Personal Growth

Psychology professor Joseph Ferrari explains how to overcome procrastination. 

Our utopian vision of the future is typically less more and more leisure. But if advancing technology really lessens the importance of our careers in the future, is this something we could actually adjust to? 

In most places, water meets legal guidelines. But is it safe? One EWG spokesperson says no.   

Evidence from recent research suggests that it does matter where a calorie comes from because its source influences the intake of the next calorie. 

Nutritional science has increasingly begun to discover that the optimal diet should be an individualized solution, determined by many factors.

75% of all people will live through a traumatic event. 35-37% will experience PTG.   

Stoicism and Buddhism are two of the oldest, and well known, schools of thought in the world. Would Marcus Aurelius, a famous Roman stoic, be a Buddhist today?

People possessing openness can take diverging visual stimuli and combine them in a special way.   

Our way of life needs a skills upgrade, to reinstall certain old stoic ideas. Using your rights well needs “happiness bootcamp” skills. 

There’s a link between American marijuana use and violent crime south of the U.S. and Mexico border… and even a link with avocados. 

Over 1,100 teens in Australia exhibited low self-esteem and aggressive behavior linked to late-night phone and social media usage. 

Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Writer Paul Theroux on tyrannical mothers, colonizing Mars, and an important difference between humans and cockroaches. 

New studies show that friendships more often lead to happiness in old age than family.

The Body-Mass Index is a poor way to determine your health. Try this more important ratio instead. 

When you have a decision to make, a behavioral psychologist suggests you ask yourself what you’d advise a friend making this choice.

Two addiction specialists believe we need to reframe the conversation around psychedelics. 

New research shows that bilinguals learn more efficiently and multitask better as well.

A new extension suggests that you follow people you don’t agree with. Will this help pop your bubble? 

There is one essential ingredient missing, argues historian Yuval Noah Harari.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is one of those cliché questions that adults ask automatically. It turns out that the answer may reveal a lot about an adolescent’s health.  

Seemingly impractical things include pleasure reading, an overactive imagination, and the liberal arts. Each is commonly derided by all too practical people. Each is vital to us all.

Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Comedy writer and producer Scott Aukerman on Michael Bolton, transgression in comedy, and cultural turmoil in the USA. 

Social media is uniquely positioned to detect suicidal tendencies. Facebook’s new algorithm offers better detection, live chat support from crisis-support organizations (via messenger), and integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time.

Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Author Ayelet Waldman on parenting, identity, and how LSD microdosing changed her life for the better. 

Maslow never got around to publishing the final tier of his pyramid: self-transcendence.

Are virtual assistants teaching children to be nasty?

Scientific American video explains the evolutionary value of human emotions.

Proportional theory, telescopy, time pressure, and the reminiscence bump may each play a role.   

Neuroscientist David Linden says the human need for love is actually the indirect result of our inefficient neurons.

Are you the type of person who solves problems piecemeal, or with one great insight? A new study tells us the merits of each method.