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5 critical life skills everyone should have, according to WHO
Some basic areas we could all use some improvement in.

- The World Health Organization identified 5 basic life skills that are crucial to cultivate and learn in order to have a better and more productive life.
- Ranging from creative thinking to learning to cope with stress, these skills should be instilled in youth during their education and nurtured over a lifetime.
- Although the best time to develop these skills is during one's youth, the second best time is right now.
It's no secret that our education system isn't ideal. Many of the life skills we need aren't being taught; instead, we focus on programming youth with industry-specific skills to prepare them for the workforce. Too often, this means that kids are graduating from high school and college ill-equipped to handle the broader challenges found in life. Though important, learning the structure of a cell won't teach you how to de-escalate conflict before it goes too far, and learning how to find the value of x won't teach you how not to crumble under pressure. Not only do life skills improve one's quality of life, they are also attractive to employers, who need workers that are mentally stable and well equipped to handle challenges and responsibilities that aren't listed on the job description.
That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) identified five fundamental life skills that are relevant for everybody, regardless of culture, education, or background. Specifically, the WHO focused on psychosocial skills rather than skills like, say, financial management or learning to cook. These are broad abilities that one can improve over time through conscious effort that deal with one's sense of self, sense of others, and cognitive abilities.
1. Decision-making and problem-solving
Everybody, even trust-fund babies, are faced with challenges and difficulties in their lives. Not all of us are talented at overcoming these challenges, however. Some misinterpret the premise of a problem, others work themselves in circles and get caught up in analysis paralysis. One way to make decisions and solve problems effectively is to follow Kristina Guo's DECIDE system, which she initially developed for health care managers:
- Define the problem
- Establish the criteria and constraints
- Consider all the alternatives
- Identify the best alternative
- Develop and implement a plan of action
- Evaluate and monitor the solution and feedback when necessary
If this seems far too clinical to you, another option is to follow Benjamin Franklin's method of decision-making, which he called "Prudential Algebra." When his friend Joseph Priestly wrote Franklin for advice on a problem, Franklin instead gave him a framework for making decisions. His method involves dividing a sheet into a pro and con column and listing out all of the reasons pro and con to a given decision. Then, Franklin would assign a weight to each pro and con according to their importance. Going down the list, if a pro and a con were of equal weight, he would cross them out. If a con were worth the weight of two pros, he would cross the three out. In this way, Franklin would wind up with a final list leaning towards either pro or con and make his decision accordingly. He would do this over the course of several days, so that his mind was always fresh when tackling the problem.
2. Creative thinking and critical thinking
We all know that there are few domains that don't rely heavily on creative and critical thinking. Defining critical thinking, though is a very slippery task. "At one level we all know what 'critical thinking' means — it means good thinking, almost the opposite of illogical, irrational, thinking," wrote Dr. Peter Facione in his essay "Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts." But there's more to it than that vague definition, of course. Facione asserts that "Critical thinking [is] purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based." Put simply, it's a self-aware, focused, analytical way of looking at things.
As it turns out, one of the best ways to improve one's critical thinking skills is to study the humanities. The trend has been to think of the humanities as some kind of vestigial tail trailing behind the rest of the more cutting-edge fields of study, a holdover from a time when poets were actually celebrities. However, the humanities has always been about teaching people to think well. Regrettably, humans have peculiar, bias-prone, and heuristics-reliant brains in place of more efficient and purpose-built computers, but we have to learn to work with what we've got.
There's research that backs this assertion up as well. One study from North Carolina State University, for instance, found that students enrolled in humanities courses became more skeptical of pseudoscience compared to those enrolled in a course on scientific research methods.
3. Communication and interpersonal skills
The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, "The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place." Without becoming gifted, or at least competent, in communication, you're at risk for experiencing constant misunderstandings and needless fights and arguments.
Good communicators make more money, have higher self-esteem, have better marriages, and are sought out more by employers. Although social anxiety can make it challenging to get out there, seeking out metacognitive therapy has been shown to be very effective. If it's feasible, just stepping out of one's comfort zone and intentionally practicing communication is perhaps the most effective method at improving this crucial life skill.
4. Self-awareness and empathy
Self-awareness and empathy are two sides of the same coin. Together, they constitute an understanding of the experiences, emotions, and thinking that take place both within oneself and in others. Researcher Phillipe Rochat described self-awareness as "the most fundamental issue in psychology" and for good reason. Little in life would not be improved by a thorough understanding of ones' own motivations. Research has shown that practicing mindfulness can promote self-awareness and empathy, critical skills that can combat drug addiction, reduce stress, and promote a stronger understanding of others. Many of the life skills mentioned in this list overlap, but none are quite as influential as self-awareness and empathy.
5. Coping with emotions and coping with stress
One of the few certainties in life is that things will go wrong. Learning how to handle these inevitable challenges with grace and resilience is essential. According to the American Psychological Association, there are ten methods for learning to promote resilience and bounce back from life's challenges:
- Make connections with friends and family members.
- Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems.
- Accept that change is a part of living.
- Develop realistic goals and work towards them regularly.
- Take decisive actions.
- Look for opportunities for self-discovery, especially when faced with hardship.
- Nurture a positive view of yourself.
- Keep things in perspective. When face-to-face with a significant challenge, it can be easy to lose the big picture.
- Maintain a hopeful outlook.
- Take care of yourself by paying attention to your needs and feelings and by staying in good shape.
These life skills are far-reaching and deeply impactful. Perhaps the best thing about improving any one of these skills is that they all feed into each other. Becoming a better communicator will both reduce the instances of stress and improve your ability to combat stress, critical thinking skills will help you with decision-making, cultivating empathy can make you a better communicator, and so on. With some intentional effort and focus, these five capabilities can be improved, improving your life in the process.
Scientists find 16 'ultra-black' fish species that absorb 99.9% of light
These alien-like creatures are virtually invisible in the deep sea.
A female Pacific blackdragon
- A team of marine biologists used nets to catch 16 species of deep-sea fish that have evolved the ability to be virtually invisible to prey and predators.
- "Ultra-black" skin seems to be an evolutionary adaptation that helps fish camouflage themselves in the deep sea, which is illuminated by bioluminescent organisms.
- There are likely more, and potentially much darker, ultra-black fish lurking deep in the ocean.
The Pacific blackdragon
Credit: Karen Osborn/Smithsonian
<p>When researchers first saw the deep-sea species, it wasn't immediately obvious that their skin was ultra-black. Then, marine biologist Karen Osborn, a co-author on the new paper, noticed something strange about the photos she took of the fish.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I had tried to take pictures of deep-sea fish before and got nothing but these really horrible pictures, where you can't see any detail," Osborn told <em><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-ultra-black-vantafish/" target="_blank">Wired</a></em>. "How is it that I can shine two strobe lights at them and all that light just disappears?"</p><p>After examining samples of fish skin under the microscope, the researchers discovered that the fish skin contains a layer of organelles called melanosomes, which contain melanin, the same pigment that gives color to human skin and hair. This layer of melanosomes absorbs most of the light that hits them.</p>A crested bigscale
Credit: Karen Osborn/Smithsonian
<p style="margin-left: 20px;">"But what isn't absorbed side-scatters into the layer, and it's absorbed by the neighboring pigments that are all packed right up close to it," Osborn told <em>Wired</em>. "And so what they've done is create this super-efficient, very-little-material system where they can basically build a light trap with just the pigment particles and nothing else."</p><p>The result? Strange and terrifying deep-sea species, like the crested bigscale, fangtooth, and Pacific blackdragon, all of which appear in the deep sea as barely more than faint silhouettes.</p>Pacific viperfish
David Csepp, NMFS/AKFSC/ABL
<p>But interestingly, this unique disappearing trick wasn't passed on to these species by a common ancestor. Rather, they each developed it independently. As such, the different species use their ultra-blackness for different purposes. For example, the threadfin dragonfish only has ultra-black skin during its adolescent years, when it's rather defenseless, as <em>Wired</em> <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-ultra-black-vantafish/" target="_blank">notes</a>.</p><p>Other fish—like the <a href="http://onebugaday.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-new-anglerfish-oneirodes-amaokai.html" target="_blank">oneirodes species</a>, which use bioluminescent lures to bait prey—probably evolved ultra-black skin to avoid reflecting the light their own bodies produce. Meanwhile, species like <em>C. acclinidens</em> only have ultra-black skin around their gut, possibly to hide light of bioluminescent fish they've eaten.</p><p>Given that these newly described species are just ones that this team found off the coast of California, there are likely many more, and possibly much darker, ultra-black fish swimming in the deep ocean. </p>'Deep Nostalgia' AI brings old photos to life through animation
Using machine-learning technology, the genealogy company My Heritage enables users to animate static images of their relatives.
- Deep Nostalgia uses machine learning to animate static images.
- The AI can animate images by "looking" at a single facial image, and the animations include movements such as blinking, smiling and head tilting.
- As deepfake technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, some are concerned about how bad actors might abuse the technology to manipulate the pubic.
My Heritage/Deep Nostalgia
<p>But that's not to say the animations are perfect. As with most deep-fake technology, there's still an uncanny air to the images, with some of the facial movements appearing slightly unnatural. What's more, Deep Nostalgia is only able to create deepfakes of one person's face from the neck up, so you couldn't use it to animate group photos, or photos of people doing any sort of physical activity.</p>My Heritage/Deep Nostalgia
<p>But for a free deep-fake service, Deep Nostalgia is pretty impressive, especially considering you can use it to create deepfakes of <em>any </em>face, human or not. </p>When does an idea die? Plato and string theory clash with data
How long should one wait until an idea like string theory, seductive as it may be, is deemed unrealistic?
- How far should we defend an idea in the face of contrarian evidence?
- Who decides when it's time to abandon an idea and deem it wrong?
- Science carries within it its seeds from ancient Greece, including certain prejudices of how reality should or shouldn't be.
Plato used the allegory of the cave to explain that what humans see and experience is not the true reality.
Credit: Gothika via Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0
<p>When scientists and mathematicians use the term <em>Platonic worldview</em>, that's what they mean in general: The unbound capacity of reason to unlock the secrets of creation, one by one. Einstein, for one, was a believer, preaching the fundamental reasonableness of nature; no weird unexplainable stuff, like a god that plays dice—his tongue-in-cheek critique of the belief that the unpredictability of the quantum world was truly fundamental to nature and not just a shortcoming of our current understanding. Despite his strong belief in such underlying order, Einstein recognized the imperfection of human knowledge: "What I see of Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility." (Quoted by Dukas and Hoffmann in <em>Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives</em> (1979), 39.)</p> <p>Einstein embodies the tension between these two clashing worldviews, a tension that is still very much with us today: On the one hand, the Platonic ideology that the fundamental stuff of reality is logical and understandable to the human mind, and, on the other, the acknowledgment that our reasoning has limitations, that our tools have limitations and thus that to reach some sort of final or complete understanding of the material world is nothing but an impossible, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K2JTGIA?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">semi-religious dream</a>.</p>Can you still spread coronavirus after getting the vaccine?
The vaccine will shorten the "shedding" time.
