Healthy buildings make you smarter—and sleep better, research shows
We are familiar with the sick building syndrome. So it shouldn’t surprise us that it works the other way around as well: People working in green buildings think better in the office and sleep better when they get home. Improved light, ventilation and heat control can boost workers’ productivity Read More...
The scientific evidence that apple cider vinegar supports your health
Apple cider vinegar can do a lot for your health. And there is some solid research to back up these health benefits. It helps to regulate blood sugar and it turns on genes that trigger enzymes to break down fat and prevent weight Read More...
Why some stress is good for you
Research shows early experience of trauma can disrupt the brain's stress response, affecting the amygdala (the brain’s alarm system), hippocampus (verbal memory center), prefrontal cortex (the CEO of the brain and stress regulator). These changes make people with too much early trauma more Read More...
I read 15 books this year on happiness, productivity, and success
The bad thing is that one time a stack of said books collapsed on my desk neighbor. Without a doubt, the books that moved me most this year focused on psychology and behavioral science — and as 2016 draws to a close, I'm reflecting on everything I learned. Below, I've rounded up the most Read More...
Plant proteins, healthy fats and more 2017 food trends
If the food trends of 2016 could be summed up in three words, they would be: protein, paleo and local. What food trends will we be seeing in 2017? At the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Boston in October, I was among more than 10,000 nutrition professionals who got an inside scoop on the Read More...
What the humble turnip can teach us about economic growth
Remember how the turnip triggered the Industrial Revolution and lifted millions out of poverty? In England, in the early 1700s, fields were increasingly “plow sick” — they had exhausted their fertility. Farmers had to let them lie fallow to restore nutrients to the soil. But then, farmers Read More...
‘Economics profession is obsessed with the wrong things and not helping people’
The profession of economics should guide society how best to use available resources to create an optimal outcome for people and environment. But it’s terribly failing at that, according to Jeffrey Sachs, economics professor at Columbia University. Sachs says that economics is obsessed with Read More...
The developing world can make a lot of money with toilets
Many people in developing countries don’t have access to toilets connected to sewer systems. That’s a problem from a sanitation perspective. It’s also an enormous opportunity. Human “waste” provides an economic opportunity as well. Pee and poo can be turned into energy and new Read More...
Fighting food waste with second skin for fragile fruit made from… food waste
Fresh fruit and vegetables are healthy. Yet, the fresh produce is enormously expensive and wasteful. An estimated 40 percent of all fruits and vegetables grown in the U.S. ends up in the trash. What makes it to your local grocery store is often coated in layers of wax to keep it as fresh—or, Read More...
Mercedes’ Groove: from selling one car to one person, to selling cars to share
The sharing economy driven by the internet deeply changes business and society. In the past century, car makers have sold one car to one person one time and then waited for them to wear out that car and come back to buy a new one. Increasingly, car manufacturers are producing cars for people to Read More...