How Political Opinions Change
A powerful shaping factor about our social and political worlds is how they are structured by group belonging and identities. For instance, researchers have found that moral and emotion messages on contentious political topics, such as gun-control and climate change, spread more rapidly within rather than between ideologically like-minded networks.
How Vladimir Putin Spends His Billions
Because of the shadowy nature of Russian economics, some even believe that Vladimir Putin is the wealthiest man on the planet, with a net worth in excess of 200 billion dollars. But most headlines focus on his high-profile international disputes and subterfuge. How does he spend his billions?
Pleas Of Insanity: The Mysterious Case Of Anthony Montwheeler
If Anthony Montwheeler does suffer from a mental illness, one that caused him to become extremely violent, how were the hospital staff and the review board so easily fooled? And, if he does not, why, a month after winning release, did he commit a senseless murder in the full view of multiple witnesses?
How Emotional Intelligence Boosts Your Endurance
People who test highly on emotional intelligence tend to be successful in many walks of life. What’s less clear is if testing someone’s emotional intelligence tells you something new about their prospects that you wouldn’t get from testing more traditional things like their IQ and “Big Five” personality traits.
Golden Dawn: The Rise And Fall Of Greece’s Neo-Nazis
A decade ago, violent racists exploited a national crisis and entered mainstream politics in Greece. The party has since been caught up in the biggest trial of Nazis since Nuremberg, and is now crumbling – but its success remains a warning.
The Courage To Be Yourself: E.E. Cummings On Art, Life, And Being Unafraid To Feel
E.E. Cummings (October 14, 1894–September 3, 1962) — an artist who never cowered from being his unconventional self. “To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.”
A Belief In Meritocracy Is Not Only False: It’s Bad For You
Meritocracy has become a leading social ideal. Politicians across the ideological spectrum continually return to the theme that the rewards of life – money, power, jobs, university admission – should be distributed according to skill and effort.
The Mystery Of The Millionaire Hermit
He spent years scrimping and saving. But without a will, where’s his money going? When someone dies without a will, family trees dictate where the money goes. Each state has its own method to determine the line of succession.
What Happens When Immigrant-Rights Advocates Reach A Breaking Point?
There has arguably never been a worse time to be an asylum seeker in the United States. This is due, in part, to an administration that has taken a xenophobic approach to immigration, with an openly hostile stance toward asylum seekers and their advocates.
How To Sketch Like An Architect
Follow along as Eric Reinholdt from 30X40 Design Workshop works through a few rough sketches for a new project. He discusses the key style points and techniques you can use to develop your own architectural sketching style. Each sketching vignette includes many tips.
The Last Ditch Attempt To Save The USSR, August Coup Of 1991
One of the most important events in the decline and fall of the USSR was the August Coup of 1991 which saw its Vice President attempt to overthrow its president, Mikhail Gorbachev. It didn’t go too well and was hastily planned but the fact that it ended peacefully is frankly nothing short of miraculous.
Mathematicians Have Solved Traffic Jams, And They’re Begging Cities To Listen
Traffic modeling is a complex branch of applied mathematics, partially because it assumes that drivers are selfish and pursuing their own goals, rather than any predictable or shared efforts.
Total Recall: The People Who Never Forget
Around 60 people in the world share a condition called “highly superior autobiographical memory”. They remember absolutely everything. The extremely rare condition may transform our understanding of memory.
Why Your Brain Hates Slowpokes
The high speed of society has jammed your internal clock. Not long ago I diagnosed myself with the recently identified condition of sidewalk rage. It’s most pronounced when it comes to a certain friend who is a slow walker.
Staring At A Digital Black Hole
On the morning of November 16, 2019, we, the exiled Iranians, woke up and like billions of other internet addicts in the world immediately checked our phones, only to realize that Iran had been cut off from the global internet.
Why Can’t The World’s Greatest Minds Solve The Mystery Of Consciousness?
Philosophers and scientists have been at war for decades over the question of what makes human beings more than complex robots. Why aren’t we just brilliant robots, capable of retaining information, of responding to noises and smells and hot saucepans, but dark inside, lacking an inner life?
How Not To Bomb Your Offer Negotiation
Most people think negotiating well is just looking the other person in the eye, appearing confident, and asking for tons of money. But being a good negotiator is a lot more subtle than that.
How Airlines Make Meals For Thousands Of People
For many people economy class used to mean soggy pasta, rubbery eggs and dried-out chicken. For a time U.S airlines even stopped serving free meals altogether in economy class. But in 2019 U.S. airlines posted their tenth straight year of profitability and premium and economy cabins are seeing more food options than ever before.
Why China Is Building Islands In The South China Sea
China is building islands in the South China Sea and its causing disputes among the other nations in the region; Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and Indonesia. To truly understand the international conflicts and trends shaping our world you need a big-picture view.
Are Rich People Heartless?
According to Chris Ryan, the author of ‘Civilized to Death: the price of progress’, rich people have the tendency to distance themselves from people because of their wealth differential.
The Radioactive ‘Capital’ Of The World
Jachymov, a small uranium mining town in the northwest of the Czech Republic, has been key in the field of radioactivity research. More than a century ago, Marie and Pierre Curie based their revolutionary work on radioactivity on material brought from there.