We usually think of personality in terms of the differences we can see – Sarah is smiley and chatty, John frets a lot, while Noah is neat and tidy. These differences are fascinating, but if we focus only on observable [...]
Chinese mothers who were exposed to a high level of certain air pollutants during pregnancy had a higher risk of abnormal fetal growth, according to a new Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) study. The findings, published in the International [...]
A staggering one in six Americans now take psychiatric medication (link is external) in an attempt to manage psychiatric conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Unlike other medical problems, psychiatric problems shake us to our very core—affecting not only our [...]
The study tracked the diets and medical conditions of 8,000 people over 22 years (all part of a larger study called the Whitehall Study II) using surveys about diet and doctors’ visits completed every few years. By keeping tabs on what [...]
Former Google exec Tristan Harris, interviewed for the episode, argues that we’ve been fooled into believing the “technology is neutral” argument. Instead, he says that software makers have mastered a sort of “addiction code” that keeps people compulsively engaged, such that [...]
Andy Lee has an interesting job title: He is his company’s “chief mindfulness officer,” and he is not employed at some voguish Silicon Valley start-up or by a chain of organic-food co-ops — he works for Aetna, as old-fashioned a [...]
Our brain continuously spins out thoughts, whether we want it to or not. When unwanted thoughts keep occurring, despite our efforts to control them, they feed a cycle of rumination that’s at the heart of depression and anxiety disorders. New research [...]
Here is a list of 10 cool psychological research findings—findings that you might find surprising—findings that can help you better understand the people in your world. Note that this is in David Letterman Top-Ten-List format, to make it more fun! [...]
Leo Tolstoy observed that “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way;" nonetheless amid the differences, there are broad commonalities. That’s true of unloving mothers too, even though there are observable differences in how they [...]
Even though we all know from life experience that scent is directly tied to many of our long-term memories, the complex neural mechanisms behind this process have remained a mystery. Source: How Do Nostalgic Scents Get Woven Into Long-Term Memories? [...]