"The environmentally friendly funeral industry is booming," says The Atlantic, as Americans seek out ways to go green even after they're dead.

Human irrationality is nothing new. But sometimes we get a fresh reminder that the human capacity for clear thinking is hampered by all kinds of stumbling blocks, and that our […]

The urge to eat when you're not hungry can be a crutch that prevents you from addressing a mental or emotional affliction. Find out the cause of your real hunger and leave the pumpkin pie in the fridge.

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid! Of Ebola. Of ISIS. Of immigrants threatening to bring both threats across a porous border that can’t be protected by a President who can’t even […]

The San Francisco Giants are World Series champions. To celebrate, hundreds of fans took to the streets to vandalize their city. One expert explains the riots by describing how individuals take advantage of a "cloak of crowd anonymity" to behave badly.

Imagine if a century ago free access to a high school education in the United States had been available only to the wealthiest families. Imagine, further, that anybody else who had chosen […]

We normally think of planets as being synonymous with gas giant or rocky worlds orbiting a parent star. They should all be so lucky. “You cannot be lonely if you […]

A new ebola-awareness song recorded by an array of popular West African musicians hits the airwaves across the continent this week. The lyrics offer information for how to stay safe amidst the outbreak.

One of the trendiest ideas in popular psychology in the last few years has been that of “ego depletion” or willpower as a limited resource. Many different books have been […]

Sam Harris discusses the virtues of psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA. While he does not condone the use of these drugs without caveat, he does acknowledge their profound consciousness-altering properties.

If a freak incident leaves you medically incapacitated, are your loved ones prepared to make medical decisions in line with your wishes? If not, it's time to take action. It never hurts to be prepared.

Staticity is what keeps you bored. Those afraid to inject a little dynamism in their lives run the risk of being chronically blasé. So if something about your life is boring you, change the specific context in which you act or exist.

While Sam Harris doesn't necessarily condone their use, his experimentations with psychedelic drugs were indelible in the formation of his worldview and understanding of consciousness. 

We’re facing and failing a global "Marshmallow Test." Even if not individually, we’ve become systemically less good at making smart now-vs.-later decisions. And economics isn’t helping — it advises "discounting" the future.  

And why do some of them appear to be right here in our own galaxy, which formed much later? Image credit: DSS, of SMSS J031300.36–670839.3, candidate for “oldest star.” “Let […]

STEM careers and technology start-ups are all the rage, but national labor statistics present a different reality: most job growth will occur in fields that require far different skill sets.

With Oscar Taveras on our minds, we remember another ballplayer who was taken much too young young. More than just a Hall of Fame outfielder, Roberto Clemente was a man committed to giving back. He died tragically at the age of 38 when a plane he chartered to deliver aid to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua crashed in the Caribbean Sea. "Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth."

Entrepreneurs who commit themselves to the trade, attempting to build another business if their first one (or two) fail are more likely to succeed. 

When IBM Chief Accessibility Officer Frances West sat down at a recent screening of “Gone Girl,” she immediately realized that something was wrong.  In the opening credits, there were “names […]

There’s a tendency to think of body language as an aspect of communication that gives us away – reveals our true meaning.  We consider words more manageable, more under the […]