When I was nine, I talked myself out of a Cincinnati Reds game because I was sure my parents would say no. I never asked. They would have said yes, and the research on why we all do this explains more than one missed ballgame.

In 1994, I put five words on bus benches across Los Angeles. Thirty years later, the psychology behind why that worked also explains why your feed can't do the same thing.

He kept his intelligence and his memories of facts. He lost every personal moment of his own life, past and future alike. Here's what K.C.'s story reveals about hope, memory, and empathy.

A man with an IQ in the 97th percentile lost the ability to feel and couldn't make a single decision. Here's what Elliot's story says about emotion, AI, and what it means to be human.

A night spent helping my grandma "land the plane" at 104, Maria Ross's twenty-good-summers math, and the research that explains both: death anxiety makes us defensive and tribal, while death reflection — contemplating mortality on purpose — turns us toward the people who matter. This edition of Reading Between the Lines walks through the difference, why it's a choice, and four questions worth sitting with this week.

95% of people believe they're self-aware. In Tasha Eurich's research, only 10 to 15% actually are. This edition of Reading Between the Lines covers the one-word fix, why introspection alone becomes an echo chamber, and the launch of What Does It Mean to Be Human?, my new podcast series with Maria Ross.

A conversation with a man in Greenwich who wanted to talk to his son but didn't know how, a 2008 impromptu Tai Chi lesson from a woman named Emelia, and the breathing technique that makes hard conversations possible.

From a viral yawn in space to chosen community in Chicago -- Rob Volpe explores what separates humans from everything else, and invites you to share your answer.