A taste for sweet – an anthropologist explains the evolutionary origins of why you're programmed to love sugar

If you ever feel like you can’t stop eating sugar, you are responding precisely as programmed by natural selection. What was once an evolutionary advantage has a different effect today.

Stephen Wooding, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Heritage Studies, University of California, Merced • conversation
Jan. 5, 2022 ~9 min

You might be underestimating strangers’ interest in your life

New research suggests that people are more interested in the lives of strangers than you might think and we can have better conversation by going deeper.

Molly Dannenmaier-UT Austin • futurity
Nov. 19, 2021 ~7 min


Misremembering might actually be a sign your memory is working optimally

Errors don’t necessarily mean your mind is faulty. They may actually be a sign of a cognitive system with limited capacity working efficiently.

Robert Jacobs, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester • conversation
Nov. 19, 2021 ~10 min

Disinformation is spreading beyond the realm of spycraft to become a shady industry – lessons from South Korea

Disinformation is being privatized around the world. This new industry is built on a dangerous combination of cheap labor, high-tech algorithms and emotional national narratives.

K. Hazel Kwon, Associate Professor of Journalism and Digital Audiences, Arizona State University • conversation
Nov. 15, 2021 ~9 min

Adults aren’t great at discerning kid emotions

A new tool assesses how well people recognize emotion in elementary school-aged children. It seems adults aren't very good at it.

Matt Shipman-NC State • futurity
Nov. 3, 2021 ~4 min

The 2021 Nobel Prize for medicine helps unravel mysteries about how the body senses temperature and pressure

The joint award recognizes the long road to deciphering the biology behind the brain’s ability to sense its surroundings – work that paves the way for a number of medical and biological breakthroughs.

Steven D. Munger, Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Florida • conversation
Oct. 5, 2021 ~9 min

Emotion is a big part of how you assess risk – and why it's so hard to be objective about pandemic precautions

How you respond to a risk depends on how you weigh the costs and benefits of an action. The problem is you’re not just a logical computer, and emotions bias your interpretation of the facts.

Sheldon H. Jacobson, Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • conversation
Aug. 12, 2021 ~9 min

Our analysis of 7 months of polling data shows friendships, the economy and firsthand experience shaped and reshaped views on COVID-19 risks

Multiple factors determined whether or not individual Americans adopted COVID-19 safety measures, according to statistical analysis of public opinion data.

Feng Hao, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of South Florida • conversation
July 22, 2021 ~7 min


Try it: Illusion shows how your brain ‘connects the dots’

An illusion shows "how the brain 'connects the dots' to create a subjective reality in what we see, highlighting the constructive nature of perception."

James Devitt-NYU • futurity
June 30, 2021 ~5 min

Your brain plays ‘tricks’ to sync sights and sounds

Light and sound move at different speeds. To make sense of the sights and sounds around you, your brain has a few tricks to account for the difference.

Shawn Hayward-McGill • futurity
May 11, 2021 ~7 min

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