u/Non-Conventionnel-77

Excerpt from the first part of the article:

Repeated physical activity builds endurance by triggering widespread adaptations throughout the human body, but a new study reveals that the brain actually directs these physiological changes. Researchers found that activating a specific cluster of brain cells immediately after a workout is required for mice to increase their physical stamina over time. This discovery flips the traditional view of exercise physiology by showing that structural changes in the brain drive muscle adaptations, rather than just reflecting them. The findings were published in the journal Neuron.

Excerpt from the first part of the article:

Repeated physical activity builds endurance by triggering widespread adaptations throughout the human body, but a new study reveals that the brain actually directs these physiological changes. Researchers found that activating a specific cluster of brain cells immediately after a workout is required for mice to increase their physical stamina over time. This discovery flips the traditional view of exercise physiology by showing that structural changes in the brain drive muscle adaptations, rather than just reflecting them. The findings were published in the journal Neuron.

Excerpt from the first part of the article:

Deception Island is a "spectacular amphitheatre of penguinness". Amid rusting industrial remains on a flooded active volcano, these photos reveal a rare winner of climate change.

Lopsided whale oil tanks sank into the dark sand. Ancient wooden boats slowly decayed in the brutal Antarctic weather.

Deception Island's whaling and sealing industries had long since been abandoned when Romain Barats arrived. The island he saw was one where the tables had turned: animals now ruled.

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai for providing a solution to the chemical mystery of life's asymmetry.

The researchers discovered how nature exclusively makes the correct version of a molecule - rather than its mirror image.

For example, amino acid molecules, the building blocks of proteins, exist as two forms that are each other's mirror image.

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A recent study of incarcerated individuals reveals that grandiose, narcissistic personality traits are closely linked to psychopathic tendencies, partially because people with these traits use manipulative strategies to navigate prison environments. This direct relationship between narcissism and psychopathy is especially pronounced in incarcerated women. The research was published in Psychology, Crime & Law.

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Therapist training spends a lot of time talking about the importance of building rapport with clients. But rapport isn’t just for therapists: good salespeople and businesspeople, even dating sites, talk about the same skills. Rapport means building a solid relationship with someone new by helping them feel at ease and, through verbal and nonverbal cues, creating first impressions that foster connection rather than distance.

Here are seven therapist-textbook tips to add to your rapport-building repertoire:

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Autism spectrum disorder affects how people communicate, interact with others, and experience the sensory world. The condition is also defined by restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. Over the past few decades, the number of people diagnosed with this condition has grown at an astonishing rate. To the general public, this steep upward curve often looks like an epidemic.

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Most accounts of medical gaslighting follow the same arc: A patient presents with symptoms, they are dismissed, told it is stress, told the tests are normal, told to come back if things get worse. They leave without answers, sometimes wondering whether they imagined the whole thing. Eventually, perhaps years later, a diagnosis arrives that confirms what they had been saying all along.

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For centuries, this tiny Norwegian island sheltered fishermen from violent seas. Now one woman is using tourism to revive it – and offer travellers refuge from modern life.

The day before I travel to Støtt, a tiny Norwegian archipelago just north of the Arctic Circle, an artist tells me a local legend about fishermen caught in the grip of vicious winter storms. "Sometimes, everyone drowned," he says. "But sometimes, an island rose out of the mist, like magic, to save you."

For generations, Støtt was a refuge. Fishing boats blown off course in the Norwegian Sea could shelter here, while a trading post on Innerstøtt, the largest of Støtt's three inhabited islands, supplied fishermen heading north to the rich Arctic cod grounds of Lofoten. 

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We blame nature, we blame God, and we blame our enemies, spouses, and ourselves. We even blame politicians for never taking the blame!

We use blame for the regulation of feelings, the reparation of harm, and the restoration of order on personal, interpersonal, and broadly social levels.

In the best of circumstances, blame for wrongdoing, once acknowledged, results in apology, concessions to meet the demands of restorative justice, or punishment to meet the demands of retributive justice.

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It's official: Millennials are entering our midlife crisis era. But in true millennial fashion, we’re doing it our own way. We're not buying sports cars or cheating; we’re joining car shares and exploring polyamory.

Compared to previous generations, millennials have less time and resources, and more anxiety and malaise. We grew up on and alongside the internet (boy has that guy changed!). We’re a generation shaped by economic uncertainty and environmental catastrophe. We’re eager to redefine work and family. The changes to these defining life elements mean the old midlife crisis model just doesn’t work for us.

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Two enormous genetic studies have reopened one of addiction psychiatry’s oldest debates: Is the "addictive personality" a valid concept?

In September 2026, Ted Schwaba and colleagues analyzed the genetics of the Big Five personality traits in 1.14 million people. They identified 1,260 associated genetic variants, including 824 that had not been reported before. Some genetic signals overlapped with substance use. Genetic liability to conscientiousness was correlated with less substance use across substances. Higher neuroticism was linked with several substance outcomes, especially alcohol dependence. Higher agreeableness was generally protective against addiction.

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Yesterday was World Peace Day. I spent it thinking about a message my cousin sent me from Tehran earlier this year.

After President Trump warned Iran that if the Strait of Hormuz wasn't opened "you'll be living in hell," I wrote to her pleading for her family to leave the city. She's in her twenties. She wrote back:

"Tonight is a difficult night for us, pray for us, the sounds are really loud, I hope the war ends as soon as possible."

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I recently learned of a highly-acclaimed book by force-free dog trainer Simon Wooler titled More Than Just a Dog: Understanding, loving and living with dogs: An essential guide for humans. Among Wooler's goals is for people to form deep, respectful, and reciprocal bonds with dogs by demystifying the science behind dog behavior—a goal I fully share—and to educate them and explain how they learn, how they tell us what they want and need from us, and the factors that influence the sort of relationship they form with us. Here's some sage advice for making meaningful connections with our canine companions and for them to return the favor.

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Psychologists have known for decades that a sense of purpose brings significant benefits, both physically and psychologically. People with a strong sense of purpose tend to be healthier, to live for longer, and to suffer from lower levels of stress, depression, and addiction.

However, less attention has been paid to different types of purpose, and their effects. I recently led a research project on this topic at my university. In a new paper published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, we report the findings of a survey of 528 people, in which we investigated whether it is possible to identify different types of purpose, and whether they had different effects. We examined how different types of purpose were associated with happiness, age and gender, and found that significant differences did exist.^(1)

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As a general rule, most people would rather be happy than unhappy. The trick is to figure out how to maximize the pleasure-pain ratio.

According to the so-called “paradox of happiness,” the more you seek happiness, the more elusive it becomes. How, then, can you get to your desired outcome without falling prey to this impossibility?

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Social media is often seen as a mirror for human cruelty. One man built a TikTok army of 500,000 to fix it. Their weapon: kindness.

Everyday, Laura Tigeleiro of Staten Island, New York, would open TikTok to sea of hatred. "Everyone was making fun of my eye," she says.

Tigeleiro has multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that's made one of her piercing blue eyes droop sideways. "I just wanted to share healthy recipes, and maybe make some friends," she says. "But they said terrible things. It really hurt." Then, last March, her phone exploded, and everything changed.