Have you ever wondered what happens at the dry cleaners? Or are you like me, who just assumed the people at the dry cleaners were wizards and never questioned their magic? Turns out, dry cleaners aren’t magic and there’s actually a pretty interesting explanation of how they came to be and what they do. Melissa […]
When you’re a rideshare driver, passengers leave a lot of things in your back seat. According to Uber, the most common items left in vehicles in 2023 were clothing, phones, backpacks and purses, wallets, headphones, jewelry, keys, books, laptops and watches. The strangest things left in Ubers in 2023 were a Danny DeVito Christmas ornament, […]
From the earliest cave paintings to the statue of David, the human ability and desire to create art is one of our most enduring characteristics. Over the millennia, people have used countless forms and mediums to reflect the world and ourselves back at us, and just when you think people must have exhausted the possibilities, […]
“Hey man, I know today was rough. I’m really sorry. I heard it was a doozy. It started a lot earlier than it should have. I guess you could say the previous day never really ended. You put your daughter down for bed around 8 p.m., like usual. You scarfed some food and chugged some […]
Stressed? Of course you are. Luckily for you, and the entire U.S. population, scientists believe they may have identified the most relaxing song in the world. Music has forever been associated with bringing about relaxation, happiness, and serenity — whether it’s a Gregorian chant or some Enya accompanied by a glass of merlot. Neuroscientists in […]
Imagine you’re working at a school and one of the kids is starting to act up. What do you do? Traditionally, the answer would be to give the unruly kid detention or suspension. But in my memory, detention tended to involve staring at walls, bored out of my mind, trying to either surreptitiously talk to […]
This is not news: America does pretty badly when it goes up against other countries academically. This is true even if we take it one state at a time—no single state, no matter how wealthy or small, matches the top scoring countries. And yet, the U.S. spends more per student than many other countries in […]
It’s amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to […]
Have you ever ridden in an Uber or a Lyft and had the driver talk a lot when you felt like being quiet? Or not say a word when you tried to make conversation? Or play music you found annoying? When you hop into a driver’s car, it’s a crapshoot what kind of ride you’re […]
Many people don’t like small talk because it forces them to have conversations about trivial topics such as the weather, what they saw on TV the night before, or their weekend plans. Other people don’t like it because it causes them anxiety to talk with someone they may not know well. Either way, research shows […]