Press

Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman filmed a segment in the Human Nature Lab for their episode, ‘Are we all bigots?’ Evolution has hard-wired us toward subconscious bias. This episode explores how one can overcome bigotry through exposure, self-awareness, flexible social networks and violent video games. The HNL is featured briefly in the clip below and throughout the full episode. Originally published on April 30, 2015.

Among scientists who study how our DNA affects our weight, a gene called FTO stands out. Originally published on December 31, 2014.

What principally matters is whether social scientists are doing their job of helping humans to understand the world and improve life. Originally published on October 9, 2014.

Your friends and family influence your drinking, sleep, weight, and happiness—more than you think. Originally published September/October 2014.

A new study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests friends may be more than just people you lean on when you're not strong; they might actually help you carry on -- genetically speaking. We are as genetically similar to our friends as we are our with our fourth cousins. Originally published on July 15, 2014.

People often talk about how their friends feel like family. Well, there's some new research out that suggests there's more to that than just a feeling. People appear to be more like their friends genetically than they are to strangers, the research found. Originally published on July 14, 2014.

Les gens ont tendance à choisir des amis qui leur sont génétiquement proches, à tel point que les personnes d'un même cercle social peuvent être aussi proches que des cousins au quatrième degré. Originally published on July 14, 2014.

Friends often look alike. The tendency of people to forge friendships with people of a similar appearance has been noted since the time of Plato. But now there is research suggesting that, to a striking degree, we tend to pick friends who are genetically similar to us in ways that go beyond superficial features. Originally published on July 14, 2014.

In the digital swirl of Facebook status updates, emotions expressed online can be contagious, according to a new study encompassing more than 100 million people in the U.S. and a billion messages they posted. Moreover, upbeat messages were far more likely than negative ones to affect the mood of others online, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, Yale University and Facebook Inc. report. Originally published on March 12, 2014.

Der Soziologe Nicholas Christakis über ansteckende Vorlieben und die unterschätzte Bedeutung des Miteinanders. Originally published on January 26, 2012.