra firma, " he said.

BBC: Conflict and 'boom-bust' explain humans' rapid evolution