Power of Slow Change
"People love stories of turning points, wake-up calls, sudden conversions, breakthroughs, the stuff about changes that happen in a flash," points out historian Rebecca Solnit. Yet, meaningful transformations often take time. "You want tomorrow to be different than today, and it may seem the same, or worse, but next year will be different than this one, because those tiny increments added up. The t... posted on Jan 28 2024, 1,805 reads

The Bizarre Genius of a Brainless Blob
Meet Physarum polycephalum, better known as the slime mold, that's been here on Earth for more than 500 million years. This brainless, single-celled organism may lack brains but compensates with a level of intelligence that continues to stun scientists across the globe. Despite its lack of neurons, it's capable of complexities like remembering, making decisions, and recognizing itself. The slime m... posted on Jan 27 2024, 2,204 reads

How to Prepare Your Nervous System for New Goals
As January begins to sunset into February, it's not uncommon for New Year resolutions to lose their luster. About 80% of people who make such resolutions feel like they've failed in the first few months. Could this year be different? UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center highlights research-backed tips to help propel our 2024 intentions into sustained practice. It turns out a deeper awareness ... posted on Jan 26 2024, 2,207 reads

The Great-Grandmother Who Goes To Primary School
Salima Khan, a 92-year-old great-grandmother affectionately known as Amma, is challenging stereotypes one letter at a time at the Chawli primary school in Bulandshahr, Northern India. Despite struggles with walking and cataracts, she has become a beacon of hope in an area where about 30% of women are illiterate, inspiring women of all ages to enroll in school. "The teacher taught me everything." s... posted on Jan 19 2024, 1,553 reads

How Two Moms Founded An Adaptive Clothing Company
When Nicole Puzzo's daughter, Stella, was dealing with her recovery from a double hip surgery in 2015, the challenge of dressing for her condition sparked an ingenious idea. Puzzo created a pair of pants that could be worn over Stella's casts, transforming an everyday struggle into a practical solution. "Understanding how difficult it can be, and what a struggle it can be for millions of people, w... posted on Jan 17 2024, 1,541 reads

The Geometry Of Other People
"On the surface, the language we use to describe landscapes and buildings has little in common with the ways we think about our social worlds. A mountain range has little in common with a family; the design of a city is nothing like a colleague or so it seems. But if that is true, then why do we use spatial and architectural metaphors to describe so many of our human relationships?" asks postdoct... posted on Jan 15 2024, 2,078 reads

Extraordinary Ordinary People
Around the world, an army of unsung heroes are upon us. These are not saints, but very human individuals, who, bolstered by their engaged spirituality, have surfaced deep contributions to the fabric of their communities, fields, and the world at large. "A lot of the reporting on religion is often negative. It's about abuse, it's about corruption, it's about the decline of a particular institutiona... posted on Jan 13 2024, 1,962 reads

Why Meeting Another's Gaze Is So Powerful
You've done it at a job interview. When giving a presentation. While tucking in children at night. Or when sharing a meal with a loved one. The power of eye contact stretches far beyond cinematic romance. A growing body of research from psychologists and neuroscientists find that when we make eye contact with someone, our brains unconsciously kick into overdrive. During this seemingly simple human... posted on Jan 09 2024, 2,257 reads

3 Steps to a Purposeful Year
The beginning of the year often marks the possibility of fresh beginnings. We make resolutions to help things to change for the better. It may sound something like: "I don't love my job or where I live, so I'm going to make some changes." "As a coach, I'm happy when my people are ready for change," writes author Christine Carter. "But the best first move usually isn't an outer change to our circum... posted on Jan 08 2024, 3,399 reads

Songs of Trees
Just how much is in one tiny patch of forest? Biologist and author David George Haskell found himself visiting the same square meter of forest again and again over the course of a year, and then many years since. "When we walk into a forest, we're not walking into a place that is full of separate interacting individuals ... We're walking into a living network, a place where every creature exists o... posted on Jan 07 2024, 4,847 reads