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Science of Everyday Life

What love does to your brain. Techniques to argue better. How loneliness hurts on a cellular level. The science of everyday life, explained.

Why the news is so negative — and what we can do about it

By Dylan Matthews

How to purge risky chemicals from your beauty products

By Paige Curtis

The case for sleeping in separate beds

By Sean Illing

The book that changed how I think about thinking

By Dylan Matthews

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Ball lightning is real, and very rare. This is what it’s like to experience it.

Close encounters with mysterious, hovering balls of lightning, illustrated.

By Brian Resnick and Byrd Pinkerton

Ancient DNA is helping rewrite human history

By Noam Hassenfeld and Byrd Pinkerton
A robin looks over its hatchlings as they open their mouths for food.
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Why bird nests aren’t covered in poop, explained to kids

By Estelle Caswell

Why Buddhism is true

By Sean Illing

A Stanford psychologist on the art of avoiding assholes

By Sean Illing

Most people are bad at arguing. These 2 techniques will make you better.

By Brian Resnick

“It’s just a big illusion”: How homeopathy went from fringe medicine to the grocery aisles

By Stephie Grob Plante

This feminist gynecologist wants you to know your body and fight the patriarchy

By Julia Belluz

The people going to the hospital for fireworks injuries are exactly who you think

By Brian Resnick

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Mindfulness meditation in America has a capitalism problem

By Sean Illing

How the West became a self-obsessed culture

By Sean Illing

Ever tried telling a teen to stop Juuling? These experts have a tip.

By Elsa Pearson and Austin Frakt

The case against empathy

By Sean Illing

Ever wake up to a numb, dead arm? Here’s what’s happening.

By Brian Resnick
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The science is in: exercise won’t help you lose much weight

By Julia Belluz and Christophe Haubursin

How to get a good night’s sleep

By Sean Illing

Why marriages succeed — or fail

By Sean Illing

American white people really hate being called “white people”

By David Roberts

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A psychologist explains how to overcome social anxiety

By Sean Illing

Dense urbanism is great for downtowns. But what about suburbs?

By David Roberts

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This is what love does to your brain

By Sean Illing

Daylight saving time began Sunday: 7 things to know about “springing forward”

By Brian Resnick

What the living can learn from the dying

By Sean Illing

Let’s obliterate the myth that humans have a bad sense of smell

By Brian Resnick

“Motivated ignorance” is ruining our political discourse

By Brian Resnick

This Thanksgiving, be thankful for these 6 ways the world is getting better

By German Lopez

IQ, explained in 9 charts

By Brian Resnick

After a terrorist attack, we grow fearful. Here’s what that does to our brains. 

By Brian Resnick

National parks are already setting attendance records. Now come the eclipse chasers.

By Lauren Katz

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Meditation is thriving under Trump. A former monk explains why.

By Eliza Barclay

This might be the coolest visualization of evolution ever

By Brian Resnick

7 psychological concepts that explain the Trump era of politics

By Brian Resnick

Scientists are waging a war against human aging. But what happens next?

By Sean Illing

Treating depression is guesswork. Psychiatrists are beginning to crack the code.

By Brian Resnick

A new poll on Trump’s “wiretapping” shows how easily he can spread misinformation

By Brian Resnick

2016 didn’t just give us “fake news.” It likely gave us false memories.

By Brian Resnick