Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

To Get Happier, Make Yourself Smaller

Self-esteem is overrated. The better path to enlightenment is through contemplating one’s insignificance.

www.theatlantic.com

November 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

scitechdaily.com/how-a-mediev...

How a Medieval Poem Fooled Historians About the Black Death for 700 Years

A new study reveals that modern ideas about the Black Death’s rapid spread across Asia stem from a centuries-old misunderstanding of a medieval Arabic tale. Experts have traced long-standing myths abo...

scitechdaily.com

November 8, 2025 at 5:09 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

indianexpress.com/article/tech...

Why this Harvard professor says boredom might be the key to happiness

Harvard professor Arthur C Brooks says boredom activates the brain’s default mode network, and warns that constant phone use may be shutting down our capacity to find meaning.

indianexpress.com

October 26, 2025 at 7:01 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

vegoutmag.com/lifestyle/jc...

Too young to be old, too old to be young — how our in-between generation is finding its second act

We’re the generation that has lived in two worlds — one analog, one digital — and we’ve adapted to every shift along the way.

vegoutmag.com

October 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

"About 600 million years from now, Earth will experience the beauty and drama of a total solar eclipse for the last time."
www.iflscience.com/the-moon-is-...

The Moon Is Slowly Moving Away From Earth. Will We Ever Drift Apart?

It's goodbye, old friend.

www.iflscience.com

September 19, 2025 at 6:22 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

indiandefencereview.com/netherlands-...

In the Netherlands, Work-Life Balance Is So Embedded That the Country’s Workers Have Ended up Adopting the Four-Day Week, Without Really Knowing It

The Netherlands is quietly rewriting the rules of work, with thousands of employees embracing a four-day week—without laws, mandates, or big reforms.

indiandefencereview.com

September 5, 2025 at 5:53 AM

Reposted by Mazda Karimi

Profolus

@profolus.com

Beyond Guilty Pleasure

Think binge-watching is only indulgent? Researchers link binge-consumption of narratives to a cognitive process called retrospective imaginative involvement.

Binge-Watching Linked to Mental and Emotional Benefits - Profolus

Binge-watching is linked to a cognitive process called retrospective imaginative involvement.

www.profolus.com

August 30, 2025 at 2:24 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

theconversation.com/japans-shift...

Japan’s shifting memory of the second world war is raising fears of renewed militarism

On the 80th anniversary of its surrender, Japan battles waning support for pacifism.

theconversation.com

August 19, 2025 at 5:09 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

bigthink.com/mini-philoso...

The "repugnant conclusion" that an Oxford philosopher couldn't escape

If human happiness is an absolute good, then would having a billion slightly happy people be better than a million people incredibly happy?

bigthink.com

June 12, 2025 at 1:45 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.upworthy.com/why-didnt-pe...

Why didn't people smile in old-timey photographs? A smile meant something different back then.

Our perceptions of smiling have changed dramatically since the 1800s.

www.upworthy.com

June 12, 2025 at 6:07 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b...

Just Because You Can Prove It Doesn’t Make It True

In a new book, the mathematical epidemiologist Adam Kucharski explains how certainty, even in math, can be an illusion.

www.nytimes.com

May 6, 2025 at 2:25 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

"We [think we’re] rational beings. We’re not. We’re great big analogy machines."
officechai.com/ai/fresh-und...

Fresh Understanding Shows Humans Are Analogy Machines, Not Reasoning Machines: Geoffrey Hinton

Advances in AI and neuroscience are helping understand how humans really operate -- they're helping their creators understand themselves. Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, often called the "Godfa...

officechai.com

April 25, 2025 at 8:32 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.bbc.com/persian/arti...

«۳۰ سال در جستجوی راز خوشبختی بودم، اما پاسخ چیزی نبود که تصور می‌کردم» - BBC News فارسی

در این روایت شخصی، فرگال کین تجربه زندگی با اختلال اضطراب پس از سانحه، افسردگی و جستجوی تعادل را بازگو می‌کند و به درکی عمیق‌تر از شادی می‌رسد که برای همه، از افراد با چالش‌های روانی جدی تا کسانی که ب...

www.bbc.com

February 2, 2025 at 7:30 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

phys.org/news/2025-01...

Ancient DNA analyses bring to life the 11,000-year intertwined genomic history of sheep and humans

Sheep have been intertwined with human livelihoods for over 11,000 years. As well as meat, their domestication led to humans being nourished by their protein-rich milk and clothed by warm, water-resis...

phys.org

January 31, 2025 at 3:32 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

But when it comes to revealing secrets, what greater betrayal than to tell it in a language that isn’t your own? What a loss, what violence.
lithub.com/feeling-in-f...

Feeling in Farsi, Writing in English: On Translating Your Life From One Language to Another

I remember the first time I learned an English word. It was in a classroom somewhere in downtown Tehran. The language school was a four-story building, grand but sad, set against the smog and noise…

lithub.com

January 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.bbc.com/persian/arti...

ٰچرا اوکراینی‌ها بر سر سالاد الیویه بحث می‌کنند - BBC News فارسی

سالادی که به طور معمول به «سالاد روسی» مشهور است، در کشور‌های عضو اتحاد جماهیر شوروی سابق به «سالاد اولویه» معروف بوده است.

www.bbc.com

January 5, 2025 at 6:13 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is it true that up to half of people have no inner monologue? I investigated | Arwa Mahdawi

Our brains are miraculous and weird things, and it turns out everyone has different ways of processing the world

www.theguardian.com

December 31, 2024 at 12:03 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/e2dd...

Are we becoming a post-literate society?

Technology has changed the way many of us consume information, from complex pieces of writing to short video clips

www.ft.com

December 28, 2024 at 6:05 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

In 1822, An Arrow Shot In Africa Landed In Northern Germany—A Biologist Tells The Story www.forbes.com/sites/scottt...

In 1822, An Arrow Shot In Africa Landed In Northern Germany—A Biologist Tells The Story

For centuries, scientists had the wrong idea about what birds did to survive the winter. Then, in 1822, the truth revealed itself in a most fascinating way.

www.forbes.com

December 22, 2024 at 7:25 AM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Defining genocide: how a rift over Gaza sparked a crisis among scholars

New reports by human rights groups use the term to describe Israel’s offensive. The debate has fueled a brutal division among those who study mass violence

www.theguardian.com

December 21, 2024 at 12:49 PM

Mazda Karimi

@mazda67.bsky.social

"There is one sin which I have come to fear above all others… certainty. If there was only certainty, and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore, no need for faith."

m.imdb.com/title/tt2021...