What if your deepest fears, most destructive behaviors, and worst failures aren’t your fault? A new area of scientific research called epigenetics suggests that the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and earlier ancestors may manifest in our daily lives. Any repeating pattern of emotion, including depression and anxiety, may be a tendency you inherited from […]
The Dark Side of Meditation
The path to enlightenment isn’t always easy. Enthusiasts often focus on the inspirational side of meditation. But here’s a dirty little secret: there will be times when meditation will make you feel afraid, almost as though you’re going to fall off the edge of the world. Fear is a natural part of life. The purpose […]
Go Against the Grain
You don’t need a coach to eat right. Humans have known what to eat for most of human history. So why, all the sudden, do some people seem to need nutritionists and scientists to tell them what to do? The answer is: we don’t. For the most part, nutritionists profit from our confusion. And the […]
Extreme Sports with Wim Hof
Have you heard of the Iceman? Wim Hof is a Dutch athlete who has set records for enduring freezing temperatures, swimming under ice, and running barefoot on ice and snow. Hof has been enduring extreme conditions since birth, living dangerously from his very first moments. Hof was a twin, but doctors didn’t know that his […]
Kill Your Anxiety
There’s a lot to be worried about these days. But you don’t have to psychoanalyze all that fear and negativity to feel better. A quick study of the biological basis of anxiety can help you feel better fast. Two parts of the brain are critical to the production of anxiety: the cortex and the amygdala. The […]
The Worst Pandemic in Modern History
Piles of bodies. Coffin shortages. Mass graves. The great influenza pandemic infected roughly one in three people—and killed tens of millions of victims around the world. The virus was, in many ways, something that nobody in the medical field had seen before. Victims experienced symptoms so suddenly, and so violently, that many could pinpoint the […]
The Secret Force that Shapes Our Lives
Liars use math to trick people all the time. Knowing how to spot the potential for deception is half the battle. In The Math of Life and Death, mathematician Kit Yates demonstrates how math underpins everything from medical screening to newspaper articles. In articles and advertisements, for example, statistics might be used to inform or mislead readers. How […]
A New Threat Against Kids
Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician, was running a free clinic in a poor neighborhood in San Francisco when she made a horrible discovery. It had already been widely documented that poor communities have suboptimal health outcomes. But Harris’s realization went a step farther: she realized there was a harrowing connection between childhood trauma and medical […]
Is Aging a Disease?
The biology of aging is one of the most exciting frontiers in science. But since aging is not widely considered a disease, medical research funds are rarely dedicated to aging-related projects. Longevity specialist Dr. David Sinclair sees things differently. In his opinion, aging is a disease that will eventually be treatable. What can we do […]
Why the Pandemic Didn’t Change Anything
COVID-19 didn’t really change anything, according to Scott Galloway. It just accelerated existing trends. Tech companies like Amazon and Netflix that dominated their industries pre-pandemic are even more popular (and profitable) now. As you may have heard, Jeff Bezos increased his fortune by more than $35 billion in a single month. That’s all well and […]