Nashville, Tennessee ( CNN) - - When Ryan Wallace got a diagnosis of at age 2, his parents never thought they' d hear him speak. & quot; He used to make noises.

When he wanted something he would just point, & quot; says Ryan' s father, Gerald David Wallace. & quot; Or he would scream. & quot; Therapists say that' s not unusual for someone with Ryan' s condition.

According to doctors, many children with autism have difficulty understanding information from the outside world. & quot; The brain' s ability to process information comes in from the eyes, ears and other senses during infancy, & quot; says Dr.

Mark Wallace, an expert on sensory processing who directs the Vanderbilt Brain Institute who is not related to Ryan. & quot; If that [ ability] is compromised during the early developmental period, you will never be able to really gain full function in these systems. & quot; Because these children lack the ability to understand this auditory information, it can prevent them from developing any form of language and therefore their ability to communicate.

Some stages of autism make it hard for children to comprehend sounds, words, expressions and even inflections. & quot; That' s the thing that parents often notice first in their children [ who have autism] . They can' t talk, & quot; says Dr. Stephen Camarata, a professor of hearing and speech science at Vanderbilt' s Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences. & quot; But the hidden side of this is that they also have a lot of difficulty understanding, comprehending, auditory comprehension, listening. And so when a child' s autism is experiencing somebody talking to them, it' s a lot like somebody' s talking to them in a foreign language, & quot; he says.

That can be frustrating for their parents, because at a time when most little ones should be learning to speak, their children can' t form words. Many of these parents seek out programs that claim they can help children with autism speak. Doctors warn that can be risky. & quot; Families who have a child with autism face daunting challenges, says Camarata. & quot; Because of this, they are often going to leave no stone unturned in their searches for solution. Unfortunately, there are a lot of fringe treatments out there, they aren' t effective and haven' t been scientifically validated. & quot; In the case of Ryan Wallace, now 7, his parents knew at an early age that something was wrong and they needed to intervene. & quot; He was a healthy baby boy, but then things started to change, & quot; says Amy Wallace, Ryan' s mom. & quot; It was around 18 or 20 months we noticed, he was really happy and then he wasn' t& quot; according to his dad. & quot; You could see it in his pictures, as he goes from infant into toddlerhood the smile kind of fades away.

And then he wouldn' t look at you. He would just stare into space.

And we had no clue what was going on. & quot; Ryan wouldn' t talk. He' d grunt or if he became emotionally upset, he' d have what his parents called & quot; meltdowns& quot; and would start screeching. His parents didn' t know what to do or how to handle him. Fortunately, when doctors told them Ryan had autism, they immediately got him into speech and occupational therapy. & quot; We looked everywhere to find him help, & quot; says Amy Wallace. & quot; We finally got him into the Susan Gray School, which is for special- needs kids at Vanderbilt. & quot; While at Susan Gray, Ryan' s therapists and parents decided to enroll him in a new research project that was scientifically evaluating programs designed to help kids with autism learn to speak, including sensory integration therapy. Sensory integration is an occupational therapy designed to improve communication skills by placing a child in a room specifically designed to challenge all his or her senses.

In the study, Ryan is shown pictures on a computer screen and asked to name and identify the items. The procedure is repeated over and over. He also is given a story that includes all the words he has seen on the computer and at the same time works with a therapist. & quot; So, children learn how to comprehend through interacting with toys, interacting with pictures, and then an adult or another person is talking to them and giving them information about what they' re seeing and experiencing, & quot; explains Camarata. & quot; It' s very repetitive so that the child has lots of opportunities to learn the meaning of each of these things they' re interacting with. & quot; The study is twofold. Once Ryan has gone through his therapy, he' s fitted with special headgear that records his brain language sensors while he watches a video that incorporates the words he' s just learned. By getting a picture of the brain, it gives doctors an insight into how the autistic brain works. & quot; The idea is that when you learn a new word you see it and then somebody tells you the name of it and then you link these things in your long- term memory, & quot; says Camarata. & quot; People with autism have a very hard time doing that. & quot; Sensory integration therapy advocates say the widely used program' s constant stimulation helps children with autism learn to speak.

But sensory integration therapy is controversial because there' s very little scientific data on its effectiveness. That' s why, Camarata says, it' s important researchers investigate sensory integration therapy and other therapies to see whether they are effective. & quot; When these parents are seeking answers, & quot; Camarata says, & quot; we as researchers can come to them with answers that have been tested and validated scientifically. & quot; Since Ryan has been working with sensory integration therapy, his parents say, his progress has been remarkable. & quot; He' s initiating more. He talks and engages in conversations. He isn' t afraid and comes up to people and says, ' Hi! ' & quot; Amy Wallace says with a smile.

Ryan' s father, Gerald, agrees. & quot; That' s huge for us. And he says, ' Love you, ' and now he says, ' I love you. ' You can' t ask for more. & quot; The project, which was funded through a two- year, $ 670, 000 federal stimulus grant, is still enrolling children. Sensory integration therapy is just one of many therapies that Camarata, Wallace and their staff hope to investigate in order to prove their worth.

Camarata wants to provide scientifically proven help to families touched by autism. & quot; I see so many therapies and programs out there that don' t work, and they prey on the desperate needs of families. That' s wrong, & quot; he says. & quot; We are finally starting to get to the point where we can test different interventions and see what works and what doesn' t work. If it helps these children, than we need to let parents know. If the therapy doesn' t help, than it needs to be exposed for what it is. & quot;

( CNN) - - A top adviser to Tim Pawlenty' s presidential campaign apologized late Wednesday for making a reference to Michele Bachmann' s & quot; sex appeal& quot; during an interview. Vin Weber apologized for the remarks originally made in an interview with The Hill newspaper regarding Bachmann. & quot; She' s got hometown appeal, she' s got ideological appeal, & quot; he said. & quot; And, I hate to say it, but she' s got a little sex appeal too. & quot; Weber, a former co- chairman of Pawlenty' s political action committee, issued the apology in a statement distributed by the Pawlenty campaign. & quot; I made a mistake that was disrespectful to my friend Congresswoman Bachmann, & quot; he said. & quot; I' ve been a Bachmann supporter in her Congressional bids and I apologize. I was not speaking on behalf of Governor Pawlenty' s campaign but nevertheless, it was inappropriate and I' m sorry. & quot; Bachmann, 55, formally announced her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination last week.

( CNN) - - Interstellar radio has lost one of its most avid listeners. A collection of sophisticated radio telescopes in California that scan the heavens for extraterrestrial signals has suspended operations because of lack of funding, a spokeswoman said Monday. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute operates the Allen Telescope Array, the field of dish- like scopes some 300 miles north of San Francisco. The telescopes are a joint effort of SETI and University of California- Berkeley' s Radio Astronomy Lab and have been funded largely by Microsoft co- founder Paul Allen, who donated more than $ 25 million to the project. A state budget crisis and reduced federal dollars have choked the project of funding, said Karen Randall, SETI' s director of special projects.

SETI put the Allen Telescope Array on hold a week ago - - a situation publicly revealed by Franck Marchis, a principal investigator for SETI who doesn' t work on the affected project, on his .

SETI CEO Tom Pierson sent an April 22 letter to donors saying the telescope array had been put into & quot; hibernation, & quot; Randall said. Pierson' s letter stated in part, & quot; Starting this week, the equipment is unavailable for normal observations and is being maintained in a safe state by a significantly reduced staff. & quot; The Allen Telescope Array will resume operations by 2013, when SETI' s new round of funding goes into effect, Randall said. The funding will cover the project until 2018, she said.

In the meantime, SETI is searching for quick cash. & quot; Obviously, we want to be prepared for these kinds of things, & quot; Randall said of financial obstacles. & quot; We are working on some other angles that have bubbled up that will basically not be so vulnerable to budget cycles. & quot; SETI since last month has been soliciting to fund the Allen project. The organization says it needs to raise $ 5 million. Randall said she hasn' t talked with Allen about contributing additional funds. The Allen radio telescopes aren' t the only ones that SETI can use to listen to the universe. SETI also analyzes data gathered by radio telescopes in West Virginia, Puerto Rico and Australia, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, although SETI researchers must compete for time on those instruments.

The SETI Institute is based in Mountain View, in California' s Silicon Valley. According to its website it employs over 150 scientists, educators and support staff, and gets most of its funding from private donations and non- governmental grants. Research at the institute is anchored by two centers: The Center for SETI Research, which seeks evidence of extraterrestrial life by looking for some signature of its technology; and the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, which examines the origin, evolution and distribution of life forms on Earth and beyond.

It was not immediately clear how the budget crunch at SETI would affect its other astrobiology programs. The idea for constructing the Allen Telescope Array was conceived in 1997. Four years later, Allen agreed to fund the venture and construction of the initial 42 antennas, located in Northern California' s rural Cascade Mountains. SETI has said it plans to eventually grow the number of dishes to 350.

The array' s 20- foot- wide telescopes, spread across several acres, don' t send messages into space but scan the cosmos for signals of extraterrestrial origin. Unlike previously existing radio telescopes, which scan the sky for limited periods, the Allen Telescope Array probed the universe round the clock. Each of the 42 dishes is aimed at a different area of the sky, collecting reams of data that are being studied by computers for unusual patterns. SETI also is known for its most visible staffer, , current director of the Center for SETI Research and the real- life inspiration for Jodie Foster' s character in the 1997 movie & quot; Contact. & quot; & quot; At SETI, our current mission isn' t to broadcast, but rather to listen to the universe and see what else might be out there, & quot; . & quot; If signals are detected, everyone on the planet should have a voice in deciding how to respond. & quot; The cutbacks at SETI and UC- Berkeley come at a challenging time for space exploration. NASA is ending its space shuttle program, and the agency faces & quot; tough fiscal times, tough choices& quot; for its 2012 budget, Administrator Charles Bolden said recently.

California' s fiscal woes have also reduced the amount of money available to the Berkeley lab, Randall said. The lab will lay off four people due to a lack of operating revenue, leaving two support staff, said Robert Sanders, a spokesman for the school. The group begun shrinking in 2009 when Berkeley laid off several staff, he said. CNN. com' s Brandon Griggs contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON ( CNN) - - Growing up, Heather Davis wasn' t the kind of kid people would have called fat or even chubby.

Like many children, Heather studied hard, did her homework and played sports after school. During elementary school, she remembers being thin - - but things started to change as she approached adolescence. & quot; My bad eating habits began during my ' latchkey kid' years, & quot; says Davis. & quot; In high school and middle school, I played sports, but with a diet of Doritos and soda for lunch . . . large family dinners . . . I became overweight. & quot; During her senior year in high school, Davis, who is 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighed 200 pounds. & quot; We had a meat- and- potatoes family. We had dessert every night and I was a member of the ' clean your plate club, ' remembers Davis. & quot; It caught up with me. & quot; By the time she was 22 and attending graduate school, Davis' weight had ballooned to 250 pounds. Davis says her weight gain was caused by major life transitions - - triggered by emotional eating, a junk- food diet and lack of exercise.

Davis dreaded shopping for clothes and said she found it hard to find stylish, age- appropriate clothing for her bigger body. She says it was a struggle to look neat and put together as most of her shirts & quot; hugged every roll. & quot; Looser- fitting clothing, she says, made her feel as if she were wearing a tent. The additional weight also began to take a physical toll. Everyday tasks such as walking up stairs or in the shopping mall started to become difficult. Davis says she was constantly hot and any physical exertion would cause her to sweat, even in below- freezing temperatures.

Life became a constant struggle. & quot; I would get hot a lot because of the extra weight I was carrying. Picture yourself with a 100- pound backpack on, & quot; says Davis. & quot; That was what it was like climbing the escalator. My knees hurt.

My back [ and] shoulders hurt a lot. & quot; Davis, who lives in Washington, says she had tried everything to lose weight, such as low- carb and low- fat diets and even starvation. But one day, something clicked. & quot; I was on the campus shuttle and saw the Gold' s Gym, & quot; Davis says, & quot; And, I said ' I can go down into the Metro and go home and eat my Ben & amp; Jerry' s [ ice cream] . Or, I can go over there and really do this. Just do this! ' & quot; Davis remembered her grandmother - - with whom she' d been extremely close - - who had died from heart failure brought on by years of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise. & quot; She will never get to see my wedding, children or experience other joys in her life, & quot; Davis says. Davis says there wasn' t any defining experience or & quot; lightbulb& quot; moment that forced her to make a change.

It was the realization that after years of failed diets and the physical toll of obesity, she' d had enough. During her first visit to the gym, Davis says she could barely handle 15 minutes on the treadmill. But she stayed on track by reminding herself that weight loss was going to be hard work and there was no easy way out.

She did cardio exercise for two weeks and began modifying her diet by cutting out starches, ice cream and pizza. Within the first two weeks, she had lost 8 pounds. She was motivated by the positive results and gradually increased her cardio, incorporated weight training and continued to change her diet. Davis remained determined, and over the next 12 months, with the support of her family and regular check- ins with a gym trainer, she lost 110 pounds.

She went from wearing a plus- size 22 to wearing a size 4 or 6. The weight loss and healthier lifestyle boosted the 31- year- old' s self- confidence and gave her access to a richer, fuller life. & quot; My days of treating my body badly are over, & quot; says Davis. & quot; I focus on things I enjoy such as European travel, language classes and beach vacations. & quot; Staying healthy for Davis means eating in moderation and incorporating fun forms of exercise into her daily life.

She no longer owns a vehicle and enjoys long walks in downtown Washington.

She' s also set another goal for herself - - a second graduate degree - - which she hopes will allow her to help others. & quot; I' m working on my master' s in public health because all of this health awareness has made me want to help other people, & quot; Davis says. & quot; Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions and I will take pleasure using both experience and scientific knowledge toward planning and evaluating programs designed to help people incorporate healthy behaviors into their lives. & quot; Davis is training to run a half- marathon and is running up to 6 miles. She says even though she' s lost 110 pounds, she' s still the same person - - outgoing, and more importantly - - happy. She' s also become an inspiration for people who desperately want to lose weight. & quot; If I can do it, anybody can do it, & quot; says Davis. i.

Report. com: Have you lost weight? Send your story, photos and video Matt Sloane contributed to this report.

( CNN Student News) - - The following profiles feature prominent women in the fields of politics, law, sports, science and business. Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( 1921- 2006) is best known as a philosopher of modern- day feminism.

In 1957, she began to send questionnaires to other women and noted that they were dissatisfied with their lives.

Friedan organized this information into a bestselling book, The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963. The book detailed the frustration of women who were expected to rely on their husbands and children for their happiness. In 1966, Friedan became one of the founders of the National Organization for Women ( NOW) , which was dedicated to achieving equal opportunities for women.

She also co- founded the National Women' s Political Caucus, saying it was organized & quot; to make policy, not coffee. & quot; Sally Ride Sally Ride ( 1951 - ) was the first American woman to orbit the Earth, though at first she considered a career in professional tennis. She was selected for a NASA astronaut training program while working on her doctorate in astrophysics at Stanford University. Ride became the first American woman in space on June 18, 1983, as a member of the shuttle Challenger crew.

Later, she said of that six- day mission, & quot; The thing that I' ll remember most about the flight is that it was fun. In fact, I' m sure it was the most fun I' ll ever have in my life. & quot; In the years that followed, Ride became the only person to serve on commissions investigating both the Challenger and the Columbia shuttle tragedies. Today, Sally Ride works on programs that promote science and math, especially for girls, and she has authored children' s books about space.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias At a time when women were not expected to be athletes, Mildred & quot; Babe& quot; Didrikson Zaharias ( 1911- 1956) dominated several sports. Nicknamed Babe for her & quot; Ruth- like& quot; home runs, Didrikson first achieved national attention during the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, where she won gold medals and broke her own world records in both the javelin and the 80- meter hurdles.

By 1933, she turned to golf, where she would eventually win more than 50 tournaments, including three U. Women' s Opens. In 1950, after Zaharias outbragged and outcompeted her rivals for two decades, the Associated Press named her the & quot; Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century. & quot; Billie Jean King For two decades, world- renowned tennis player Billie Jean King ( 1943 - ) dominated the sport with 695 match victories, including six Wimbledon and four U. Open titles.

One of her best- known titles came in 1973 at the height of the women' s liberation movement.

In the so- called & quot; Battle of the Sexes, & quot; King defeated the self- proclaimed & quot; male chauvinist& quot; Bobby Riggs in a match that the London Sunday Times called & quot; the drop shot and volley heard ' round the world. & quot; A pioneer and activist for women' s rights, King used her accomplishments on the court to help pave the way for the next generation of female athletes. In 1990, Life magazine named her one of the & quot; 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century. & quot; Danica Patrick American racecar driver Danica Patrick ( 1982 - ) first started racing at age 10, following her sister' s interest in go- karts. Patrick quickly showed her penchant for speed, zooming to top- 10 finishes and titles throughout her young career. In 2005, she made history by leading an open- wheel championship series, and Patrick was named the Indy. Car Series' Rookie of the Year.

She also started and finished in fourth place at the 2005 Indianapolis 500. Marie Curie Polish- born Marie Curie ( 1867- 1934) was always an exceptional student. When she and her husband were recognized in 1903 for their groundbreaking physics research, she became the first female winner of a Nobel Prize.

Another such award followed in 1911, when Curie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry after she discovered the elements radium and polonium.

This honor made her the first individual to receive multiple Nobel Prizes. Margaret Thatcher Known as the & quot; Iron Lady& quot; for her strong leadership, Margaret Thatcher ( 1925 - ) made history in 1979 by becoming Europe' s first elected female head of state. She served as British prime minister for 11 years, emerging as the only 20th century British leader to win three consecutive elections. Thatcher also led her country to victory over Argentina in the 1982 Falklands War.

After she stepped down in 1990, Thatcher started a foundation to promote democracy and international cooperation. She later received Britain' s highest civil and military honor, the Order of the Garter. Geraldine Ferraro Author of a book entitled & quot; Changing History, & quot; Geraldine Ferraro ( 1935 - ) made history herself when she became the first American woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket. Ferraro was the running mate of Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in 1984.

Though the pair did not win, Ferraro remained politically active and served as a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1993 to 1996.

Her resume also includes work as a teacher, attorney and U. S. representative. Madeleine Albright Madeleine Albright ( 1937 - ) was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. As the Nazis invaded that country before World War II, Albright and her family fled and eventually settled in the U. She graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and she later received master' s and doctorate degrees from Columbia University in New York.

By the late 1970s, she was working in the White House for President Jimmy Carter' s national security team.

In 1993, she became the U. S. ambassador to the United Nations. In 1997, the Senate approved Albright as the 64th U. S. secretary of state; she was the first woman ever to hold the position.

Donna Shirley As a teenager in a small Oklahoma town, Donna Shirley dreamed of exploring Mars and took an intense interest in flying airplanes. Before she was out of her teens, she was flying solo and earning her pilot' s licenses. Shirley entered college in the 1950s to study aerospace engineering at a time when engineering schools were still a male stronghold. She was successful, earning a bachelor' s degree from the University of Oklahoma and a master' s degree from the University of Southern California.

Shirley spent 32 years at NASA' s jet propulsion lab, the lead U. S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system, where Shirley managed the Mars exploration program. In 1997, the world watched as two of her projects - the Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner Microrover - landed on Mars. Two months later, the Mars Global Surveyor went into orbit around the red planet.

The projects that Shirley worked on became some of NASA' s greatest successes. Anne Mulcahy As chairman and CEO of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy ( 1952 - ) knows about far more than making copies. Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Mulcahy earned a bachelor' s degree in English and journalism from Marymount College.

She has spent most of her 30- year career at Xerox, starting off as a field sales representative and gradually moving up the ranks to hold senior management and executive positions. In 2002, Mulcahy helped pull Xerox out of a near- fatal slump, assisting the company to stand out in the printing and copying business despite a slew of competitors. In addition to heading up Xerox, Mulcahy also serves on the boards of directors at Catalyst, Citigroup and Target.

Meg Whitman You may not know the name Meg Whitman ( 1957 - ) , but you no doubt know the name of the company she runs: e. Bay.

Whitman grew up in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. In the late 1970' s, she earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a master' s degree in business administration from Harvard University. Before joining e. Bay, Whitman held top- level jobs at a number of major companies, including Walt Disney, Stride Rite and FTD. In the late 1990s, she was tapped to become president and CEO of the online auction firm e.

Bay.

Under her leadership, the company' s revenues for 2000 exceeded $ 430 million, an increase of 92 percent over 1999.

EBay continues to thrive.

In 2007, it generated revenues of more than $ 7.

5 billion. A possible key to Whitman' s success: She has been described as & quot; relentlessly optimistic. & quot; Whitman plans to step down from e. Bay on March 31, 2008, but she will remain on the board. Sandra Day O' Connor Sandra Day O' Connor ( 1930 - ) was the first woman to serve on the U.

Supreme Court. Born in El Paso, Texas, O' Connor grew up on a large family ranch in Arizona. She earned undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University.

After holding various jobs in the legal field and starting to raise a family, O' Connor became an assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona. Afterward, she worked as a Republican lawmaker in the state senate, where she served as majority leader; O' Connor was the first woman in the United States to hold such a position.

She also served as a judge at a county superior court and a state court of appeals in 1981. Also in 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated O' Connor to fill a vacancy on the U. Supreme Court. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate and was sworn in as the first female Supreme Court justice in history.

During her 24 years on the high court, O' Connor was considered a decisive swing vote in many key decisions. She retired from the bench in 2006. Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( 1954 - ) is the first African- American woman to hold the position of U.

S. secretary of state.

From 2000 to 2005, Rice was the first woman to serve as national security adviser to the president.

Rice spent her youth in Birmingham, Alabama and later in Denver, Colorado. She enrolled at the University of Denver at the age of 15, and she studied under Madeleine Albright' s father.

Rice went on to obtain master' s and doctorate degrees and then taught political science at Stanford University. During George H. Bush' s presidency, Rice held posts in the National Security Council.

Bush once said to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Rice & quot; tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union. & quot; Rice later held the post of provost of Stanford University; she was the first woman, the first African- American, and the youngest person to hold that office. In addition to English, she speaks Russian, French and Spanish, and she is an accomplished pianist. Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi ( 1945 - ) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 & quot; for her non- violent struggle for democracy and human rights& quot; in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Suu Kyi' s father was commander of the Burma Independence Army; her mother was Burma' s ambassador to India.

Educated at Oxford, Suu Kyi held various diplomatic posts throughout the world from 1969 to 1988. She assumed the role of opposition leader after Burmese military forces killed more than 1, 000 demonstrators in 1988. After Suu Kyi' s party won parliamentary elections in 1990, the ruling military junta refused to hand over power. From 1989 to 1995, and again from 2000 to 2002, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest. In 2003, federal officials imprisoned her, and, as of February 2008, she remains under house arrest in Myanmar.

Suu Kyi continues to press for democracy in her home country through non- violent means; she has received numerous awards and recognition throughout the globe for her efforts. Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( 1953- 2007) was the first female leader of any Islamic Republic.

Her father had also served as Pakistan' s prime minister before he was ousted in a military coup and executed in 1979. After spending several years under house arrest, Benazir Bhutto led the Pakistan People' s Party ( PPP) to victory in 1988, becoming the first female prime minister of Pakistan. The country' s president dismissed Bhutto' s government in 1990, but she won the prime minister post again in 1993. After President Farooq Leghari dismissed Bhutto' s second administration in 1996, she exiled herself to London and Dubai. In October 2007, she returned to Pakistan in the hopes of sharing power with President Pervez Musharraf' s government.

Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007.

After her death, the PPP won parliamentary elections, continuing Bhutto' s legacy of promoting democracy in Pakistan.

Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf ( 1938- ) is president of Liberia and the first elected female president of any African nation. After Johnson- Sirleaf obtained her master' s degree in public administration from Harvard University, she worked in financial management for the Liberian government, eventually ascending to the post of finance minister in the Liberian Cabinet in the 1970s.

She also held prominent positions at the U. N. , World Bank, Citicorp, and the Liberian government throughout her 30- year career. In 1985, Liberian officials placed Johnson- Sirleaf under house arrest for speaking out against the government. She fled to the U.

S. and became vice president for Equator Bank.

From 1992 to 1997, she was assistant secretary- general of the United Nations.

Johnson- Sirleaf came in second place in the 1997 Liberian presidential elections, and that same year, she helped investigate the Rwandan genocide. When Liberia erupted into civil war, Johnson- Sirleaf was exiled again. She served in the transitional government after President Charles Taylor' s resignation in 2003, and Johnson- Sirleaf became president herself after elections in 2005.

With aid from the international community, she has been able to maintain peace and has begun to rebuild her nation' s economy.

Editor' s Note: This is part of CNN' s & quot; & quot; series.

Join the conversation on Twitter by following and . ( CNN) - - At the dawn of the internet era, the priority was to figure out how to let more people access the world' s information. Today, the question seems to be how to distill oceans of content into manageable streams and discard the rest: the meandering blog posts, the useless status updates, the trivial tweets. The explosion of blogs, Facebook and Twitter have inspired millions to share personal details with the world, a cultural trend that was first officially recognized in 2008 when Webster' s New World Dictionary declared & quot; overshare& quot; the word of the year.

Complaints about friends' tweeting what they had for lunch have practically become a national pastime. And yet, we keep on sharing. Even so, there' s evidence that have led people to be more careful about what they post online and who they choose to share it with. Take reality TV star Miss Tila - - also known as Tila Tequila - - not known for being bashful in her embrace of social media.

Earlier this year she disabled her Twitter account over some nasty user comments and, after a break, that has fewer followers. In several of her recent tweets, she pleaded with fans to respect her privacy. & quot; I' ve learned my lesson, & quot; she told CNN in an interview last week. & quot; Before I put anything up there [ on the internet] , I definitely make sure that it' s, you know, that it' s safe. & quot; Twitter changed the question it poses at the top of every user' s home page last year from & quot; What are you doing? & quot; to & quot; What' s happening? & quot; The old question encouraged mundane answers like what type of coffee someone is sipping on, co- founder Biz Stone said then in a statement. & quot; A lot of the tools that are out there weren' t really designed for a world of endless information, & quot; recently. & quot; How do we become an antidote to information overload, as opposed to yet another service that just bombards people with information? & quot; Google' s official mission statement reads: & quot; to organize the world' s information and make it universally accessible and useful. & quot; But the search giant found itself sprinting to keep up after the explosion of Twitter and is still unable to index most information stored on Facebook because large amounts of data are set to private. In fact, few companies are sufficiently equipped to handle the deluge of data that Web surfers are eager to feed them. Facebook Facebook, in partnership with Microsoft' s Bing, is making strides in letting people search through the mountains of information stored on its servers. The Palo Alto, California, company runs the world' s largest social network, with more than 500 million people.

It launched various features this year to make more information public - - such as the Places section for location sharing and mechanisms for organizing personal activity on other sites. Managing all of this data is surely a challenge for Facebook as a company. But for users, keeping up with all of the status changes, comments and photo albums begging to be & quot; Liked& quot; is impossible. & quot; I get too much Facebook mail and questions, & quot; said Apple co- founder , who helped spark the personal computing revolution. & quot; Social media? I don' t have time. & quot; Every person has a unique thought about where to draw the line on what constitutes oversharing. That' s clear by the groups of Facebook users that inevitably protest whenever the company makes changes to coax people to reveal more of their memories and interests to the Web.

But even Facebook has limits on what you can share. The company doesn' t allow certain types of hate speech, especially relating to religion, nor will it house racy photos. Facebook employs more than a hundred moderators worldwide to crack down on certain types of posts. ' Passive data' Similarly, Chatroulette, which gained notoriety for letting strangers connect for live video chats, is developing technology and policies for on the site.

Many social networks have declared that certain types of information is off limits.

But some are coming to the realization that too much information is simply bad for everyone. started out a year ago as a site for sharing credit card purchases. People were encouraged to sign up for a profile and connect it to their credit card accounts so that receipts would automatically be published as status updates. The idea was that people might be curious about what their friends were buying and how much they paid. But the Palo Alto, California, company has learned that too much info, and making it too easy to post that data, can harm the utility of the service.

So a few months ago Blippy began asking users to approve each item before posting and then write a brief review. & quot; The biggest risk when people publish everything turns out not to be that people publish personal stuff, but that they publish too many uninteresting things, & quot; said Blippy President Philip Kaplan. & quot; The most interesting content on the site was not just that they bought it, but what they thought of it. & quot; The founding philosophy assumed that & quot; if everybody was sharing everything that they buy, & quot; Kaplan said, & quot; the site would move a lot faster. & quot; As it turned out, things moved quickly into the mud. After Blippy' s change, Kaplan says the site is more useful, tracking $ 500, 000 worth of purchases a day. It has mostly cut out what Kaplan calls & quot; passive data& quot; - - that is, the info that' s published automatically, providing no incentive for the user to return to the site. Oversharing on Foursquare The internet is host to countless social networks targeting some very specific topics, and many of them rely on so- called passive data. For music, automatically posts a profile update for each song its users play in a digital jukebox like i.

Tunes. And Apple launched its own social network for music, called Ping, which is a mix of active and passive data; for the latter, it posts a new status each time a user purchases something from the i.

Tunes Store. A million people signed up for Ping in the first two days after it launched. For health junkies, a data- tracking and social service from Fitbit tallies exercise habits using a small gizmo. is a location- based social network - - similar to Facebook Places and Foursquare - - that relies on the active participation of & quot; checking in. & quot; Like Blippy, Gowalla encourages people not to use its service for trivial events.

This distinction is important for Gowalla because CEO Josh Williams says he' s weary of using computer- driven inference to try to determine what it should show users, in the way Google' s search engine and Facebook' s News Feed do. & quot; I think we want to be careful about algorithmically controlling what we display, & quot; Williams said. & quot; I would encourage people to check in to places that are important to them. For us, we' re not going to be the ones to decide what somebody thinks is important. & quot; Foursquare takes a similar approach and displays everything, rather than trying to pick out what' s most important. The service will shame users who check in too often by branding their page with an & quot; Overshare& quot; badge, which is earned after checking in at least 10 times in 12 hours.

More than 391, 000 people have unlocked that badge, a company spokeswoman said. Speaking of oversharing, you can also earn a Foursquare badge called GYT - - short for & quot; Get Yourself Tested& quot; - - when you check in to a clinic and get tested for sexually transmitted diseases; the program is courtesy of MTV. Foursquare says 4, 807 people have earned this badge.

Signal- to- noise ratio As the internet generation has shown, leaving it up to users to determine what should be shared is not always a solution. Then again, silencing oversharers is one & quot; de- friend& quot; button click away on most sites. & quot; You have to worry about the signal- to- noise ratio, & quot; Williams said. , which Apple declared the app of the year for i. Pad, attempts to solve the problem with software that organizes your Twitter and Facebook friends' updates into a magazine- like format. & quot; There' s too much stuff to check& quot; on unfiltered social networks, Flipboard CEO Mike Mc. Cue said at a conference recently. & quot; By the time you get done going through the last social network, you kind of have to go back to the first one. & quot; For narrowing which updates you share to closer circles of friends, there' s Diaspora or Path.

The latter was founded by a former Facebook engineer, but unlike the world' s largest social network, Path limits a user to 50 friends. The social- media juggernaut, Facebook, faces perhaps the biggest challenge in solving the noise problem. More specialized social networks, which encourage in- depth conversation around certain topics, are tying into Facebook. So the library of book reviews you thought were only meant for your page might show up on your Facebook profile. , founded by Kim Muhota several months ago, is among the most peculiar of the themed social- networks.

The service facilitates the sharing and discussion of dreams. & quot; Thousands& quot; of people have signed up, he said, sharing intimate and sometimes sexual nighttime visions. & quot; Why do people care about my status update on Facebook or my tweet? & quot; Muhota asked rhetorically. & quot; I think there' s this innate, human, primal desire to share your experiences with others.

There just is. & quot; As we are learning, however, it may not be in our DNA to want to hear about every one of those experiences.