With nationalism and authoritarianism sweeping the globe, 2017 saw protests and marches break out from India to Kenya to the United States.

The massive political gatherings that have taken place across the world this year featured incredible scenes of human resilience and perseverance, and reporters have been there to cover every one.

Here are 17 of the most inspiring photos from protests this year:

SEE ALSO: JOHN LEGEND: Why the NFL protests are patriotic

DON'T MISS: Incredible photos inside International Women's Day marches, rallies, and protests around the world

January 21: The day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who once bragged about being able to grab women "by the p---y" on tape, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC for the massive Women's March. Many more participated in sister marches in cities around the world.

Source: Business Insider

February 22: The protest camp on the Standing Rock Reservation burns down as protesters are evacuated after Trump's administration reversed a decision by former President Barack Obama on to shut down the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Source: Business Insider

March 8: A Muslim woman got arrested at the "Day Without a Woman" protest in New York City, which was organized as a followup to January's Women's March.

Source: Business Insider

2017 was undoubtedly a wild year. 

President Donald Trump was inaugurated, which has led to a seemingly never ending string of debates and controversies: the crowd size at his inauguration, the travel ban, his war of words with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, and so on. 

But there were many other events not necessarily related to Trump that unfolded as well: the Rohingya genocide, multiple mass shootings and terror attacks, hurricanes, the Mayweather/McGregor fight, and more. 

As 2017 comes to a close, we rounded up 50 of the most incredible photos from the year. 

Check them out below. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 most incredible photos of the US military in 2017

DON'T MISS: These are the most incredible photos of the US Navy in 2017

President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago, Illinois, on January 10.

Watch Obama's speech here. 

Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, as he is extradited to New York on January 19.

Read more about Chapo's extradition here. 

Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the US at the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 20.

Read more about the controversy over the crowd size here. 

• Mall traffic across the country has declined by as much as 50% in recent years.
• We visited Seattle's Northgate Mall, which is considered the first modern shopping mall in America.
• Northgate is competing with online retail and adding amenities like couches and virtual reality experiences.

The holiday shopping season was a big win for retailers.

But it wasn't because Americans headed out to the mall in droves. Online sales were up 18.1% this year, driving much of the growth in consumer spending.

Visits to the mall, meanwhile, have declined by as much as 50% in recent years, according to an estimate from real estate research firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Like all malls today, America's first modern shopping mall, Northgate Mall, faces tremendous headwinds as American consumers shift their spending patterns. Northgate opened in 1950 in the outer neighborhoods of Seattle, Washington, and has so far survived for nearly 70 years as a hub of commerce.

Simon Property Group, Northgate's owner, has added amenities like couches, phone charging stations, virtual reality experiences, and massage chairs to draw shoppers to the mall — and keep them there.

We visited recently to see how one mall is trying to buck the "retail apocalypse."

SEE ALSO: America's first shopping mall is making drastic changes to avoid the 'retail apocalypse' — but it may have made a costly mistake

Designed by architect John Graham Jr., Northgate Mall pioneered the dumbbell, big-box shape for malls, in which two rows of stores face each other and a department store anchors each end.

Source: Seattle PI

For nearly 70 years, the mall has been a hub of commerce for the area. But as American consumers' desires have changed, and amidst the boom in online retail, Northgate has begun to reinvent itself.

Northgate underwent significant remodeling in 2006, when the space was renovated to add new anchor stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond and Barnes & Noble.

• Diane Kruger talked about her career-defining performance in "In the Fade," which could earn her an Oscar nomination.
• The actress prepared for the role for six months leading up to filming.
• She made the movie during the "darkest time" in her life as her stepfather had recently died.

German actress Diane Kruger has built an impressive career, but after working steadily for 16 years, her new movie is getting her recognition she never thought she'd ever receive.

"In the Fade" (now playing in theaters) from the German filmmaker Fatih Akin, offers Kruger the chance to prove she can carry a movie — and she does just that. Kruger gives a tour-de-force performance playing Katja Sekerci, whose life collapses when her husband and son are victims of a terrorist bombing. Amid taking illegal drugs to numb the pain, Katja learns that two suspects, who turn out to be neo-Nazis, are going to trial for the bombing. That's when things get even more intense for Katja.

When Business Insider sat down with Kruger at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, she didn't hold back when talking about the pain she dealt with to pull off this gut-wrenching performance, which won her the best actress prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival and garnered instant Oscar buzz.

Jason Guerrasio: How did you connect with Fatih Akin? Did you know him?

Diane Kruger: No, I was just a fan. He's a big director in Germany — I grew up with his films. So when I became an actress and I left Germany 25 years ago, I always waited for this part to come out of Germany. I mean, I don't have an agent there, so I never get any offers from there. Five years ago, I was a jury member at Cannes, and he had a documentary playing there, so I went to his party to meet him. I told him I loved his work and if he ever wanted to make a movie with me, that would be amazing. So years later, he remembered and called me.

Guerrasio: Did he talk to you over the phone about the part, or did he ask if he could send the script over?

Kruger: He kind of told me what it was about, and then he said he didn't want to send me the script — he wanted to come and meet me. So he came to Paris to meet me. And I was really nervous because I didn't think, upon meeting me, that he would think that I'm right for this part. This isn't typically the part I get offered. [Laughs.] And just judging from his voice over the phone, I don't think he was 100% sure I could do it either. So he came to my house, and I wore no makeup, and I really tried to dress down and be as raw as possible, and we just had this amazing talk. And I told him I was really, really scared of this part. I told him I wasn't sure I could do it.

Guerrasio: But at the same time, was this a role you had been wishing for? Something to show your range?

Kruger: I just knew something felt right. I was really scared. Fatih told me I couldn't take another role until we shot this because he wanted me to prep for it. I mean, he is known for casting unknowns in his movies, so I think he got a lot of backlash at first for casting me. But I jumped off that cliff with him. It was a lonely time prepping for the movie. I didn't do anything else. I was living in Germany, meeting with victims of families that weren't necessarily suffering from terrorist attacks but murder and other brutal things, and I just allowed myself to be overcome by the grief that I felt.

Guerrasio: And this is the first German-produced movie you've ever starred in?

Kruger: That's right.

Guerrasio: That's surprising. Was that because you got into modeling so early in your life?

Kruger: I left when I was 16, and I wasn't an actress then.

Guerrasio: So was there a feeling with this movie that you wanted to be a part of something to show your talents to your home country?

Kruger: Yes and no. I wanted to do a German film that felt really German but also had an international presence. And Fatih, who is German but of Turkish descent, he himself has an international flavor. And this movie has such a universal feel. The focus is neo-Nazis, but it could have been jihadis, just some crazy person, whatever.

Guerrasio: I think Americans will certainly relate to this movie. The grieving mother is universal.

Kruger: Exactly.

Guerrasio: What did you want to get out of meeting victims? Did you take notes? Did you just want to interact with them?

Kruger: I guess the one thing I will never forget is that energy. More than individual stories, there was this energy that mothers especially having lost children had that I wasn't quite prepared to really take on. It was a wall of blackness. And that's regardless of how long ago it happened or how much or how little they talked to me about it — that energy was there. And it got more intense as time went on and the more people I met.

Guerrasio: How long were you talking to victims?

Kruger: I started six months before shooting started.

Guerrasio: Wow. Did it get to a point where you felt you had enough and just wanted to get started with shooting?

Kruger: Yeah. There definitely came a point where I was like, I can't take it anymore. And, unfortunately, when we started to film, my stepdad passed away. So honestly, it was probably the darkest time in my life, having to play that much grief and then coming home and feeling that on a personal level. It's a personal film because of that. We also shot in order, so you can imagine the first three weeks were just awful. There were scenes when I didn't even feel like I was acting. There were moments when I felt this movie is going to break me. I couldn't work for six months afterwards. I can still feel it.

Guerrasio: So you haven't been able to kick this character yet?

Kruger: I still dream about it. I feel like a little bit is always going to be with me. What I take away most of it is this connection with people talking about loss. The empathy I felt — and maybe because we live in a time where these stories have become so common, but I'm reminded of how many Katjas every week are being created. I sometimes just sit in front of the TV, and I just sob uncontrollably.

Guerrasio: Has doing a role like this changed the parts you want to take on going forward in your career?

Kruger: To be honest, the two films I'm working on right now I signed on before "In the Fade" came out, and I haven't taken anything since. I'm sort of debating what I want to do next.

Guerrasio: Is it hard to promote this film, seeing as you have to continue talking about the process of creating this character, which obviously wasn't pleasant?

Kruger: No, I want to. I think it's a very important film in my life. I feel it's my baby. I've never been invested in anything like this. I think it's an inspiring movie. In Cannes, which was the first time I saw it with an audience, I was so taken aback by the reaction. There must be pictures of me just looking shocked. It's weird because, in the past, people have come up to me and said they love my work, like for "Inglourious Basterds," but I feel this is my first big starring role.

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NOW WATCH: Here are the most important differences between the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X

When I tell people that I spent four days with Tony Robbins, they always ask a version of the same question: "What is he really like?"

This can be asked with skepticism: "I remember his infomercials. He's just a con artist selling motivational speeches to desperate people, right?" Or they can be asked with reverence: "His lessons changed my life. Is he as inspirational in person? What did he teach you?"

Following is a transcript of the video.

Graham Flanagan: Why Rich, specifically? Why'd you invite him?

Tony Robbins: He's my bud!

Rich Feloni: I'm Rich Feloni, senior reporter at Business Insider. Tony Robbins is a, what he likes to call, performance coach. He's coached people like Serena Williams, Marc Benioff at Salesforce, and Paul Tudor Jones, who's a billionaire investor. Over the last few years, I've had several opportunities to interview him. His team reached out to me and said Tony's going to be at his resort in Fiji. He was going to be hosting the winners of Shopify's "Build a Bigger Business" competition. So, we decided that yeah, this would be a great opportunity to see what Tony's actually like. 

We headed out from JFK in New York City to LAX. Then, from LAX we took Fiji Airways to the main airport in Fiji — it's called Nadi. As we're waiting to get on this little island-hopper, we notice that, on the runway, is Tony's private jet and it has a big "TR" logo on it. 

I'm gonna admit that I was pretty scared. I haven't really been in a plane that small before. This is the only time I've ever actually checked for the life vest under a seat. 

As we were going into the Savusavu airport, well — it's called an airport. There was a tiny little shack that was the airport, but it was basically a cow pasture. From there, off to Namale. Namale is Tony Robbins' resort. This was one of his first major investments, so he was able to get it kind of cheap, and then over the last 30 years, he's just really built it up into a beautiful resort that's basically in the middle of the jungle by a bunch of coral reef. 

One of our first stops was Tony's house.

Robbins: Well, nice to see you on the other side of the world! How are you?

Feloni: Good to see you, Tony!

Robbins: Great! Good to see you, too!

Feloni: Yeah! 

Robbins: Come on in!

Feloni: He basically has this decked-out hut in, like, the secluded part of his resort.

Robbins: You ready for my morning routine?

Feloni: Yes! Perfect!

So, Tony has this really elaborate morning routine. I thought he was going to kind of give us a demo or something, but he said, "Why would I give you a demo when I could just guide you through the whole thing yourself?"

So, we started off with "priming," which is kind of like his take on meditation and yoga. 

Robbins: Begin to think of a moment in your life you could feel really grateful for if you wanted to. Enjoy it. Feel it. Fill up with it. 

Feloni: Yeah, I'll admit it was pretty weird, but I just gave in totally and was like, "You know what? We came all the way to Fiji. I'm just gonna go all in." 

So, after his priming exercise, Tony took us inside and I was surprised to see his personal trainer Billy, this incredibly energetic guy who's always laughing. He made this little cocktail that was called like, an adrenal cocktail or something. I didn't really know what it was, but I just decided to drink it.

Robbins: How was that?

Feloni: Tastes pretty good. 

And that fueled me for the rest of the day and everything that was to come. So, next, it's time to check out what Billy and Tony called "The Electric Taco." 

Billy Beck III: We're gonna work as a team. You tell me when you feel it, even if it doesn't hurt. Just tell me when you first feel it, and we'll gradually go up. 

Feloni: So, right now it feels like I'm getting like, punched in the chest on both sides. 

Tony was saying that this was something that he does essentially every morning and it basically stimulates your muscles to the point where it feels like you're getting a deep tissue massage. I immediately felt all of the tightness in my back first get really, really intense and then loosen up. 

After the Electric Taco, we went to Tony's personal gym. It was filled with these weird contraptions that looked kind of like something out of "Saw" or a medieval torture chamber. 

Robbins: If you want, we'll put you on the little torture machine. Full tilt. All the way. Push. As hard as you can. 

Feloni: The most medieval-looking of all these things is called the "Four Minute Machine." 

Robbins: Push! Push! Push! Push! Push!

Feloni: Around two minutes in, I really didn't think that I could do it. 

Robbins: Everything you got! This is it!

Feloni: Tony was screaming at me and I just felt like I couldn't embarrass myself there. So, just driven by ego, I had to finish it. 

Robbins: Isn't that wild? 

Feloni: Yeah. 

I felt as if I had spent like an hour in the gym. Tony took us to the next thing that he does every morning, which is: spend some time in the sauna and then a cold plunge. To be honest, it felt great. Basically, it's part of the workout, because your heart rate is accelerated the whole time. 

Robbins: You'll find your body really relaxing because you've taken it to such extremes. You'll drop down to a different level. Like, if you went and meditated now, you're gonna meditate deep. 

Feloni: So, the week went by. We got some great opportunities to see Tony in action coaching entrepreneurs. We realized that we needed some extra footage that we didn't get to kind of just wrap everything up before we headed back home. 

Robbins: How you guys doing? 

Feloni: We were really only expecting five or ten minutes. He starts giving us a tour, and after just a few minutes, he points out something and says ...

Robbins: Did you go up to the waterfall? 

Feloni: Have we gone to the waterfall?

Flanagan: No, we didn't make it to the waterfall. 

Robbins: Okay, we should run you up to the waterfall. Will you call them and ask if they've got – my car is broken down, I think. I don't know if I can fit in this car. 

Feloni: So, a five minute trip for extra footage ended up being an adventure that lasted over an hour. 

Robbins: I love this. 

Feloni: At the top of the mountain was a waterfall. I really wasn't expecting him to just dive into the water, throw his shirt off, and then scream like Tarzan! I dove into the water after Tony. It was a pretty surreal experience. 

What I got from this last adventure was that Tony is a guy who, if you give him five minutes and you're able to get in front of him, if he's able to make a connection with someone, he's really going to engage fully. In Fiji, you could tell that he's, like, completely relaxed. This is his home turf, and I could see that he still kind of had a kid's approach to the whole thing. 

Robbins: Are we on time? Am I late?

Feloni: They had to catch a flight to Australia. A group of people who worked at Namale had formed a semicircle to sing a traditional Fiji farewell song. 

Robbins: Time to say goodbye again. I'm so sorry, but I look forward to coming back home to see all the family again. It's been a beautiful, beautiful trip. 

Feloni: When you're in Tony's presence, you kind of get sucked into this — he's got a very magnetic personality. Totally, he's not for everyone. There are plenty of people who wouldn't be into this stuff. Whether it's through his work or his philanthropy, I'm convinced that Tony is someone who is a genuine guy. Yes, he's able to make a ton of money because he has, like, very clearly-defined business goals, but everything that he's preaching and teaching people, he genuinely believes himself, so after this trip, I'm convinced that anything in his material that he's teaching – this is something that he fully believes. He's fully invested in. And I think that that makes a big difference, whether you're in or whether you're out.

Join the conversation about this story »

• The most common problem couples face in bed is mismatched sex drives.
• That's according to Rachel Sussman, a marriage counselor in New York City.
• Sussman said it's best to find someone whose sex drive more or less matches yours, but if the difference has evolved over time, there are some potential solutions.

If you're coming to see Rachel Sussman about a problem with your sex life, she can guess pretty quickly what it is.

Sussman is a relationship expert and marriage counselor in New York City; she's counseled couples who are unsure how to pursue an open relationship and couples who aren't having sex at all.

But the most common issue she sees in this area, Sussman told me, is couples with mismatched sex drives.

Typically, she said, one person wants to have sex more often than the other, who's either happy with the amount of sex they're having or wants even less. (Though Sussman said the men she sees in her practice typically have higher sex drives, she's also seen many heterosexual couples in which the man has the lower sex drive.)

It's not so hard to understand how this happens. "All human beings are separate and different," Sussman said, "so it's very normal that a couple has different sex drives."

But Sussman's interested to know whether the couple always had different sex drives. So she'll ask the couple about their early days of dating. Was there a mismatch early on or did it happen over time? If it turns out the differences have emerged more recently, she'll try to uncover the root cause(s).

Sussman's clients are hardly the only people to place a high value on sexual compatibility: A 2015 study on relationship deal-breakers, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, found that a third of men and women say they'd consider ending a committed relationship because their partner had a low sex drive.

One potential solution is to engage in other kinds of affectionate touch

As is the case with most relationship problems, there are no easy solutions here.

Sussman usually takes a two-pronged approach. She'll work with the person whose sex drive is lower to see if there's anything they can do to increase it. She'll also work with the person whose sex drive is higher to be patient with their partner and to manage their expectations around sex.

Sometimes "the person with the higher sex drive takes on a predator-like role and that's not healthy," Sussman said.

She might even give the couple "exercises": For example, they have to try snuggling and the partner with the higher sex drive has to resist the urge to initiate sex.

Similarly, in a blog post for Psychology Today, Michele Weiner-Davis, the director of the The Divorce Busting Center, recommends that the partner with the higher sex drive "touch affectionately without thinking sex is imminent." The point here is "to break out of old unproductive patterns," i.e. seeing hugging or kissing as a means to an end.

In another blog post for Psychology Today, clinical psychologist Seth Meyers tells couples to "broaden your range of activities that the two of you consider sexual," including light touching and massage.

Ultimately, a couple with different sex drives isn't doomed to break up.

Still, Sussman said that if you're single or dating, you should prioritize finding someone who has a similar sex drive. "The more a couple has something in common," she said, "the greater likelihood that the relationship is going to be a healthy one. Having two people with a high sex drive is something in common. You have something in common: You both really love sex."

SEE ALSO: A relationship therapist breaks down the 5 most common problems couples have in bed

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to keep the passion alive in your relationship, according to a relationship scientist

As the year comes to a close it’s time to look through all the online noise of 2017 (and there was a whole lot) and figure out the movies that got people talking the most.

Through data collected on over 600,000 sites across mobile, video, web, and social media, marketing company Amobee has come up with these titles as the top 10.

Many were box-office hits, including a lot of superhero movies — but one was also the new "Baywatch."

These are the movies we all talked, argued, and obsessed about online:

SEE ALSO: 11 most memorable movie moments of 2017

10. “Get Out”

9. “Thor: Ragnarok”

8. “Beauty and the Beast”

• Working for Facebook, Google, Microsoft can be a dream job. 
• But not for the internet's "content moderators" tasked with reviewing questionable material to determine if such things are safe (kids splashing in a bathtub) or not (child abuse).
• Not only is the job itself harsh, but the pay is low and may offer little job security. 

2017 has been a year when the ugly side of the tech industry has been on full display. And there is nothing uglier than some of the depraved and illegal videos, photos, and hate speech that people post online.

Content moderators are employed by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and just about every other company that hosts online content shared by users.

But, as you might imagine, the job of evaluating hate speech, violence, pornography, child abuse, bestiality and other such material is a horrible job, several former content moderators told The Wall Street Journal's Lauren Weber and Deepa Seetharaman. The WSJ even labeled this the "worst job" in tech.

And, it turns out, it's also a low-paying job. While Facebook, Google and Microsoft are known as some of the best companies to work for, content moderators are often not employees but contractors hired by an employment agency.

Pay rates range from $13 to $28 an hour in the Bay Area, the WSJ reports, and a search of employment ads on Glassdoor confirms this range. 

One job ad even warns, "Reported content can be graphic so you must be comfortable viewing graphic content."

Many people don't make it past their first day on the job and most make it a few months to a year, the WSJ reports. For those that last, contract positions means little job security. When the contract is up, the job may end.

Several companies, including Facebook and Microsoft tell the WSJ that content moderators are provided with, and required to use, psychological counseling. Even so, two content moderators filed a lawsuit against Microsoft a year ago alleging that the job left them with symptoms of PTSD. One of them alleged in the suit that he even had difficulty being around his own son at times because it would trigger memories of violent images against children. The suit is set to go to trail later this year, the WSJ reports.

Ironically, for all the talk of how software bots are replacing human workers, this would be an ideal job for a software robot to do instead of humans. And machine learning for content moderation is being heavily used by the tech giants, including Facebook.

But such tools are still not smart enough to work without human oversight. That became apparent after a series of violent videos were shared on Facebook earlier this year, including a murder in Cleveland and a number of suicides. And that means this job isn't going away for humans just yet. In May, CEO Mark Zuckerberg even vowed to hire 3,000 more people to help Facebook moderate content worldwide. That was on top of the 4,500 people he already had.

Read the full report on content moderators over at The Wall Street Journal.

SEE ALSO: These married tech billionaires donated $165 million to preserve a pristine stretch of California's coastline

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NOW WATCH: Scott Galloway says Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google should be broken up

A restored Manhattan townhouse less than one block from Central Park is for sale for $79.5 million.

The Upper East Side mansion boasts 14,700 square feet of living space, equal parts whimsy and luxury, and includes a rooftop terrace and basement level gym and spa.

Owner Keith Rubenstein, a New York City real-estate developer, originally listed the property in early 2016 for $84.5 million after years of extensive renovation. Douglas Elliman now holds the listing.

Keep scrolling for a look inside the amenity-filled home:

SEE ALSO: A 'prominent Upper East Side couple' in NYC is offering 2 people a $150,000 salary to cook, clean, and run errands for them

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Originally built in 1903, the home was fully restored and updated by real-estate developer Keith Rubenstein and his wife Inga. The mansion is over the top, inside and out. According to the listing, the annual property tax bill is over $240,000.

The home boasts six bedrooms and nine bathrooms spread out over 14,700 square feet. All six levels are connected by elevator, including the 2,500 square-foot rooftop deck.

As you move throughout the home, the grandeur doesn't fade. Both formal and informal living rooms complete with 17-foot high ceilings and chandeliers offer plenty of space for entertaining and lounging.

Want an all-natural way to lift your mood, improve your memory, and protect your brain against age-related cognitive decline?

Get moving.

A wealth of recentresearch, including new guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology published in December, suggests that any type of exercise that raises your heart rate and gets you moving and sweating for a sustained period of time — known as aerobic exercise — has a significant, overwhelmingly beneficial impact on the brain.

"Aerobic exercise is the key for your head, just as it is for your heart," write the authors of an article in the Harvard Medical School blog "Mind and Mood."

While some benefits can emerge just a few minutes into a sweaty workout, others might take several weeks to crop up. That means that the best type of fitness for your mind is any aerobic exercise that you can do regularly and consistently for at least 45 minutes at a time.

The latest guidelines are based on a series of 6-month studies that suggest aerobic workouts could help improve memory in people with a form of early-stage Alzheimer's known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Based on those studies, the academy updated its guidelines to recommend that people diagnosed with MCI do some form of cardio exercise twice each week.

Exercise may help keep the brain young

As we age, the brain — like any other organ — begins to work less efficiently, so normal signs of decline begin to surface. Our memory might not be quite as sharp as it once was, for example.

Exercising regularly as we get older appears to help defend against some of this decline, both for healthy people who show normal signs of aging and for older people who may be on the path towards developing Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers still aren't sure why this is, or how it happens. Exercise could strengthen some of the pathways our brain uses to relay signals for recent events or boost the size of certain brain regions that are key for learning and storing memories.

Regardless of the specific mechanism at play in our bodies, the most recent recommendations suggest that working out twice a week may be beneficial in curbing some symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a stage some older people who go on to develop Alzheimer's disease enter beforehand. This typically involves more serious problems with memory, language, thinking, and judgment than those that might be displayed by a healthy older person.

A study published in May looked at adults with MCI between the ages of 60-88, and had participants walk for 30 minutes four days a week for 12 weeks. The results showed strengthened connectivity in a region of the brain where weakened connections have been linked with memory loss. That development, the researchers noted, "may possibly increase cognitive reserve," but more studies are needed.

A study of older women with MCI found that aerobic exercise was tied to an increase in the size of the hippocampus, a brain area involved in learning and memory.

Working out could boost your mood, too

In addition to protecting the brain from aging, cardio workouts "have a unique capacity to exhilarate and relax, to provide stimulation and calm, to counter depression and dissipate stress," according to an article in the Harvard Medical School blog "Mind and Mood."

The reason aerobic workouts lift our spirits seems related to their ability to reduce levels of natural stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, according to a study in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science. Activities like running and swimming also increase overall blood flow and provide our minds fresh energy and oxygen — another factor that could help us feel better.

Aerobic exercise may also have a uniquely powerful positive impact on people with depression. A pilot study in people with severe depression found that just 30 minutes of treadmill walking for 10 consecutive days was "sufficient to produce a clinically relevant and statistically significant reduction in depression."

So whether you're looking for benefits related to mood or memory, the take-home message is clear: the more you move, the healthier you may be.

"It's exciting that exercise may help improve memory at this stage, as it's something most people can do and of course it has overall health benefits," Ronald C. Petersen a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the lead author on the most recent guidelines, said in a statement.

SEE ALSO: Here are the ages your brain peaks at everything throughout life

DON'T MISS: Meditation has a powerful and surprising effect on your body and brain

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NOW WATCH: Scientists have a new way to measure health by determining your 'fitness age' — here's how you can calculate it

President Donald Trump did a lot of tweeting in 2017.

On many days, Trump's tweeting provided the headline material for his roller-coaster first year as president.

He attacked everyone from former President Barack Obama to actress Meryl Streep. He tweeted about the Russia investigation, "fake news," 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, his travel ban, television hosts, and often what was airing on the "Fox & Friends" morning show in real time.

In total, Trump smashed the "tweet" button more than 2,500 times in 2017. And he is showing no signs of slowing down.

Here are the 60 most outlandish, eye-popping, and bombastic Trump tweets of 2017:

SEE ALSO: Obama-era ethics chief defends tweet urging people to stock up and 'take the streets' if Trump fires Mueller

DON'T MISS: 9 things Trump did since becoming president that the internet went nuts for

When he chastised "so-called 'Russian hacking'"

When he hit back at Hollywood legend Meryl Streep for calling him out in an acceptance speech

When he asked if we are "living in Nazi Germany?"

• Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in New York City will serve its last meal on December 31.
• The restaurant has become a cult favorite despite its food being poorly reviewed. 
• We visited when it opened in 2012 — here's what it was like.

"Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" host Guy Fieri has become one of the biggest food personalities out there, but on December 31, one major part of his empire will be no more. 

According to Eater NY, Guy's American Kitchen & Bar, located in New York City's Times Square, will close on New Year's Eve. 

The food itself has not been well-received over the years. In an infamous zero-star review from 2012, The New York Times' Pete Wells effectively destroyed the restaurant, comparing its Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders to "chewy air" and its watermelon margarita to "some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde."

As Fieri's first and only restaurant in New York, the place is totally decked out in everything Guy — everything on the menu is Guy-branded, the decor represents everything that Guy likes, and there's a gift shop with Guy merchandise.

And at 16,000 square feet and with 500 seats, the place is absolutely huge. It's located in what was once The New York Times Building, where the newspaper was headquartered for nearly a century.

We visited the restaurant shortly after it opened in 2012. Here's what it was like:

Kim Bhasin contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article. 

SEE ALSO: We ate dozens of meals at restaurant chains in 2017 — here are the 9 absolute best things to try right now

Here we are at the three-floor complex in the former New York Times Building. It's located right next to Bowlmor Lanes and Discovery Times Square.

And there's Guy on a screen near the entrance, promoting his Food Network show.

Inside is the gift shop, packed with all sorts of Guy memorabilia.

Being more productive is about working smarter, not harder, and making the most of each day.

While this is no easy feat, getting more done in less time is a much more attainable goal if you're not sabotaging yourself with bad habits.

Below are 18 things you should stop doing right now to become more productive.

SEE ALSO: 10 tricks extremely busy people use to stay productive

DON'T MISS: 11 experts share their favorite tips so you can make 2018 your most productive year yet

Hitting the snooze button

It might feel as though pressing the snooze button in the morning gives you a little bit of extra rest to start your day, but the truth is that it does more harm than good.

That's because when you wake up, your endocrine system begins to release alertness hormones to get you ready for the day. By going back to sleep, you're slowing down this process. Plus, nine minutes doesn't give your body time to get the restorative, deep sleep it needs.

Prioritizing work over sleep

This isn't to say you should cut back on sleep.

As Arianna Huffington discusses in her sleep manifesto, "The Sleep Revolution," a good night's sleep has the power to increase productivity and happiness, lead to smarter decision-making, and unlock bigger ideas.

As Huffington explained to Business Insider, a McKinsey study showed a direct correlation between getting less sleep and workplace inefficiency. The prefrontal cortex, where the problem-solving functions of the brain are housed, is degraded if we don't get enough sleep. Working 24/7, "we now know, is the cognitive equivalent of coming to work drunk," she said.

The trick to getting enough sleep is planning ahead and powering down at a reasonable time.

Keeping your phone next to your bed

Another key to getting better sleep is not letting outside influencers impair your sleep.

The LED screens of our smartphones, tablets, and laptops, for example, give off what is called blue light, which studies have shown can damage vision and suppress production of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep cycle.

Research also suggests that people with lower melatonin levels are more prone to be depressed.

Just after Christmas 2017, Alexa Dell got engaged to Harrison Refua.

Dell, 24, is a daughter of Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, who, with a net worth of nearly $24 billion, is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Her fiance, Refua, is a millionaire real-estate investor. He presented Dell with a 12-carat diamond that could be worth up to $3 million.

Read on to learn more about Alexa Dell's glamorous life.

SEE ALSO: The fabulous life of billionaire Michael Dell, who just completed a $67 billion mega-deal to cement his empire

This is Alexa Dell, 24 years old.

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Source: Instagram

Dell's parents are Michael (pictured below) and Susan. Michael is the CEO of Dell Technologies and is worth nearly $24 billion, according to Forbes.

Source: Forbes

The Dells have four children together: Zachary, Juliette, Alexa, and Kira.

Source: Forbes

• Fender Play is a new online learning tool from the legendary American guitar company.
• I spent a month using it to improve my skills.
• It's a great program of instruction, but it might not be for everybody. 
• It is very affordable, however.

The guitar isn't an easy instrument to play, and unfortunately for a lot of aspiring axewomen and axemen, there aren't lots of shortcuts. 

Adding to the challenge is a sea of online instructional videos, ranging from excellent to awful, as well as many accomplished guitarists posting their efforts, which can be intimidating. Topping it all off is, of course, many decades of serious shredding recorded on vinyl, CDs, pumped through good old-fashioned radio, committed to film, and now streamed. 

It can be hard to know where to begin, and so a familiar pattern emerges: a person of any age, but usually a kid, gets a guitar, commences the struggle — and gives up. The world is full of abandoned acoustics and electrics that were acquired with high hopes, but whose owners ran smack into failure.

The guitar industry is concerned about this. The bottom line is that if a guitar-maker can get a person to stick with it, they become a lifelong customer, graduating from $200 beginner instruments to equipment that can run into the thousands. 

Enter Fender Play

Fender is one of America's two most famous manufacturers of electric guitars and amplifiers (Gibson is the other), and the company recently launched an online teaching resource, Fender Play, that's seeking to reinvent musical instruction for the 21st century. I recently spent a few months using it, and I think it's a good way to learn guitar using the internet. But it's not a complete substitute for real-world lessons, and it can't replace the basics, such as regular practice.

Some background: I started playing music when I was about ten and was in school bands until my sophomore year of high school. I quit playing altogether in my twenties and only picked up the guitar a few years back because my daughter was learning to play.

As it turned out, I really enjoyed it, and like many aspiring players, I decided I might take some lessons after I worked up a basic competency. Over time, this took the form of watching videos on YouTube. I quickly recognized why most people take up guitar, and it wasn't anything like what I'd experienced when I learned to play music back in the 1970s. 

In those days, a simple set of skills was almost immediately thrown into a band setting, and performance followed. But now what people want, in a nutshell, is to learn their favorite songs. Some aspiring musicians certainly want to master a lot of technique and understand what they're doing theoretically. But more want to essentially cover songs they like.

A new generation of learners

And as Fender learned when developing Fender Play, a lot of people have zero interest in bands or performance. They just want to do their thing and do it at home. Obviously, Fender's goal is to have them use Fender gear — Telecasters, Stratocasters, Mustang and Twin Reverb amps — to do it. (Fender is also taking on Gibson and Martin more aggressively in acoustic guitars.)

To create a worthwhile e-learning program that students would be willing to pay for, Fender had to differentiate its offering from everything else out there. The everything else could be a guy in his basement fumbling through Led Zeppelin riffs with a laptop camera — or a trained musician in possession of excellent video-production abilities who can handle anything from classical guitar to AC/DC. 

Both have disadvantages. Basement guy isn't likely to be a very good instructor, while the pro could overteach and quickly blow past a student's patience. So Fender consulted with online-learning experts to develop a systematic program that mimics what you'd get from a live instructor, sands off all the rough edges of the YouTube world, and centers the education on getting results by learning songs.

On balance, this approach wasn't what I personally was looking for. I wasn't much interested in learning a lot of songs; instead, I wanted to write my own songs and be able to use the guitar to work out the structure, melodies, and so on. I also wanted to pick up some jamming skills to get back into playing in groups.

Nonetheless, I found Fender Play to be quite useful, because of how disciplined and well-organized it was. 

Fender Play is good, but it might not be for everybody

It costs $20 a month to join, but Fender offers a 30-day free trial — and through December 31, special "holiday pricing" of $9.99. You effectively have three roads you can follow, and you can jump around, although a lot of beginners might want to work gradually through the program. Fender Play is set up to enable them to track their progress.

Initially, you're invited to set up a path, based on musical genre and with some implications about your instrument. Rock, for example, stresses more electric guitar. Folk, more acoustic. You can then move through levels, learning basics, riffs, songs, and related skills as you move along.

I deviated from the levels approach quite often and moved around, largely because I wanted to review the program, but also because I had already established a lot of basic skills. For skills I didn't have or wanted to explore, quick lessons are provided.

Interestingly, by taking some of them, I found that the skill wasn't for me. Arpeggiating chords for example, when you "break up" a chord into the individual notes that make it up. A great skill to have, but one that I discovered I didn't want to use.

A human guitar teacher might have spent a few lessons working on arpeggiation with me, but with Fender Play, I could move on in a matter of minutes.

Video instruction

The lessons are conducted as high-quality videos, using a rotating cast teachers, some of whom had online followings before they signed up with Fender. Yes, they are using Fender gear. But that was going to be a given, and there are worse things to do than gaze upon Fender's iconic instruments.

The instruction is the opposite of exhausting, and that's by design. Online learning gets frustrating if it's too in-depth, so Fender Play emphasizes compact sessions, even going so far as to break down lessons in terms of time. A big plus to this is that a key to getting better as a guitar player — or musician of any sort — is to practice regularly. But you don't have to practice for hours. A half an hour a day is terrific. Even ten minutes is worth it.

No program of instruction will be perfect, and Fender Play isn't going to work for everyone. But I think it will work for a lot of people. And for those who don't like it, there are many free options on the web, and you can always hire a real, live teacher!

The upshot is that a month of Fender Play made me better. I couldn't get everything out of it. But I got a lot. 

SEE ALSO: Fender created a clever new product to tackle its biggest business challenge

Join the conversation about this story »

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On Thursday afternoon, the Mega Millions jackpot reached $306 million. The Powerball jackpot hit $384 million.

While buying a ticket may seem tempting, the numbers suggest that it almost certainly isn't worth it.

But even if it does pan out, winning the lottery will not solve all of life's problems.

In fact, many people's lives became notably worse after they hit the jackpot, as you can see from the following cautionary tales.

SEE ALSO: We did the math to see if it's worth it to buy a ticket for the Powerball jackpot

Lara and Roger Griffiths bought their dream home … and then life fell apart.

Before they won a $2.76 million lottery jackpot in 2005, Lara and Roger Griffiths, of England, hardly ever argued.

Then they won and bought a million-dollar barn-converted house and a Porsche, not to mention luxurious trips to Dubai, Monaco, and New York City.

Their fortune ended in 2010 when a freak fire gutted their house, which was underinsured, forcing them to shell out for repairs and seven months of temporary accommodations.

Shortly after, Roger drove away in the Porsche after Lara confronted him over emails suggesting that he was interested in another woman. That ended their 14-year marriage.

Bud Post lost $16.2 million within a nightmarish year — his own brother put out a hit on him.

William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988, but he was $1 million in debt within a year.

"I wish it never happened," Post said. "It was totally a nightmare."

A former girlfriend successfully sued him for a third of his winnings, and his brother was arrested for hiring a hit man to kill him in the hopes he'd inherit a share of the winnings.

After sinking money into family businesses, Post sank into debt and spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector.

"I was much happier when I was broke," he said, according to The Washington Post.

Bud lived quietly on $450 a month and food stamps until his death in 2006.

Martyn and Kay Tott won a $5 million jackpot, but lost the ticket.

Martyn Tott, 33, and his 24-year-old wife, from the UK, missed out on a $5 million lottery fortune after losing their ticket.

A seven-week investigation by Camelot Group, the company that runs the UK's national lottery, convinced officials their claim to the winning ticket was legitimate. But since there is a 30-day time limit on reporting lost tickets, the company was not required to pay up, and the jackpot became the largest unclaimed amount since the lottery began in 1994.

"Thinking you're going to have all that money is really liberating. Having it taken away has the opposite effect," Kay Tott told The Daily Mail. "It drains the life from you and puts a terrible strain on your marriage. It was the cruelest torture imaginable."

Forget about the Upper East Side of New York or Atherton, California, as bastions for the ultra-rich.

The tiny waterfront city of Medina, Washington, is where several of the world's wealthiest people live.

Located just outside of Seattle, Medina is home to the world's top two richest people— Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

But they are far from the only moneyed residents. The town's inhabitants include a number of other Microsoft bigwigs, tech entrepreneurs, and telecom magnates. 

We visited to see why the sleepy town has become a haven for the 1%.

SEE ALSO: The world's richest people are flocking to these 17 cities

DON'T MISS: Meet the kids of the world's richest tech billionaires

Medina is located on a peninsula, just across Lake Washington from Seattle, and has long been a haven for tech bigwigs in the area.

Visitors enter the town from the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. At 7,708 feet long, it is the longest floating bridge in the world.

Source: The Seattle Times

Medina is a city of about 3,000 people. The Medina Beach Park doubles as the City Hall and police station.

50-year-old multimillionaire entrepreneur Gianluca Vacchi is not your average Instagram star — he's certainly done things his own way.

Having retired from a career in business, the silver-haired, tattooed Italian took social media by a storm last year when a video he posted of himself dancing on holiday with his partner at the time went viral.

He has since gained a huge Instagram following — over 11 million — with whom he shares his outrageously lavish lifestyle aboard private jets, yachts, and fast cars, all the while dressed in brightly-coloured suits and designer shoes.

His ostentatious #gvlifestyle certainly divides opinion — to some he's an aspiration, to others a show off. But one thing's for sure — a scroll through his Insta feed is hugely entertaining.

Business Insider spoke to Vacchi after he'd just touched down in Italy to wish his mother a Merry Christmas.

Despite his penchant for the finer things in life, he's surprising philosophical about the world of so-called "influencers," and doesn't appear to take himself too seriously. He also told us that he now has his sights set on acting.

Scroll down for a sneak peek inside the extravagant world of Gianluca Vacchi.

SEE ALSO: How this 37-year-old went from Nottingham pub landlord to millionaire nightclub owner and property magnate living a life of luxury in Dubai

This is 50-year-old Gianluca Vacchi, the multimillionaire entrepreneur known to most people because of the lavish lifestyle he shares with his 11 million-strong Instagram following.

Business Insider caught up with Vacchi just after he'd just touched down in Italy to wish his mother a Merry Christmas before he jetted back to Miami to spend Christmas Day and New Year's Eve in the sunshine.

Vacchi shot to social media fame about a year and a half ago when he shared this video of himself dancing to Ricky Martin with his partner at the time Italian model Giorgia Gabriele while on holiday. It went viral.

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The couple posted a series of videos in which they performed synchronised dances during the summer of 2016. They were viewed millions of times.

Vacchi told Business Insider his life so far can be be divided "very clearly" into two parts: the first one being his life "under the working point of view" which lasted until he was 45.

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Vacchi said he went into the "family businesses" at the age of 25 after finishing his studies in economics. Along with his cousin, he took on some of his family's companies which were in need of deep restructuring and then once he'd turned them around, listed them on the stock exchange.

At 29, he said he decided to become a shareholder instead, and went into private equity, buying and selling companies in different sectors. And at one point had his fingers in pies across 12 or 13 different sectors.

As the dust from Christmas settles, we all start to realise that our health may have taken a blow during the festivities.

With the new year come resolutions and, inevitably, fitness resolutions.

Business Insider has compiled a list of the best fitness Instagram accounts to follow in 2018 that will motivate you to keep on track in the year ahead.

The list contains everybody from yogis to weightlifters to mixed martial artists. It also contains fitness accounts with everything from 1,000 followers to 97 million.

Scroll on to discover the 50 best fitness Instagram accounts to follow in 2018 that will help you keep on track to achieve your fitness aspirations in the year ahead.

SEE ALSO: 10 ways to kickstart your 2018 fitness goals right now

Sjana Elise Earp

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Instagram handle:@sjanaelise

Followers: 1.3 million

Sjana Elise Earp promotes the benefits of yoga — both for the body and the mind — to her 1.3 million-strong Instagram following. Follow for jaw-droppingly gorgeous shots of her practising yoga and surfing at some of Australia's most beautiful beaches.

Eddie Hall

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Instagram handle:@eddiehallwsm

Followers: 526,000

World's Strongest Man and six-times UK's strongest man Eddie Hall lists weights so heavy that even the bar can barely handle it. Next time you're struggling to handle the next weight up, channel your inner Eddie Hall.

Amanda Bisk

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Instagram handle:@amandabisk

Followers: 685,000

When this former Australian pole vaulter isn't in the gym, she's posting gorgeous shots of her striking poses all over Perth — often accompanied by her dogs.

Every year, over a million people pack into New York City's Times Square to revel in the new year.

2017 marks the 110th anniversary of the ball drop — the tradition of watching a glowing sphere that slides down a pole until midnight.

Let's take a look at how the celebration has evolved over the past century.

SEE ALSO: 19 of the most beautiful public spaces in the world, according to urban designers

Since the tradition began in 1904, New York's New Year's Eve celebration has been one of the world's largest. The first celebration had about 200,000 attendees.

In the early years, crowds gathered at Wall Street's Trinity Church to listen to church bells at midnight before the Times Square festivity became more popular.

New York had its first ball drop in 1907 after the city banned fireworks. The 700-pound ball had 100 bulbs, was made of iron and wood, and appeared every year until 1920.

Source: The New Yorker

Over the next few decades, the number of spectators swelled. This was the crowd on December 31, 1941.