Psychology
Memory champion explains how she memorizes 1,080 numbers in 30 minutes
Katie Kermode — a memory athlete with four world records — uses an ancient technique to memorize unfathomably long lists of information.
Mindfulness: New age craze or science-backed solution?
Research shows mindfulness can be an effective wellness practice, yet the effect sizes found in studies tend to be moderate.
Insomnia and mental disorders are linked, but exactly how is still a mystery
The relationship between insomnia and mental disorders is complex. It’s not just a case of “which comes first"?
The psychedelic DMT causes the brain to become hyperconnected, scans reveal
Researchers gave 20 healthy subjects potent, intravenous doses of the psychedelic DMT and observed their brains. Here's what they found.
Dumbing down or wising up: how will generative AI change the way we think?
Artificial intelligence tools are now managing huge swathes of information on our behalf, potentially changing what and how we think.
A short history of insomnia and how we became obsessed with sleep
Insomnia is big business and getting bigger. When did sleep become so important, so elusive, and so expensive?
MIT study shows AI conversations are more positive if users think AI is empathetic, negative if they think it’s nefarious
Study shows users can be primed to believe certain things about an AI chatbot’s motives, which influences their interactions with it.
After studying 850 hours of footage, this paper offers 3 rules for a great conversation
Good conversations leave a lasting impression. They are rewarding and enriching. Here's how to have more of them.
Study finds exactly how long people want to live: it isn’t forever
Most people prefer a shorter life if they have dementia, chronic pain, or are a burden to their families.
ChatGPT forces us to ask: how much of “being human” belongs to us?
Large language models have been trained on massive amounts of “natural” human language — just like us. Does this make the robots part human?