"I think I'll bake cookies before my next checkup, " Norville notes.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

"I swear I had people offering to bake me cookies if they could get on the system, " he said.

WSJ: A Stathead Carves Out a New Market: High-School Coaches

Time after time, parents step up to make cookies for the bake sale, coach sports programs after school, weed and maintain the school grounds, put up bulletin boards, work the book fair and more.

FORBES: Back to School: Volunteering Your Services

The military work also prompted discoveries of new strains of algae, which explains why next to its research labs Solazyme built a kitchen to bake up batches of chocolate chip cookies, honey mustard dipping sauce and crackers.

FORBES: The U.S. Military's Great Green Gamble Spurs Biofuel Startups

Every year, a group of fellow NPR staff members, our families and friends gather in mid-December to bake and decorate more than a thousand cookies to eat and give away.

NPR: Pursuit of the Perfect Christmas Cookie