Up to 20 percent of people across the globe suffer annually from some form of seasonal affective disorder — better known by the acronym SAD — during the fall and winter months. Fortunately, feeling down during these seasons is for the most part manageable. Here are a few ways to stay upbeat
Posts by Earl Meagan
Why We’re Bad at Fact-Checking Those April Fools’ Day Stories
We might live in the Information Age — but this doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve become smarter. Instead, we end up finding ourselves bombarded daily with more information than the human brain can possibly hope to process. It’s just a matter of checking your iPhone to look things up, as if we no longer have to commit facts to memory
Discovering Happiness By The Numbers
Are you happy? Fewer questions are more open-ended or catch us by surprise than this one. How happy should we be and how often? Our usual instinct is to say “yes” — but we probably answer more reluctantly than usual. It’s a moment when it’s almost impossible to not compare the life
Forging Ahead Together: Margaret Heffernan on Group Success
The road to success seems obvious — plenty of hard work and a goal to rise to the top. It may be intuitive, but is it accurate? Margaret Heffernan, an international businesswoman, believes that true success may require thinking outside the box for answers, something she discusses
4 Tips To Overcome The Stress Of A New Job
There are few happier feelings than the moment you finally get the phone call or acceptance letter. You got the job you’ve been agonizing over for weeks and soon you’ll be taking home a new paycheck. Yet, on the night before your first day, or maybe after the first round of job training, you might begin
Mob Mentality: The Madness of the Crowd
While we probably dread the long lines on the city commute home from work, we’ll probably shuffle through the line, watching each other for directions and social cues. On any given day, you may find yourself trusting a random stranger for directions more than a bus station timetable or a gateway sign.
How To Make The Hard Choices: An Interview with Dr. Ruth Chang
Ruth Chang is a professor of analytic philosophy at Rutgers University, where her areas of interest include decision-making and the immeasurability of values. In May 2014, Dr. Chang gave a TED Talks presentation focusing on the problem of personal dilemmas, entitled “How to Make Hard Choices,” which
Falling Out of Focus: What Science Says About ADHD
I typically wake up when my iPhone reads 8:42 a.m. A full minute later, I’m scanning my inbox on my phone, checking for new messages. I might get lucky and find a few worth responding to, and maybe I will write back right then and there, but, more likely, I’ll start a new draft of my reply
Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do
Jeremy Bailenson, a communications professor at Stanford and the founder of the Virtual Human Interactive Lab, demonstrates why the conventional attitude toward VR should change alongside the rapidly advancing technology. In “Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do,”
Joy And How to Find It (Where You Might Be Overlooking)
Joy is not in things; it is in us. It sounds simple enough — but it’s an aphorism that’s all too easy to forget as we live our day-to-day lives. Too many moments are spent simply trying to make ends meet — even when we think that promotion or that new apartment is bound to make us happier, more content
Why Do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories?
It’s more common than you think. According to a recent study, nearly half of all Americans believe in some conspiracy theory or other, although some are more vocal than others. So why is that? Can they all be wrong?
Socializing Via Networks: Using Social Media Wisely
The world is a much different place than it was when Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook in late 2004 — and much of it wouldn’t be changed without his pet project that gradually spread from college campus networks to
Having Good Chemistry: How Being in Love Changes The Brain
Rarely do you find love ballads that mention the brain, the very organ that drives us to seek out romantic relationships in the first place, playing a major role in how we select romantic partners and are forever changed as a result of falling in love. Evidently, love affects our brain, and in some ways its thrill changes the structure
Assimilated: The Clout of Cults on Identity
As he told it, Ron lived epic. As a youth, he befriended Calvin Coolidge Jr., the son of the president, became a full blood brother of the Pikuni tribe, and won a string of navy battles in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters respectively during World War II. After the war, he pursued his love of writing full time
Not Fading Away: 6 Ways to Age Gracefully
The legendary film star Bette Davis once lamented, “Getting old is not for sissies.” She may have been right. As we advance in years, we come to terms with the idea that we won’t be around forever, that the days are inevitably passing us by. The good news is that you need not despair