What Are The Chances You'll Die In A Plane Crash?
Adults Life Transportation TravelPlanes are incredibly safe, so these are the reasons you shouldn't worry next time you fly.
The Importance of Vulnerability
Adults Psychology RelationshipsWe often imagine that what will win us friends and esteem is strength. But surprisingly, it's vulnerability that's at the core of friendship and likeability. This is an invitation to make friends with one's own weaknesses.
How To Open Coconuts Without Any Tools
Adults Creativity FoodIf you're not a coconut cracking ninja from Samoa, then you'll need an easier way to bust coconuts for pleasure, or for survival. This is the easiest and most effective way I've found to do it, when you don't have any tools.
Why do we harvest horseshoe crab blood? - Elizabeth Cox
Adults Animals Nature ScienceDuring the warmer months, especially at night during the full moon, horseshoe crabs emerge from the sea to spawn. Waiting for them are teams of lab workers, who capture the horseshoe crabs by the hundreds of thousands, take them to labs, harvest their cerulean blood, then return them to the sea. Why? Elizabeth Cox illuminates the incredible properties of horseshoe crab blood.
Do You Really Have Two Brains?
Adults Biology Human NeuroscienceAre you a left-brained person or a right-brained person? Spoiler: You're neither. Each of us uses both sides of our brain for most of what we do. But still, there are a number of brain functions that do show lateralization, where they are localized to one side or another. Why is this? And how does it influence our definition of consciousness? People with "split brains" can help us figure it out.
I Talked Behind My Best Friend's Back
Adults Relationships SocietyWhen Shannon first got to her new school in third grade, she was on her own, lonely, and the other kids seemed to think she was weird - until, finally, she met a great group of girls - five of them - and they all became the best of friends.
How to Make Life-Changingly Good Cream Puffs | From the Test Kitchen
Adults Creativity FoodThe cream puff is the Eiffel Tower of Parisian pastries: iconic, beloved, and displayed everywhere. The recipe is so irrefutably timeless that even Pierre Herme, France's most famous (and endlessly innovative) pastry chef, still uses the formula he learned as a 14-year-old apprentice.
Three anti-social skills to improve your writing - Nadia Kalman
Adults Art Books CreativityYou need social skills to have a conversation in real life -- but they're quite different from the skills you need to write good dialogue. Educator Nadia Kalman suggests a few "anti-social skills," like eavesdropping and muttering to yourself, that can help you write an effective dialogue for your next story.
How to solve problems like a designer
Adults Creativity Design Visual DesignThe design process for problem-solving, in 4 steps.
What's the definition of comedy? Banana. - Addison Anderson
Adults Creativity Humor PsychologyWhat makes us giggle and guffaw? The inability to define comedy is its very appeal; it is defined by its defiance of definition. Addison Anderson riffs on the philosophy of Henri Bergson and Aristotle to elucidate how a definition draws borders while comedy breaks them down.
In on a secret? That's dramatic irony - Christopher Warner
Adults Creativity FilmYou're in a movie theater, watching the new horror flick. The audience knows something that the main character does not. The audience sees the character's actions are not in his best interest. What's that feeling -- the one that makes you want to shout at the screen? Christopher Warner identifies this storytelling device as dramatic irony.
Situational irony: The opposite of what you think - Christopher Warner
Adults Creativity HumorLeaps and bounds separate that which is ironic and that which many people simply say is ironic. Christopher Warner wants to set the record straight: Something is ironic if and only if it is the exact opposite of what you would expect.
A brief history of banned numbers - Alessandra King
Adults History MathThey say the pen is mightier than the sword, and authorities have often agreed. From outlawed religious tracts and revolutionary manifestos to censored and burned books, we know the potential power of words to overturn the social order. But as strange as it may seem, some numbers have also been considered dangerous enough to ban. Alessandra King details the history behind illegal numbers.
What is verbal irony? - Christopher Warner
Adults Creativity HumorAt face value, the lines between verbal irony, sarcasm, and compliments can be blurry. After all, the phrase 'That looks nice' could be all three depending on the circumstances. In the final of a three part series on irony, Christopher Warner gets into the irony you may use most often and most casually: verbal irony.
Overcoming obstacles - Steven Claunch
Adults Disability Psychology SocietyWhen faced with a bump in the road, sometimes we forget we have a choice: overcome the obstacle or let it overcome you. Steven Claunch, who was born without fingers on his right hand and with one leg shorter than the other and has excelled in basketball nonetheless, explains why obstacles can provide an opportunity to both inspire others and develop character.