One day you’re chopping down an unwanted palm tree, the next you’re flashing your machete through a dense forest in god knows where. The life of a tree hacker boasted plenty of travel opportunity, but not a lot of stability. Camille swung her weapon through yet another thicket. “We better be getting bonuses for this […]

Science has a problem.  Government research funding is on the decline and competition for this grant money is on the rise. A researcher must spend a large amount of his or her time trying to wrangle money from government agencies or private foundations to keep his or her lab afloat.  The commitment to writing grants […]

“Even insects express anger, terror, jealousy and love, by their stridulation.”— Charles Darwin (1) Of philosophers who study ethics, 60% rate meat-eating on the ‘immoral’ side of a value scale (compared to 19% of the general population; 2). Such a large discrepancy in beliefs between ethicists and the general population intrigued me. What are the […]

Is the resolve to be so scientific about everything perhaps a kind of fear of, an escape from, pessimism? – Friedrich Nietzsche In the first part of this article we examined contrasts in attitude and outlook between optimistic and pessimistic people and possible differences in the brain leading to these contrasts. The next question is, […]

Is your Facebook timeline as cluttered with Buzzfeed quizzes as mine is?  I have to admit a certain weakness for them- I just can’t resist the temptation to know which 90’s Heroine or Broad City character I am (answers: Ty from “Clueless” and Abbi).  These quizzes are just another iteration of the very human desire […]

A friend taps you on the shoulder but stands to your other side, so you turn to see no one there.  You reach for an object in a hall of mirrors, only to realize you’ve only touched its mirror image. You get tossed around by a wave and try to stand up, without realizing that […]

Do you ever have a strong craving for chocolate? Have you experienced an increase in these cravings in recent weeks, possibly induced by advertisements? I certainly have fallen to impulse-buys at the front of the grocery store in order to fulfill my cravings for the darkest of dark chocolate. They put those rows and rows […]

I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, but let’s face it- Valentine’s Day is all about pleasure.  Whether it comes from a special meal, a box of chocolates, a sappy card or a night with a significant other, millions of people devote time on their Valentine’s Day to things that please them.  So before you […]