Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Random Bits of Knowledge About The New Year I'm sure you're still recovering from New Year's Eve. And we'll be back soon with some advice on making — and sticking to — New Year resolutions. (It can be done!) In the meantime, here's an amuse-bouche of New Year's trivia. The Times Square Ball Drop once had a practical use Times Square’s famous New Year’s Eve ball drop traces back to a 19th-century navigation tool: The “time ball,” invented to help...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Seven Christmas Questions You Never Thought To Ask The holidays are finally upon us. Are you exhausted? Of course you're exhausted. So let's answer some weird questions. 1. Is it true Christmas was once a criminal event? Christmas is not the most important holiday in the Christian calendar. It doesn't even make the top five. In fact, the Puritans once made celebrating Christmas a criminal offense (anyone skipping work or putting up decorations was...
25 days ago • 3 min read
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The Research Behind Chilling Out It's a busy time of year. Achieving zen can be difficult. So what does science tell us about finding our bliss? Relaxation is an active state. Trying to relax by seeking stillness doesn't often work. We need to do something to relax. That's because our brains are constantly traveling the continuum between “fight-or-flight” (that feeling in your stomach when an unwelcome email arrives), and “rest and digest”...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more I Wanna Slay At Thanksgiving Turkey day is almost upon us! So how do we make family gatherings fun and relaxing (instead of stressful and chaotic)? How do I make conversation with weird relatives? What's actually tasty? Science has answers! Everyone is going to ask me embarrassing questions, or want to talk politics. How do I make that easier? First, set some gentle expectations: It's okay to decide you'll only stay for a few hours, or there are...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more How Do I Learn A New Skill? Wondering if doing the crossword will help you remember where you left your car keys? Or learning to juggle will push you in the gym? There's a science to learning new skills — and a formula to which kinds of lessons make us better. Which kinds of skills should I learn? Learning new skills has real benefits, particularly as we age: In one study, adults who engaged in 'novel skill learning' improved memory and attention...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Why do we celebrate Halloween? Everyone loves Halloween, right? But it's also kind of ... random. Why do we dress up in costumes? And hand out candy? Why October 31? And what makes clowns so scary? In this special edition of the newsletter, science has some answers. When your kid says they want to be a smoke detector, they get to be a smoke detector. Why does this holiday exist anyway? Halloween traces back to the ancient Celtic festival of...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more How Can I Learn More About Sports? Fall is here! Which means homecoming games, the World Series, basketball and eventually the Super Bowl (not to mention next summer's World Cup). How can you get up to speed? If you want to start playing (or watching) a sport, do it with friends (and a coach). When one researcher decided to learn four new sports in a year (table tennis, swimming, badminton and cricket) he found it was critical to have a 'sports...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Right now feels like ... a lot. But, you can make a difference in people's lives and national events — and science has tips on how. One of my favorite social scientists — Hahrie Han of Johns Hopkins — just won a MacArthur Genius Grant for her work studying how regular people create real social change. So, how do we actually change the world? What works? (And how do you become a U.S. Senator?) Some things are worth fighting for. Groups of regular people can make a huge difference. There are...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Creativity isn’t a mystical gift. It's a capacity we cultivate. Science has suggestions on how to build the creative muscle. Jean-Michel is king. Researchers have found three ingredients for triggering creativity: 1. Exposure to novel stimuli (like learning something new, looking at art or taking an unfamiliar stroll); 2. Deliberate rest (letting yourself think about something else, or stretching, or having a relaxing meal); 3. And brief creativity rituals (like cleaning your desk or...
3 months ago • 2 min read