Bottling Habit
Last year, Americans used and discarded about 50 billion plastic water bottles. The recycling rate on those bottles is about 23%, meaning...
The Anatomy of Emotion
What is fear made of? In his book Self Comes to Mind, Antonio Demasio describes emotions as complex, largely automated neural programs of...
Digesting New Discoveries Inside The Human Body
There was a moment during the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804 when, after months of deprivation, hardship, and arduous climbing, they...
The Siren Call of Convenience
We Americans are proudly and hugely into our conveniences. We buy pre-washed lettuce and pre-cut chicken pieces because it's more...
Suicide: a Stark Truth
StartFragment Suicide: the word itself is sobering. In the U.S., there are 38,000 suicides a year. This makes it one of the top ten...
How to Learn, or, Your Brain: A User's Manual
The concept of studying is at the core of our learning institutions. It's what you're supposed to be doing in college. Still, just how...
Edison's Errors: When Genius is 99 Percent Flop Sweat
When you think of inventors, the iconic example might be Thomas Edison, who brought us the electric lightbulb. In the process, he...
Old science and new horizons
The human brain is one of the true wonders of the world; after all, it contained the source material for building each of the seven...
Push-ups, Pyramids, and You
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2500 BC. Its individual stone blocks weigh up to 50 tons, and its base contains roughly...
The Seinfeld Productivity Problem, and the Power of "Nothing"
When you think about Seinfeld, it's likely you think of his perpetually rerun TV show by the same name. His comedy was built on seemingly...
