In September of last year, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas petitioned the United Nations for full membership in the world body. For many Palestinians, this event was a potent and long-overdue symbol of their statehood, a cause for celebration. For many Jewish Israelis, the Palestinians’ bid was a betrayal of the More
Nobody likes to feel bad. Sadness saps our energy and motivation. Melancholy wrecks our health and invites disease. Misery leaves us—well, miserable. Yet many experts believe that these negative emotions have an upside, that they clarify our thinking and foster more deliberate and careful decision making. Some even say that More
While watching TV this weekend, I happened on a gruesomely powerful anti-smoking advertisement. It featured former smokers who were missing body parts—a woman with missing fingers and a handsome young man with two prosthetic devices where his lower legs used to be. Both talked matter-of-factly about their permanent disabilities, which More
I love reading accounts of the West Wing’s inner workings, because they are studies in the quirkiness of human psychology. Presidents and their trusted staffs always arrive in the White House with a unified message and team spirit, and they inevitably disintegrate into factions—ideological purists and pragmatists, seasoned vets and More
Researchers investigate how dualists, who view the body as separate and independent from the mind, tend to see their bodies and, specifically, their fitness and health. More
The oldest geyser in Yellowstone National Park is: a. Steamboat Geyser b. Old Faithful c. Castle Geyser d. Daisy Geyser We’ve all answered hundreds if not thousands of these multiple-choice questions over the years. We answer them to get our drivers’ licenses, to get into good colleges and grad schools More
