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Mice, Men, and Fate
The New Yorker: Almost fifteen years ago, in a book called “Chance, Development, and Aging,” the gerontologists Caleb Finch and Thomas Kirkwood described a truly elegant study of biology: a batch of roundworms, all genetically identical, raised on identical diets of agar. Despite having identical genetics and near-identical environments, some worms lived far longer than others. The lesson? The classical equation of “life = nature + nurture” had left out chance. Of course, that was just worms.
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Shaking Off Loneliness
The New York Times: I now know why I gained more than 30 pounds in my early 20s: I was lonely. I had left my beloved alma mater upstate for graduate school and a job in the Upper Midwest. I knew no one and felt like a fish out of water. I filled my lonely nights and days with — you guessed it — food. Anything I could get my hands on, especially candy, cookies and ice cream. Food filled the hole in my soul, at least temporarily. No matter how hard I tried, I could not rein in my out-of-control eating until I returned to New York and my family, and began dating my future husband. Loneliness, says John T.
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A Good Meal: The Science of Savoring
The Huffington Post: There's nothing I like more than sharing a good meal with friends and family. I like everything about it -- the shopping for fresh ingredients, the chopping and cooking, and most of all, the mindful savoring and good conversation at the table. If I have time. Which I don't many days, and I confess that on those days, dinner is often as not a salad or sandwich on my lap, as I watch NCIS reruns. I know this is a bad habit, but it's just easier not to fuss. A lot of people are opting out of traditional meals in this way. Indeed, one study says that more than half of Americans' meals are now eaten in a room with the TV on.
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When Helping Hurts
The New York Times: AMERICAN parents are more involved in our children’s lives than ever: we schedule play dates, assist with homework and even choose college courses. We know that all of this assistance has costs — depleted bank balances, constricted social lives — but we endure them happily, believing we are doing what is best for our children. What if, however, the costs included harming our children? That unsettling possibility is suggested by a paper published in February in the American Sociological Review. The study, led by the sociologist Laura T.
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Happiness is the best medicine
Salon: We’ve all experienced downward spirals, in which dark emotions lead to destructive behavior that damages our health, strains our relationships, and leaves us feeling even worse than when we started. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an uplifting equivalent to that destructive chain of events? Newly published research suggests there is. What’s more, this delightful dynamic helps explain the well-documented link between joy, appreciation, and good health.
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Fierce beliefs: built on ignorance
The Boston Globe: Do you have a strong opinion about Obamacare? Great. Now, please explain how it works. If that question gives you pause, it might also serve a purpose: A new study suggests that the intense political polarization affecting this country depends on ignorance, and that drawing our attention to how little we know could actually help us get along. Researchers asked people to indicate their position on one of several policies (e.g., cap and trade, flat tax) and then asked them to explain the mechanics of how the policy worked or didn’t work. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
