Human Behaviour
Human
The universal psychology lane. Stories about how people relate to one another, themselves, and the world — written for readers who are curious about why we behave the way we do. Sister section to Space Psychology.
Human Behaviour
The five Blue Zones share almost no genetics, no cuisine, and no religion — but every one of them walks, gardens, or farms into the ninth decade of life
Human Behaviour
Abraham Maslow placed self-actualisation at the top of his 1943 hierarchy, but late in life he added a level above it — self-transcendence — arguing the healthiest people stop keeping score of themselves entirely
Human Behaviour
Denmark's concept of hygge has no exact English equivalent: it describes a quality of warmth, safety, and unhurried togetherness that is often credited with some of the highest reported life-satisfaction scores measured anywhere in the world
Human Behaviour
Loneliness among older adults isn't rare — surveys find nearly half of people over 60 report it, and the standard advice to join a club rarely touches the pattern underneath
Human Behaviour
Good people are usually excellent at the responding half of connection — validating, listening, making others feel seen — while never offering anything vulnerable of their own, which is why they feel unknown in a room full of people who like them
Psychology
A Yale researcher found that people with a positive view of ageing lived roughly 7.5 years longer than those who didn't, a figure Yale itself framed as beating exercise and not smoking
Human Behaviour
In 2019, Victor Vescovo made the deepest solo dive in human history, descending nearly 11 kilometres into the Challenger Deep, and at the bottom of the ocean he reported seeing what looked like a plastic bag
Human Behaviour
Researchers who follow people into retirement keep finding the same curve: the first year feels like freedom, and somewhere around year two the loneliness arrives, once work invitations quietly thin out
Human Behaviour
Japan has a word for the kind of person who spends a lifetime perfecting one craft — shokunin — whether making sushi, knives, ramen, or pottery, and the culture treats that devotion not as obsession, but as a genuine respect for the work itself
Human Behaviour
The word 'meme' appeared in print for the first time in Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene, describing how ideas compete for survival the same way genes do — a metaphor so precise the internet proved it true 30 years later
Human Behaviour
We tend to think boy bands are made for teenage girls and forgotten just as fast — but BTS built a fan base far more mature and diverse than the stereotype, with many adult listeners describing the music as genuinely therapeutic
Human Behaviour
Brené Brown spent years studying vulnerability and found the barrier to being known is not the willingness to give — kind people give constantly — but the far harder act of letting someone see the parts you smooth over
Human Behaviour
In her research on shame and connection, Brené Brown reached a conclusion that reframes loneliness entirely: you cannot be fully known by people who are only ever looking for what they can take from you
Human Behaviour
Vitamin B12 is synthesised only by bacteria and archaea — and the human liver stores roughly a three-year supply before deficiency shows in the blood
Human Behaviour