Buridan’s Ass illustration. Source. Share Give a gift subscription I read a useful paper titled “Irrational time allocation in decision-making.” At the start of the study, participants viewed images of different snack foods and indicated how much they would be … Read more
First-generation academics were always rare. Now they’re vanishing. Staff writer |AddFollow July 8, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT (John Bulmer/Popperfoto/Getty Images) Listen 8 min Comment on this story Comment Gift Article To understand critical issues facing the U.S. economy — … Read more
Why do we get a buzz from being in large groups at festivals, jubilees and other public events? According to the social brain hypothesis, it’s because the human brain specifically evolved to support social interactions. Studies have shown that belonging … Read more
“We are inextricably part of Europe,” Margaret Thatcher told Britain in 1975. “Neither Mr. Foot nor Mr. Benn”—the chief Brexiteers of the day—”nor anyone else will ever be able to take us ‘out of Europe,’ for Europe is where we … Read more
I don’t keep in touch with any friends from college, even the ones I hung out with for a majority of my time there. IMO for most people it goes the same way as earlier schooling periods; as people venture … Read more
Ask HN: People who use different emails everywhere, who sold you to spammers? 26 points by dyingkneepad 1 hour ago | hide | past | favorite | 40 comments I’ve heard a lot about people who have catch-all email accounts and … Read more
“It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and … Read more
People gathering around a tile stove. Die Bauern und die Zeitung, a painting by Albert Anker, 1867. These days, we provide thermal comfort in winter by heating the entire volume of air in a room or building. In earlier times, our … Read more
When I was young, I had a piggy bank. A piggy bank is incredibly secure. It’s fairly big – so it is hard to lose. It is brightly coloured – so you can find it easily. No one else can … Read more
I’ve just spent the past hour writing a blog post about why on earth certain websites have autoplaying videos that must cost them a fortune in bandwidth. And then it dawned on me. Video ads! I’ve been browsing the web … Read more