Should you grow a beard? Here's how women perceive bearded men

Whether or not women think beards are sexy has to do with "moral disgust"

Photo Credit: Frank Marino / Unsplash
  • A new study found that women perceive men with facial hair to be more attractive as well as physically and socially dominant.
  • Women tend to associate more masculine faces with physical strength, social assertiveness, and formidability.
  • Women who display higher levels of "moral disgust," or feelings of repugnance toward taboo behaviors, are more likely to prefer hairy faces.
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A New Year’s resolution to make a difference: Help others.

Charity and volunteering not only benefit the recipient but help you become happier and healthier in the new year.

(Photo: Pxhere)
  • Most New Year's resolutions are self-directed and enjoy a failure rate of about 80 percent.
  • Research has shown that selfless giving can enhance happiness, improve your health, and even extend your life.
  • Resolving to help others can help you keep your resolution this year.
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Will robots have rights in the future?

Perhaps sooner than we think, we'll need to examine the moral standing of intelligent machines.

  • If eventually we develop artificial intelligence sophisticated enough to experience emotions like joy and suffering, should we grant it moral rights just as any other sentient being?
  • Theoretical philosopher Peter Singer predicts the ethical issues that could ensue as we expand the circle of moral concern to include these machines.
  • A free download of the 10th anniversary edition of The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty is available here.
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How Mengzi came up with something better than the Golden Rule

What could be better than "do unto others as you would have others do unto you"?

Alain Nogues/Corbis via Getty Images

There's something I don't like about the 'Golden Rule,' the admonition to do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

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Should we blame biology for our biosphere-bashing behavior?

Determining whether human nature is short-sighted when it comes to survival-necessary situations

Illustration by Julia Suits, author of The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions, and The New Yorker cartoonist.
  • Do you know what evidence supposedly supports the claim that "human nature" is short sighted?
  • Can our abstract math help us weigh the "utility," or value, of cupcakes against burning the biosphere?
  • By mixing moral or survival-needed items with trinkets, this math seduces many into calling "rational" what we know will logically lead to collective doom.
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climate change morality birds biosphere decision-making science future economics biology