Ever feel your phone buzz in your pocket—only to check and find nothing there? It feels completely real, and it happens to just about everyone. But it’s not your phone—it’s your brain playing a trick on you. ⁠https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201305/phantom-pocket-vibration-syndrome⁠ (more…)

If you ever feel a wave of anxiety or that vague sense of dread, your first instinct probably isn’t to reach for a pain reliever. But there’s evidence that something you already have in your medicine cabinet may affect more than just physical pain—and the reason why is surprisingly unexpected. ⁠https://www.livescience.com/28770-tylenol-eases-existential-dread.html⁠ (more…)

What makes someone—or something—attractive? It may have less to do with beauty and more to do with how easily your brain can process what you’re seeing. There’s a hidden pattern behind what we find appealing, and it shows up in more places than you might expect. ⁠https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3130383/?utm⁠ (more…)

Being a little skeptical can feel smart. After all, cynics pride themselves on “seeing things as they really are”—not getting fooled, not trusting too easily. But is that actually true? Or does cynicism quietly distort the way you see other people and the world? (more…)

What if you followed people for 80 years—tracking their health, happiness, and relationships over a lifetime? That’s exactly what one of the longest-running studies ever has done, and what it reveals about how to live a good life may not be what you expect. ⁠https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org/⁠ (more…)