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Deep Blue Sea

Created by - @jane

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Why Are Whales So Massive? It's All About Energy Marine mammal size is a delicate balance between chowing down and chilly waters

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newyorker.com

What Do People in Solitary Confinement Want to See?A group asked inmates to fill out a form describing a picture that they would like to receive. A volunteer would then create it.

fastcompany.com

These 4 ‘harmless’ habits are sapping your brain power Neuroscientist Tara Swart argues that snacking and comparing yourself to someone else can lessen your cognitive functions.

Collection

Jetsetters

by @mixpicks

inc.com

16 Words People Often Mix Up That Can Make You Look Foolish I sent a test to 400 people. Only 17 got all of them right. And only 48 got every word in this, the second of a four-part series, right.

telegraph.co.uk

The curious history of Cuba's ice cream obsession Politicians have debated the merits of capitalism versus communism in back rooms and senate floors for decades.

damndelicious.net

Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil Easiest shrimp boil ever! And it's mess-free using a single sheet pan. That's right. ONE PAN. No newspapers. No bags. No clean-up! I have a hot date waiting for me... With four short legs. Massive ears. And a sweater vest. Yes. My Valentine's date tonight is Butters. And we'll be staying in...

shefinds.com

Frequent Flyers: This Is The One Spa Treatment You Should Get The Next Time You're In New York Learn more about the tourist massage at Haven Spa and why you should get one at SheFinds.com!

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Mental Space

by @mixpicks

shefinds.com

6 Sunscreens You Can Wear All Day & Still Get A Decent Tan Tanning is our favorite summer activity. Find out which sunscreens you should be using for all day protection and a decent tan at SheFinds.com!

sassytownhouseliving.com

Did You Forget To Clean These 4 Cringeworthy Dirty Areas?There just might be four places in your home we all forget to clean. You might not know it but your home has some cringeworthy dirty areas.

inc.com

This 2-Minute Breathing Exercise Can Help You Make Better Decisions, According to a New Study A 5-2-7 breathing exercise helped people make better business decisions.

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Healthy Living

by @mixpicks

wellandgood.com

Asking for a friend: Are 'expiration dates' just totally bogus?A food safety expert shares the deets.

dwell.com

The Russell Nashville Modern Home in Historic Edgefield, Nashville,…Location: Historic Edgefield, Nashville, Tennessee - Separated from downtown by the Cumberland River, artsy East Nashville is one of the city’s most animated neighborhoods, packed with restaurants,…

popsci.com

The difference between vertical AI and general AI Artificial intelligence can solve many problems, but it won’t replicate the human brain anytime soon.

qz.com

Working from home can save you thousands of dollars every year I calculated a dollar value of working from home—the total was higher than I expected.

qz.com

Einstein’s most effective life hack wasn’t about productivity The cult of extreme productivity has robbed us of the ability of enjoying our own company.

newyorker.com

Can Reading Make You Happier?After the First World War, traumatized soldiers were often prescribed a course of reading.

gq.com

Lisa Taddeo’s Brutally Honest Look at Our Complicated Relationship With Sex A Q&A with the author about her sweeping new book, Three Women, and the push and pull of desire.

ramshacklepantry.com

Grilled Peaches and Honey Whipped Mascarpone Cheese A delicious Grilled Peaches recipe with Honey Whipped Mascarpone topping. This is a decadent and tasty grilled fruit dessert that is perfect.

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nationalgeographic.com

Vintage Images of Yellowstone Show the Park's Wild Beauty The first area of the U.S. to be designated a national park lures visitors with roaring waterfalls, erupting geysers, and majestic wildlife.

goodreads.com

smithsonianmag.com

Astronauts Capture Stunning Image of Volcano Erupting for the First Time in 95 Years The ash plumes from Raikoke reach 42,700 feet

artsy.net

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Little-Known Art Practice Shaped His Fantasy World Tolkien’s prolific illustrations were essential to crafting Middle-earth, where “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” took place.

nationalgeographic.com

Scuba School Image | National Geographic Your Shot Photo of the Day A diver gets up close and personal with a school of bigeye jack in this National Geographic Your Shot Photo of the Day.

Collection

Winning At Life

by @mixpicks

dwell.com

UCCA Dune Art Museum by OPEN Architecture Hidden between the sea and the sand, the UCCA Dune Art Museum is a sanctuary for nature and art.

mymodernmet.com

This 745-Year-Old Castle Built into the Side of a Cave Has a Fascinating Backstory The real history behind this Renaissance castle is much more interesting than fiction.

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popsugar.com

Beyoncé Just Dropped a Brand-New Song, "Spirit," as Part of Her Curated Lion King Album We're still recovering.

Collection

Our Obsession With Sleeping Well Is Stopping Us From Sleeping For many of us, a midweek morning routine consists of a couple of alarm snoozes, a fairly lengthy Instagram scroll, a cup of PG Tips and a hefty dose of dry shampoo. But for 29-year-old London-based yoga teacher Indi, it’s a different story. For the last three months, Indi’s routine on waking has been to check her smartwatch for feedback on how she’d slept. She’d then feel frustrated and inevitably exhausted for the rest of the day as the stats on the screen glaringly told her she’d had just four hours and 41 minutes of 'deep sleep'.Indi says she bought her fitness tracking watch to measure her activity levels but, having always been a poor sleeper, decided to give its slumber tracking credentials a go. In the last few years she's tried everything from the science-approved (meditation) to the more holistic (think: valerian root supplements, CBD, moon milk) but nothing’s worked. "I thought my watch would help me," she says, "but it ended up having the opposite effect."She says the stats were interesting at first but quickly became an obsession. "I found myself under pressure to fall asleep and stay asleep, just so it would show good results. It was stressful knowing something was there monitoring my sleep. I was constantly waking up and conscious of not moving around too much when I was in bed." At around the three-week mark, Indi noticed the quantity, and quality, of her sleep had plummeted.Like Indi, us Brits have become a nation obsessed with our snooze time and business is booming, not just in the sleep tracker department. According to a 2017 report, the sleep-health industry is worth $40bn, growing by more than 8% globally every year. From £500 breath-synced sleep robots to thermo-regulating PJs and soothing smart rings, the latest insomnia-busting tech promises the perfect night’s sleep. Millions of us are tuning into meditation app Calm’s Sleep Stories on a nightly basis; Blue Gold, the app’s most popular slumber-inducing fable, narrated by Stephen Fry, has been listened to over 15 million times.If your sleep tracker tells you you’ve had four hours of poor quality sleep – even if the truth is far from this – the chances are this will psychologically impact your mood, energy levels and productivity the following day.But as gadgets proliferate, so do concerns. Like hitting your daily steps or counting macros on MyFitnessPal, sleep has fast become yet another metric we’re tracking via our tech, and it appears we may be taking it a little too seriously. Meet: orthosomnia, a term coined in a 2017 case report in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The word stems from 'ortho' meaning straight or correct, and 'somnia' meaning sleep. In short, it’s a condition affecting those who obsess over their sleep. The researchers chose the term, they write, "because the perfectionist quest to achieve perfect sleep is similar to the unhealthy preoccupation with healthy eating, termed orthorexia".Like orthorexia, orthosomnia is not yet a recognised disorder, although Dr Nicola Barclay, lecturer in sleep medicine at the University of Oxford, believes the tide is turning. "Orthosomnia is a genuine condition and a real worry, especially as people rely increasingly on sleep trackers, most of which are wildly inaccurate, giving a very poor estimate of your real sleep. If your sleep tracker tells you you’ve had four hours of poor quality sleep – even if the truth is far from this – the chances are this will psychologically impact your mood, energy levels and productivity the following day. It’s this reliance that creates a vicious cycle and will negatively impact on your sleep," she explains.Barclay’s other issue with sleep trackers is their inability to decipher individual sleep needs. "We’ve become fixated on eight hours of sleep as the Holy Grail but this is a counterproductive fixation. The majority of us need between six-and-a-half to eight hours' sleep every night, but it’s not the case for everyone. Some might only need four or five hours." Plus, you might not actually be as sleep deprived as the headlines say. We may not get enough quality sleep, but the average nightly slumber hasn’t changed much over the last 100 years – around seven hours has been the average for decades.So should we ditch the sleep tracker? Quite possibly. Orthosomnia appears to be one symptom of an industry that has left us mere mortals with more data than we know what to do with. If you already suffer from insomnia, it could be a recipe for disaster. Barclay explains that the typical insomniac is a type-A personality, and daily stats reminding you of your sleep shortcomings may well exacerbate these perfectionist tendencies.If you think you may be suffering from orthosomnia, it pays to go back to basics. Dr Julius Bourke, consultant neuropsychiatrist at Re:Cognition Health, emphasises the importance of establishing a solid sleep routine without a sleep tracker. "Stop relying on tech and create consistency in the run-up to bedtime. A bath, bedtime story and lullaby is a classic example of a good routine – remember we all had to learn to sleep the way we expect to as adults. Our brains respond well to these cues, whether we are infants or adults." His number one tip? Aim for the same 'lights out' time every night and set your alarm for the same time each morning – no weekend lie-ins allowed (these can wreak havoc with circadian rhythms, FYI).Is there ever a place for a sleep tracker? The jury’s out. Both Barclay and Bourke say a certain level of number crunching can be beneficial to those looking to brush up on their sleep hygiene, just be sure to take any 'sleep scores' with a pinch of salt. A healthier, and arguably more sustainable practice, is to keep a sleep diary, monitoring snooze patterns and behaviour with, believe it or not, a pen and paper. You heard it here first.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?What Is Wilderness Therapy & How Can It Help YouWhen Women Get Called 'Sensitive' It's Not A Compliment, But It Should Be5 Women With PTSD Describe What It's Like To Live With

architecturaldigest.com

The 5 Top Destinations for Art and Design Lovers in August From the Pacific Northwest to Northern Europe, there are plenty of art and design events worth adding to your calendar

nytimes.com

Opinion | We Thought We Lived on Solid Ground. California’s Earthquakes Changed That.Dry land is a kind of ocean in waiting.

telegraph.co.uk

Leonardo da Vinci may have suffered from ADHD, expert claims Leonardo da Vinci may have struggled to complete masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and Adoration of the Magi because he suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a brain expert has claimed.

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Do the Right Thing

by @mixpicks

dwell.com

3D Printed Village by Yves Béhar, ICON, and New Story The walls of each home can be printed in just 24 hours with nearly zero waste.

eonline.com

How Disney Is Turning Nostalgia Into Billions One Remake at a Time A look at just how much money the Mouse House has made since it began mining its own library for gold.

dwell.com

The New Infinity Pool at JFK’s TWA Hotel Is Making Us Consider a Vacation at the Airport Take some time off to watch the take-offs at the TWA Hotel.

Collection

Bound Together

by @mixpicks

refinery29.uk

I Was Friends With My Boss — Then Things Got Weird When Tiffany*, 33, started working as a social media director at a start-up in Washington D.C., she immediately clicked with her boss (who we’ll call Layla). Layla was friendly and funny, and both women bonded about being women of colour in the workplace. “She sort of lit up the room when she walked in, her energy was electric,” Tiffany told Refinery29. But soon, Layla’s behaviour started to make Tiffany uneasy.A few weeks after Tiffany started, Layla began to call her after hours to vent — “first [it was] about work, then it became personal.” Tiffany said. Initially, Tiffany was open to engaging in the conversations as she wanted to impress her new boss, but she quickly started to feel uncomfortable. “I realised she was often calling me to gossip about her bosses or employees she hated,” Tiffany said. “Once she even called me to tell me she was overwhelmed with trying to figure out a way to push some of [her] peers out of the company.” Before too long, Tiffany realised something wasn’t right.Like Tiffany, many professionals have found themselves wanting to develop a connection with their boss — but building a bond with your supervisor can be tricky. On one hand, a strong relationship with a boss can be a foundational career investment and contribute to better communication and collaboration. On the other hand, blurred boundaries between professional relationships and personal friendships can quickly get complicated. Given the fine line separating the two, an important question arises: How close is too close?Olivet Nazarene University recently set out to identify the new norms of boss-employee relationships in the U.S. The survey of 3,000 people found that one in three workers had had a boss ask for personal advice, one in four of those surveyed had hung out with their manager socially, and one in 20 said they were connected to their boss on Instagram or Snapchat. And while the survey found that certain levels of intimacy with a boss — such as meeting their child or significant other — can actually correlate with worker happiness, this isn’t always the case.Jillian*, 29, quickly struck up a friendship with her boss at her tech company in Austin, Texas. The two women were similar in age and, from the beginning, her boss tried to get to know Jillian and the rest of her teammates. “She often invited [us] to her house for social events like holiday parties, and team meals,” Jillian told Refinery29.There were times where she would be working from home and take a video conference call while sitting in bed, with her partner [sleeping] shirtless next to her.But over the course of Jillian's one-on-one meetings, her boss began to share about her past queer relationships. Jillian, who identifies as queer, found this to be an uncomfortable topic to discuss with a new supervisor. "It was as if she was trying to bond over [our] shared queerness," she said. And this wasn’t the only time Jillian was made to feel uneasy by her boss’ behaviour: “There were times where she would be working from home and take a video conference call while sitting in bed, with her partner [sleeping] shirtless next to her,” said Jillian.Though Jillian and Tiffany’s experiences with their bosses weren’t entirely positive, some relationships of this nature are. Abby, 29, ended up developing a very close relationship with her boss while working as a senior account executive at a PR agency. The two would go on vacations together and brunch on the weekends, and acted as each other’s sounding boards for both personal and professional challenges. Abby owed this closeness to the non-hierarchical culture at her company, adding that the two made sure to set clear boundaries — "there [was] an understanding that [our] friendship does not affect work."According to Abby, the relationship with her boss enhanced her ability to work productively and effectively. “While for some people, there can be such a thing as ‘too close,’ it never felt that way for me,” Abby told Refinery29. She added that the two were honest, transparent, and respectful with one another — “just as good friends should be.” Ultimately, Abby credits her friendship with her boss to her success in her role. “Our friendship allowed us to work better together, and ultimately, drove better results for the projects we managed together.”Defining what constitutes an appropriate or inappropriate relationship with a boss varies from person to person. “[The relationship] is okay as long as both parties feel comfortable,” says Ariel Schur, LCSW is the CEO and founder of ABS Staffing Solutions. Ariel started her career as an Employee Assistance Program counsellor for employees of Fortune 500 companies — and she admits she, too, once became friends with a former boss.Though Ariel’s relationship with her boss was healthy, she acknowledges that befriending your supervisor can be tricky territory. “Some people might feel that their boss is contacting them too often, which could be distracting if you are looking to shut off for the night post work,” Ariel told Refinery29. “Being friends with your boss on social media can also be tricky — you don't necessarily want your boss knowing your weekend plans or where you went after work.”For this reason, Ariel recommends reflecting on the type of relationship dynamic you might feel comfortable with — and being very clear about your limits from the beginning. “Unless you set forth very clear boundaries and make a concerted effort to adhere to them, it’s very easy to cross lines,” Ariel said, acknowledging that as people spend more time at work, these lines between the personal and professional can easily blur. “We spend [over] 40 hours a week at our desk, so it's natural to want to have a sense of closeness with your boss.”Unless you set forth very clear boundaries and make a concerted effort to adhere to them, it’s very easy to cross lines.While boundary setting is always a good idea, Ariel also recommends listening to your intuition. “If something feels off, don't ignore the uncomfortable feeling,” she said. If a relationship or dynamic veers into dangerous or uncomfortable territory, say something, she adds. “Don't be afraid to speak up, and don't allow yourself to feel like you 'deserved' it in any way.”Tiffany’s troubled dynamics were resolved after her boss was transferred to a new location after several employees reported her for inappropriate behaviour. And though the situation was settled, it left a lasting impression on her. “I realised it’s naïve to assume that just because [your] boss is ‘cool’ or looks like you means they will be supportive, professional, [or] a good mentor,” Tiffany said. “I’ve learned that the goal is not to be your boss’s pet — [it’s] to be the best at what you do and earn the respect of your team.”As for Jillian, she was abruptly let go after her tech company had a large layoff. And though she is currently out of work, she says her experiences with her old boss are helping her in her job search. “I’m ensuring I look out for some of these signs in future bosses as I interview for new jobs,” Jillian said. “I am learning that it's important to trust my gut — if something seems 'off' there's usually a good reason for it.”Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?How Much Cash Should You Give For A Wedding Gift?Having A Work Spouse Isn't Just Fun, It's Key To Professional SuccessAdvice From A Nice Girl: How Do I Avoid Being A Pushover?

dwell.com

7 Tiny Homes You Can Buy on Amazon Now you can add a tiny home or cabin kit to your cart.

mymodernmet.com

Tattooist Recreates Art History’s Greatest Paintings on the Skin of Her Clients She turns people into living museums.

telegraph.co.uk

The dark side of sumo wrestling – and the etiquette of watching a bout They rinse their mouths, sprinkle some salt, clap their hands, stamp their feet – and then, once the niceties are over, they charge at their opponent in a fast-paced, powerful and near-naked clash that is often over in seconds.

newyorker.com

Can We Live Longer but Stay Younger?With greater longevity, the quest to avoid the infirmities of aging is more urgent than ever.

gq.com

How The For-Profit Prison Industry Keeps 460,000 Innocent People in Jail Every Day Cash bail presents people with two choices: debt or jail.

popsci.com

It's surprisingly hard to tell if someone's drowning, so we made you a guide The water can be dangerous, particularly for youngsters who don’t know how to swim. Here's how to spot and prevent drowning.

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globalcitizen.org

32 Posters of Badass Women in Science to Inspire Girls Today “At the end of the day we're standing on the shoulders of giants, and most of these women are lost."

Collection

Collection

This twist on a tamale is Mexico’s best on-the-go breakfast Caloric and delicious.

inc.com

Genetics May Play a Role in How You Make Decisions, According to a New Scientific Study Making a choice might be as biological as it is metaphysical.

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wellandgood.com

The germiest spot in your car is dirtier than a toilet seat It's time to bust out the all-purpose cleaner.

1843magazine.com

Vanilla fever How did hunger for the humble vanilla pod lead to greed, crime and riches? Wendell Steavenson travels to Madagascar to meet the new spice barons

inc.com

The 10-Second Secret to Faster Learning This new research-backed study hack requires absolutely zero effort (really).

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Fashionista in the Making

by @mixpicks

popsugar.com

Coleslaw Is a Barbecue Staple, and This Protein-Rich Version Cuts Back on Added Sugars It's truly delicious.

fatherly.com

What Freaked Me Out in the Delivery Room, According to 13 Dads Thirteen fathers on what moved, surprised, and scared them during the birth of their child.

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