All posts tagged: humans

The perils of seeking happiness: why our fixation on happiness might be bad for us

28 October 2022
by Jen Martin
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Health / Myths / Psychology

It’s easy to imagine that if you live in one of the world’s happiest countries, your life is probably pretty good. But it turns out that the relationship between social expectations around happiness and our mental health is not so simple. Share the love: this post was written by University of Melbourne Science Communication student Spencer Clark. Do we overvalue happiness? Every March, in the lead-up to the International Day of Happiness, the Sustainable Development […]

A black box for the planet?

14 October 2022
by Jen Martin
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Anthropology / Environment / Health

What happens if we don’t address the climate crisis? If the harm that comes from human greenhouse gas emissions goes on to irreversibly and catastrophically change the planet? Will there be a record of what came before? And of what went wrong? Share the love: this post was written by University of Melbourne Science Communication student Spencer Clark. In the aftermath of a horrific plane crash, one of the top priorities is the recovery of the […]

Time flies, but why?

15 November 2019
by Jen Martin
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Health / Myths / Psychology

Time is meant to be one of the few completely reliable and objective things in life. But it seems to slow down when we are afraid — think of a slow-motion car crash. And time flies when we’re having fun. Why is it that time seem to pass more quickly the older we get? Does our ability to assess the passing of time change as we age? I remember vividly as a child the last […]

The reality of the Uncanny Valley

2 October 2019
by Tara Bautista
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Anthropology / Evolution / Myths / Psychology

Technology has made making extremely human-like robots a reality. But is this a good thing? Tara Bautista delves into the unease that many people experience with things that are almost – but not quite – human. Welcome to the ‘Uncanny Valley’. When realistic isn’t pleasantly real enough Last weekend I started watching a new fantasy show on Netflix called The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. You could say it’s a cross between Game of Thrones […]

A new you

8 March 2017
by Jen Martin
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Anthropology / Health / Myths / Psychology

Think back to how you behaved as a teenager. Are you cringing? Many of us feel very different to the person we were ‘back then’. But are you different? And what will you be like in old age?   Who are you? Have you ever done a personality test? I have: I was intrigued to find out if answering a few dozen questions could give an accurate picture of who I am. Whether Myer-Briggs, the Big Five, […]

Lacking total recall

1 July 2015
by Jen Martin
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Biology / Health / Medicine / Myths / Psychology

What’s your earliest memory? Chances are you can’t remember anything before the age of three. Otherwise known as childhood amnesia, it affects us all but isn’t quite the stuff of Hollywood. In the movies, the plot usually revolves around someone being bopped on the head and suddenly having no idea who they are or what they are supposed to be doing. And more often than not, a second whack to the head and the person’s memories return, good as new. But is that an accurate depiction of amnesia?

Living to a ripe old age

20 May 2015
by Jen Martin
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Biology / Botany / Evolution / Health / Zoology

When I was a kid I aspired to live to 100 so I could get my letter from the Queen. These days I have a rather different view of the monarchy and more insight into the pivotal role of good health in old age. If you want to talk old age, there are a plenty of other animals and plants with lifespans far more impressive than ours. The question is: why do some living things live so much longer than others?