The cognitive drain of switching tasks—”multitasking”—is more harmful to your brain than smoking marijuana, which studies have shown impedes concentration and memory formation.
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As the Hubble Space Telescope nears its 25th anniversary, it never stops amazing us. “That I learned even as a three year-old that I see this world that is really […]
It isn’t that women desire power less than men do, but in traditional organizations some common avenues to obtaining and maintaining power are blocked for them. A host of stereotypes […]
As the debate over the health and safety of e-cigarettes continues, researchers claim they’ve found evidence of large doses of formaldehyde when the devices are turned up to their highest settings.
“I also strongly believe that science is no longer a vocation where an individual sits in a darkened lab with his instruments, tinkering away at some big question. Science is collaborative, and will become more so.”
Everyone has a large number of great theories or ideas. Here’s one that I have: Wouldn’t it be great if all of the money that each person generated was split […]
Avoiding self-reflection can be a helpful strategy for delivering a composed and powerful speech, say researchers who examined how confident people prepare themselves to speak before an audience.
Personality is a partial indicator of health and more extroverted people tend to have stronger immune systems, perhaps because they interact with a wider range of people—and those people’s germs.
Scientific debate is important for the questions it raises, not the early conclusions it reaches. “Even when Darwin’s teaching first made its appearance, it became clear at once that its […]
It is in our nature to need rules. By improving social productivity rules beats no rules, and evolution endowed us with rule-following traits accordingly. Comparing languages and tools can help us see our biological rule dependence. As can noticing that we are apt to ape more than apes.
Google and Fidelity, an international investment firm, will invest $1 billion in Space X in an effort to extend the reach of Google’s Internet services and mapping imagery literally into outer space.
Oftentimes, doctors will suggest or invite a person’s significant other to be there as a means of comfort and support. But recent research suggests that, for some women, having a partner present may cause more pain than comfort.
Researchers have found a way to make running and walking seem less long and tiresome. People who narrow their attention and focus on a specific object in the distance can motivate themselves to push on.
Andrew McAfee of the MIT Sloan School of Management discusses the concept of creative destruction, which explains the phenomenon of automation simultaneously wiping out existing industries while creating new ones in their place.
Perception is everything–it dictates how we behave and interact with others, but also how we treat ourselves. For teenagers perceptions about weight can often be skewed, which could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy
Office work isn’t good for our health, sitting for long stretches of time is killing us. Treadmill desks offer a unique solution to those of us who are desk-bound for the better part of the work week. But can we continue to work productively while we walk?
How often a film is referenced in other films is a better determiner of how important the work is than the combined efforts of reviewers, critics, awards, and box office sales.
We owe our origins to the stars. But it’s not the fast catastrophes that made us possible, but a slow, burning romance. “It took less than an hour to make […]
One corner of the animal kingdom is immune from extinction: the monsters that thrive in our imagination (and on this map).
Yesterday Facebook updated the News Feed to attempt to prevent the spread of hoax news stories. What will the fallout look like?
The fallacy doesn’t only wreak havoc on the individual making irrational decisions; it can seriously impact the lives of other people who are affected by those decisions.
Using Experimental Philosophy to Shift Perspective, with Jonathon Keats Jonathon Keats introduces his workshop by listing the following five rules for looking at the world like an experimental philosopher: 1. […]
As our histories and memories move more and more into the digital space, we’re at the mercy of the cloud to maintain our history. So, what happens when the internet gets it wrong and re-works a piece of literature?
Public opinion surveys are often cited as evidence of how people feel. What they really demonstrate is how human cognition is more a matter of emotion than reason.
If your aim is to get healthy, numerous studies have said it’s best not to go it alone. Take walking groups for instance, people are less likely to skip out on a daily walk if they’re being held accountable by a group.
Even exercise cannot undo the health harms caused by leading a sedentary lifestyle, according to a piece of research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
People whose diets are made up of saturated fats and sugars may have more than a growing waistline to worry about. A recent study indicates that a “Western diet” could cause considerable brain damage.
Healthy lifestyle changes are best done with a partner. For couples, a recent study has found that when one half of an unhealthy pair starts to make a change for the better, the other half was more likely to follow.
Connecting Austria, Germany and Denmark, Autobahn A7 is the longest motorway in Germany and one of the most important North-South links between Scandinavia and central Europe. When it was constructed, […]
The “Kindness Diaries” author recounts an inspirational story of generosity that changed his life.