Doing these simple things will make you happier than buying stuff this Monday
More than 165 million Americans plan to shop over the holiday weekend from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. But have you considered . . . doing something else? Research suggests that your experiences—like hiking or having a meal with friends—are ultimately more satisfying than possessions. With Read More...
Nutritional research contradicts itself a lot. Here’s how to avoid confusion
You’ve been hearing for decades that it’s a good idea to cut back on red meat. But a controversial study, released last week in Annals of Internal Medicine, turned that long-standing advice on its head and started a contentious debate. It found no statistical evidence that eating less red or Read More...
Why difficult conversations can be transformative—even without a resolution
In the early 2000s, psychology professor Peter Coleman of Columbia University established The Difficult Conversations Lab to study deeply rooted, complicated and hard-to-solve conflicts. He wanted to understand why conflicts in families, communities, and in the international arena get stuck in a Read More...
Need a boost? Study says simply thinking about coffee can energize you
The source of coffee’s powerful stimulating effects may not be limited to the caffeine in it, or even to its rich, distinct aroma. A new study suggests that merely being exposed to cues about coffee is enough to perk up the mind and make us more likely to concentrate on the task at hand, while Read More...
Miller's online humor survey study
Mary Desmond Pinkowish | August 2009 issue Does laughter prevent heart disease? Michael Miller, director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, thinks so. Here’s why: Several years ago, he and his colleagues gave a humor test to people Read More...
The altruism in economics: Getting to the heart of money
Standard economic theory states that people are interested only in their own material gain. But new insights from behavioral economics show that altruism rather than avarice is our primary motivation. Jeremy Mercer | May 2009 issue [caption id="attachment_69636" align="alignleft" width="280"] Read More...