The Surprising Psychology Of Dieting And Plate Design
You’ve probably heard the idea that using smaller plates and bowls can affect your perception of how much you’re eating, thereby helping you eat less. But how well does it work? A new study sheds light on that popular theory, finding that if you’re really hungry, it doesn’t work.

The Rise Of The “Ghost Kitchen” Could Change The Restaurant Delivery Game
Meet the virtual restaurant, or “ghost kitchen,” a business that distributes meals through apps, but has no sit-down, brick and mortar location. Delivery-only restaurants, run out of low-rent kitchens without a storefront, are shifting the landscape of ordering food online.

How Philadelphia Became The One And Only Cream Cheese
There is only one cream cheese, and that is the brick-shaped silver package with the bright blue lettering: Philadelphia. Philadelphia cream cheese’s dominance isn’t a happy accident. Its cult popularity is likely the result of equal parts clever marketing and good timing.

How To Find Your Purpose And Do What You Love
Why prestige is the enemy of passion, or how to master the balance of setting boundaries and making friends. Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. It causes you to work not on what you like, but what you’d like to like.

The Unhealthy Truth Behind ‘Wellness’ And ‘Clean Eating’
I thought about food all day; I woke up at night thinking about sausage rolls, pizza, roast chicken with crisp, lemon-rubbed skin. Food friends and foes drew into two distinct camps in my mind, and I saw ill-health at every turn and in every mouthful. I became fearful and thin. I had found wellness. I was not well.

The Tricky Economics Of All-You-Can-Eat Buffets
For a small fee, you’re granted unencumbered access to a wonderland of gluttony. Is it possible to out-eat the price you pay for a buffet? How do these places make money? We looked at the dollars and cents behind the meat and potatoes.

The Dark History Of How Coffee Took Over The World
Four hundred years ago, Coffea arabica, a tropical shrub bearing glossy green leaves and bright-red berries, was virtually unknown outside of the Arab world and the corner of Ethiopia where it had been discovered in the ninth century.

Baker Uses Focaccia Bread As Her Canvas For Vibrant Van Gogh-Inspired Art
Teri Culletto, aka the Vineyard Baker, creates art with focaccia bread as her canvas. Using fresh herbs and vegetables, she has crafted a series of Vincent van Gogh-inspired loaves she calls Van Dough that features floral imagery as both a way to add surface decoration and flavors to her baking.

What Separates Champions From ‘Almost Champions’?
For a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, talent development researchers Dave Collins, Áine MacNamara, and Neil McCarthy examined the differences between athletes who overcame adversity and went on to become world-class and those who struggled in the face of hardship.

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.

How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation
We’re spoiled, entitled, lazy, and failures at what’s come to be known as “adulting,” a word invented by millennials as a catchall for the tasks of self-sufficient existence. I couldn’t figure out why small, straightforward tasks on my to-do list felt so impossible. The answer is both more complex and far simpler than I expected.

How Campbell’s Soup Changed Tomatoes’ DNA For The Worse
The perfect tomato to eat is red, plump, juicy, and bursting with flavor. When mass-produced, tomatoes also have to be easy to remove from the vine. That is why the Campbell Soup Company cultivated a variety with a genetic mutation more than a half-century ago.

Self Control Is Overrated. Willpower Is Too.
Psychologists are shying away from the concept, as years of work suggesting that willpower is a finite, essential resource has come under intense scrutiny. In a specific situation, sure, you can muster willpower to save yourself from falling back into a bad habit.

Rural America Is In The Midst Of A Mental Health Crisis. Tech Could Help.
Too many Americans don’t have access to sufficient mental health support. A large reason for this disparity is that physicians aren’t moving to rural areas, but innovative partnerships are helping bridge the gap for some patients.

Guatemala Is The Land Of Unknown Ancient Food Traditions
Guatemala remains one of the Western Hemisphere’s last true culinary terrae incognitae. Due to centuries of isolation in the volcano-strewn highlands, many members of the 23 distinct Maya groups in rural Guatemala still wear the same outfits that their great-great-great-great-grandparents did.

Why A Struggling Rust Belt City Pinned Its Revival On A Self-chilling Beverage Can
Welcome to Youngstown, Ohio, home of Chill-Can, the self-chilling beverage container you’ve probably never heard of. Officials have gambled millions of dollars and demolished a neighborhood for the product. Not one job has been created yet.

Artist Creates Daily Toast Designs Inspired By Japanese Traditions
For Japanese designer Manami Sasaki, making toast is a time to slow down and get creative. Every morning, she’s been using slices of bread as her canvas to create incredible breakfasts that look too pretty to eat.

How I Rewired My Brain To Become Fluent In Math
Having a basic, deep-seated fluency in math and science—not just an “understanding,” is critical. The “fluency” part of me that loved literature and language was also the same part of me that ultimately fell in love with math and science—and transformed and enriched my life.

A Vision For Agriculture
Allowing cows out to harvest their own feed and spread their own manure is the most profitable means of producing meat and milk. But, somehow, agricultural science has encouraged farmers to mount a treadmill of increasing yields of milk or meat by increasing the amount of production per unit input.

Learn How To Avoid Distraction In A World That Is Full Of It
If distraction becomes a habit, we are unable to sustain the focus required for creativity in our professional and personal lives. Worse, if we are constantly pulled away from friends and family by distractions, we miss out on cultivating the relationships we need for our psychological well-being.

The Most Pessimistic Town In The World
Puolanka, a small town in the centre of Finland, had become famous for its particular brand of pessimism. Recurring themes are town’s declining population and lack of much to do.