Denmark is not like the US—neither are their postal services. In the latter, remote mailboxes are served by mile and boat. In the former, the national postal services provider since 1924 has ceased to exist as of this new year: buff.ly/t2uEwDa

Only one New Year’s resolution comes with a happiness guarantee: more social connection, argues Paul Dolan: buff.ly/RlS9i7F

Our truth-value judgments don’t simply track whether what was said corresponds with facts, research by Zyglewicz et al suggests: we also consider the speaker’s commitment to accurately informing and avoiding deception (‘truthfulness’): buff.ly/R8WgP1L HT @xphilosopher.bsky.social

What drives the retro tech revival, with people switching to iPods and other ancient MP3-players? (It’s complex😎): buff.ly/rPEtB7R HT @neuroscienceof.bsky.social

Blogged: Overruling Rules My first essay of 2026 is about how our lives are steered by countless rules, but it is the exceptions we make to them (for ourselves and for others) that reveal who we truly are: buff.ly/F5CkUtJ

The effect of the left-digit in ride-sharing apps is significant—research by @johnlist.bsky.social et al suggests as much as $160M in profit is left in the table by not using it: buff.ly/QaM34hn

Our emotions can be a guiding light for making decisions, but their messages to us are not always as plain as we’d like. Seeking emotional clarity can boost that role considerably: buff.ly/uVPQiIs

The wondrous Mexican eyeless cavefish not only reveals how exactly evolution eliminates expensive, superfluous traits in multiple ways. It also opens research avenues on diabetes and obesity in humans, writes @timvernimmen: buff.ly/CJTHami

The idea that we all hate all hypocrites is being questioned by @mhallsworth. There are 4 types of hypocrites—the virtuous hypocrite, the relatable one, the principled one, and the reasonable one—that we may actually like: buff.ly/32Riw01

We judge others’ morally questionable actions as less wrong when they benefit us personally, research by Miazek & Bocian suggests—regardless of any cognitive resource constraints: buff.ly/18FszSq buff.ly/zIfZz7w

“Every generation believes it has finally identified the real vices—the habits that must be curtailed for health, morality, or progress. History suggests caution.”—@pessimistsarc.bsky.social Which of today’s vices will become tomorrow’s virtues? buff.ly/kqyDVAT

AI slop everywhere. Even in restaurant reviews. Can it be detected? buff.ly/VhYYMwA

Are the rich inherently more selfish? Freakonomics looks at the evidence: buff.ly/d7yyGv7

Rituals that persist despite failing to produce desired outcome are not a failure of reasoning, argues Ze Hong. Failures are rationalized through additional explanations, restraining public skepticism, and hard to share or act upon collectively by design: buff.ly/YRfY4nP

On #4, My trilogy on Evolutionary Economics, on how economics is not just a human artefact: * Part 1–Evolutionary origins buff.ly/KPW1fSz * Part 2–Within and Between buff.ly/rhSDVGc * Part 3–The Human Touch buff.ly/ad08nxl Tomorrow the top 3! 7/10

On #5, Are we all Moral Bullshitters?, on acting without regard for morals (like bullshitting is speaking without regard for the truth): buff.ly/uZbn3tT 6/10

Continuing the countdown of my most read essays... On #6, Moral Cowardice – Why we don’t Argue What we Actually Believe, on the disingenuousness on both sides of the assisted dying debate: buff.ly/3LiLQq5 5/10

What does friendship look like from a neurobiology viewpoint? Social interaction is rewarding for the brain—and essential for its health: buff.ly/CBAAAER

Not to pour cold water on today’s New Year’s celebrations, but scientists have worked out the end of the universe is nigher than expected. Instead of 10^1100 years, there’s likely just 10^78 ahead—a huge reduction. Better stop wasting time—Happy 2026! buff.ly/EqjsqHX

The season of conception has a lasting effect on a person’s metabolism, Japanese researchers find—those conceived in colder months have more brown fat, with known metabolic health benefits (mice research suggests paternal cold exposure conception): buff.ly/Gy1YeCj

We “treasure what we measure,” so we fail to recognize car fuel efficiency and undervalue household production like child and elder care, grocery shopping etc, not counted in GDP calculations. What we do and don’t count can create perverse incentives: buff.ly/OSooZP4

Study tests the efficiency, effectiveness, and ethics of AI-agent recruitment interviewing. It led to 12% more job offers, 18% more job starters, and 16% higher 30 day-retention rates. Given the option, 78% of applicants preferred the AI interviewer: buff.ly/E02z1Ur

Our intuitions about political advertising are flawed—microtargeting can work, but its persuasive effect is tiny compared to other aspects of adverts, and it is a long way from mind control. @tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy persuasively riffs on a podcast on the topic: buff.ly/MUcPtA5

Hoe komt dat sommigen zeer beheerst hun sinterklaaschocolade met mate over weken of zelfs maanden consumeren, en anderen ze op een dag naar binnen zouden spelen als dat mocht? Mijn laatste @apache.be stukje van 2025 over twee tegenstrijdige tendensen: buff.ly/txPd0lO

Research by Schunck et al suggests more physically attractive people—both women and men—earn more, but finds no evidence that attractive individuals face earnings penalties when employed in occupations typically dominated by the opposite gender: buff.ly/kE3I4l7

Why do we often stay silent in uncomfortable situations, even when our conscience tells us to speak? @profsunitasah.bsky.social explores this puzzling behaviour, and sets out how learning to read that tension—“insinuation anxiety”—and overcome it: buff.ly/nH6Rgb5

30% chance of rain doesn’t mean rain over 30% of the area, less still rain 30% of the time or even rain of 30% heaviness on a scale of 0-100% So what does it mean? buff.ly/uNoWSox

On #7, The False Consensus of Democracy, on how many people support, defend, and fight for democracy... but not necessarily for the same type: buff.ly/86YzE0K Tomorrow three more - numbers 6 to 4. 4/10

On #8, Two Economic Blind Spots We All Share, on how we are not pre-wired to see win-wins (but to assume zero-sums) and on how we overlook or ignore externalities: buff.ly/AnqvfQz 3/10

On #9, The Trouble with the Truth, on how this concept is easily uttered but very hard to actually determine: buff.ly/WJK9lSF 2/10

Top-10 time! Counting down my most read essays this year... On #10 my first post of 2025, The Binary Trap (on how a little less binary thinking might offer us a better world: buff.ly/lXK5PZ5 1/10

A very good lesson in probability estimation from David Spiegelhalter—know what you know! buff.ly/HJO02pU

Top-10 time! Counting down my most read essays this year... On #10 my first post of 2025, The Binary Trap (on how a little less binary thinking might offer us a better world: buff.ly/lXK5PZ5 1/10

“…and stuff”, and “…and things” are not just mindless filler phrases, explains Valerie Fridland. Linguists call them “general extenders,” and their vagueness is precisely their function: buff.ly/lh0Du1D

Stress is real…and so is the hype, fuelled by the of quick fix solution vendors, the media and even employers. But instead of resilience workshops, mindfulness apps, or whatever is flavour of the month, better to fix work design, writes Matt Grawitch: buff.ly/ksUpir4

Interesting to revisit this 2002 paper by @casssunstein in which he riffs—primarily from a real-world legal vantage point—on an influential contemporaneous textbook on Heuristics: buff.ly/6f9StGp (it’s a bit like reading through old recipes)

Pluk de dag, je leeft maar één keer, zegt men—maar ook bewaar het beste voor laatst, geduld is een mooie deugd. Tegenstrijdige zegswijzen weerspiegelen de diverse gedragstendensen waarmee de evolutie ons bedacht. Mijn laatste @apache.be stukje van 2025: buff.ly/txPd0lO

Could a genetically engineered superbug—a saltwater bacterium equipped with the genes for PET-breaking enzymes from a land-based organism—devour ocean plastic? buff.ly/3d2m1BP

Not only does being alone not necessarily mean being lonely—solitude can be beneficial in at least seven ways, depending on what you need and what your circumstances are, research suggests: buff.ly/5EurOgj

Even evidence-based fads may never work for you. Why? Because the overall cost-benefit balance may be negative—the positive effect is often so small that you don’t need to hate it much before that happens. Meet the Cold Plunge Fallacy: buff.ly/8KfsVBw

Research by @alepinteur & @nickpowdthavee finds people underestimate the income others need for a “good life”, tho corrective information causes belief update. However, only those who found it credible and relevant increased support for redistribution: buff.ly/cmf6eD4

Where do new words come from? @rogerkreuz.bsky.social discusses a rich set of possible origins of new coinages—from guesstimate and groove to covfefe and skibidi: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/smal...

Nudges may activate the nudgee’s behaviour unconsciously, but it requires all the more conscious thought on the part of the nudger—considering when, how and why *which* particular psychological mechanisms will or won’t be triggered, argue Fox et al: buff.ly/wjH4RcN

New research suggests people exhibiting more callousness and lack of empathy—traits associated with psychopathy—may have superior abilities to assess how accurately someone can interpret social situations: buff.ly/Yo23DkQ

What is (the) time on Mars? Gravity is different there than here on Earth—hence so is time, which moves faster on Mars. But how much faster? Scientists have calculated the difference to be 477 microseconds per day: buff.ly/67H59WU

Improvisation is not just a jazz thing. Dudes like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were highly skilled improvisers. So is Alma Deutscher—here just 12 years old (she’s 20 now and still improvises as an encore on gigs). Prepare for awesomeness: youtu.be/hvECZ_ZXGqs

Thinking about karma reduces propensity for costly punishment, research by Zhou et al suggests, implying karma beliefs may have helped the cultural evolution of human cooperation by replacing norm enforcement with the threat of supernatural punishment: buff.ly/hnifWRt

“If bloc politics govern voter behaviour, it makes a lot of traditional electoral strategy advice suspect.” @benwansell examines how this time, it may well be different, not least how voter preferences map *within* blocs: buff.ly/7XWMwnb

Price theory attracts a fair lot of criticism—much of it (”this is not how people think”) misguided. It is *not* a theory of the mind or of a person’s decision-making process; it is a theory of human *action*, argues Josh Hendrickson. buff.ly/D3OpOGN HT @alexolegimas

For romantic relationships, men say they look for physical attractiveness, while women say they look for earning prospects. But research by Eastwick & Finkel finds no evidence of such sex differences in participants’ romantic interests in real-life: buff.ly/tCaAdTa