🎶We are the robots… Research suggests around two thirds of our behaviours are initiated by habit, and as much as 88% are done in an automatic way—a lot more than earlier estimates: buff.ly/HL1umSY

The information abundance that surrounds us not only makes the availability bias worse—anything can easily come to mind… only now it’s algorithms that determine wat will. But it also introduces the UNavailability bias—what you don’t see, doesn’t exist: buff.ly/Ifmi9Wy

Earlier, @lionelpage.bsky.social argued against absolute moral truths. Here he explains how morality can be relative—operationalized as contractarianism—without being moral relativism, subjectivism, and a range of other -isms. A veritable tour-de-force 👏: buff.ly/uqbgcZa

Does picking up the phone boost the mood of the under-50s? Or is there a measurement bias at play when surveying people about their wellbeing by phone vs by online interview? Research by Blanchflower et al suggests it’s the latter: buff.ly/J0jVcko

Who doesn’t aspire to be happy? But wanting to be happy too much can be counterproductive and lead to disappointment. And trying to act happy, in particular, is not a good idea: buff.ly/aMcT757

How do people view the responsibility for inequality? @caseylewrey.bsky.social and @tanialombrozo.bsky.social used a dual-axis framework (moral/causal and retrospective/prospective) to review what current research suggests for each of these 4 categories: buff.ly/ZJEyOcU

We follow numerous rules—to steer our behaviour (and judge others’), from “don’t be evil” to “pineapple is (not) acceptable as a pizza topping’. But every rule can have exceptions—and it’s the ones we make that reflect our true principles: buff.ly/F5CkUtJ

Als we in de rij staan hanteren de meesten van ons onwillekeurig de regel ‘voorsteken = niet OK’—zeker als het anderen betreft. Maar zouden we nooit een uitzondering maken—voor onszelf, dan toch? En dat verraadt wie we echt zijn. Mijn @apache_be stukje: buff.ly/pTxD76a

Examination of the drains of a Roman fort in the North of England reveals the soldiers were plagued by diarrhea-causing parasites that still make us ill today—roundworm, whipworm, and Giardia duodenalis: buff.ly/EqWlxfv

Enough already with the uninformed populist nonsense about mainstream economics from people who really ought to know better, thought sociologist Tibor Rutar. And he wrote this riposte: buff.ly/1G5sZ5m

Many of us would frown on anyone jumping the queue—except if it’s us doing it ourselves, because when we do, we evidently have a good reason. A tale of rules and exceptions: buff.ly/F5CkUtJ

Research by Gangadharan et al with Indian farmers (n=3000) suggests that, in a social dilemma game, individuals are more likely to follow advice when it comes from high-status or in-group advisors—even if the advice diverges from prevailing norms: buff.ly/0C4ir1Y

Regels alom: ze sturen onze beslissingen, en we hanteren ze om die van anderen te beoordelen. Maar het zijn niet de regels die we volgen die onze identiteit prijsgeven, maar de uitzonderingen die we erop maken. Mijn eerste @apacheb.e stukje van 2026: buff.ly/pTxD76a

The biggest advantage of extremism is it makes you feel good, because it provides you with enemies, all the badness in the world is in them, and all the goodness in the world is in you— John Cleese… in 1987. It’s explanatory clarity is as fresh as then: youtu.be/5mU5ef-zFyw

Contrary to common wisdom, the medium is *not* the message. Great creativity in messaging does not start from the medium. When you’ve got your message, you’ll have the appropriate medium too: Dave Trott has quite the anecdote to illustrate: buff.ly/yzEHahy

Research by Weinschenck & Dawes suggests genetics plays a larger role in shaping children’s political engagement than family socialization—specifically the sense of responsibility to stay politically informed, vote and contact politicians: buff.ly/gfQ3lV0

We approach, and observe, the world through countless rules that steer our own decisions, and our judgment of those of others. But our identity is revealed not in the rules we hold high, but in the exceptions we make to them: buff.ly/F5CkUtJ

The last 10 years of our life fly by faster than before. The reason is not that we remember less—it is cognitive decline, research by @marcwittman.bsky.social et al suggests: buff.ly/og3Rh6c

Strictly come dancing… for *real* stars The plasma waves in this binary star system are a sight to behold: buff.ly/G699zW0

Appealing to someone’s authority is fine, but it would be good if you were also aware of their mistaken views and conclusions. David Friedman looks at the errors of a much-cited authority in Orwell’s Mistakes: buff.ly/uVMNEhl

Pleasure doesn't equal happiness. But it’s a logical fallacy to infer *suffering* therefore does—which might lead to fetishizing suffering, seeking masochistic misery as supposedly essential to flourishing, argues @philosophyminis.bsky.social. There’s a better way: buff.ly/nZS6qlq

Aristotle discovers why democracy (kind of) works (or worked): buff.ly/r5EIUqH

Ticket resale makes the final allocation to consumers 5% more efficient, research by Phillips & Sorensen finds, but at higher market prices, with 1/3 of the efficiency gain lost to rent-seeking through leveraging excess demand in the primary market: buff.ly/mQ86fKn

Research by Kordsmeyer et al finds moderate positive correlation for facial and bodily perceptions of attractiveness, health, and physical dominance, for both ♀ and ♂ ( ‘one ornament hypothesis’); but no significant associations with vocal judgments: buff.ly/bhRRp61

Habits are essential—without them we’d be overwhelmed by the number of conscious decisions we face. But they can make life boring, and questioning them can help us break, or replace, habits that have outlived their usefulness: buff.ly/SVqPwRL

Elephants’ superpower is not in their trunks, but in their ears—alongside their role in hearing (they can pick up low frequency sounds an pinpoint them very accurately, they’re essential to regulate their temperature and used as communication devices: buff.ly/dS6SDcI

Beethoven’s fifth as a play—the performers, the Korean a cappella group Hotplays may hold instruments, but they’re acting out the score using their voice. (Would grumpy Ludwig Van have approved?) buff.ly/m2I4R6m

Making decisions comes at a cost—opportunity cost, metabolic cost, and computational cost. If we feel it is too high, we abandon the decision, or put in less effort, with potentially detrimental effect. An interdisciplinary team mapped these costs: buff.ly/pyBZXIm

Why would we change our mind on the purchase of a statistically sound car on the basis of a single negative second hand report? A clear fallacy… or is it a manifestation of how we handle trust? tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy picks the phenomenon apart: buff.ly/B6Q4kVa

Most of us will have a rule about queue jumping—not cool—at least supposedly. We’re civilized after all! But that is not what this rule signals about us—it’s the *exceptions* to the rule (yeh, I shouldn’t but I really was in a hurry) that say who we are: buff.ly/F5CkUtJ

Give low income people an unconditional guaranteed monthly income of $1,000 for 3 years. What changes? Research by @evavivalt.bsky.social et al finds… •work and earn less (4.1 pp/$1800 pa) •no change in job quality •more leisure and entrepreneurial activity buff.ly/irdWtFK

Correct handle: @briandavidearp.bsky.social 🤦‍♂️

Just like the Turing test is no longer a reliable indicator for human-ness, so well-written, coherent prose in a paper is no longer sound evidence of domain fluency and competence, writes @briandavidearp—and it is making him a better reader and editor: buff.ly/q4ser07

Goede raad kan tegenstrijdig zijn—plukken we best de dag, of bewaren we liever het beste voor het laatst? De contradictie reflecteert twee evolutionaire neigingen die beide nuttig—én verkeerd—kunnen zijn. ICYMI, mijn laatste @apache.be stukje van 2025: buff.ly/txPd0lO

Our behaviour (and our judgment of others’) are steered by rules—some forced upon us (laws), some we choose to embrace (social norms), and many we make up ourselves (what’s an acceptable pizza topping). But it’s the exceptions that matter the most: open.substack.com/pub/koenfuci...

New research suggests people who see their political group as a primary victim of injustice tend to support antidemocratic policies. This ‘competitive victimhood’ boosts partisan hostility and viewing opponents as less than human: buff.ly/AmQmrou via @psypost.bsky.social

If the Big Bang created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, how come pretty much all we can detect is matter? New experiments with the mysterious neutrino could open the door to explaining the universe’s missing antimatter: buff.ly/fAp4REv

Alice's Egg Plant (1925) is one of Walt Disney’s 57 live action Alice animations, produced between 1923 and 1927. He failed to sell it until a NY film distributor lost the rights to Felix the Cat (Julius shows an uncanny resemblance) gave him a break: youtu.be/kLwPQIEdjzU

Political polarization often coincides with affective polarization (like/trust ingroups; dislike/distrust outgroups), which influences non-political choices. Nettasinghe et al propose a model to map the dynamics based on ingroup love vs outgroup hate: buff.ly/4LU3J0O HT @jayvanbavel.bsky.social

Why it’s a good idea to stop setting out to win arguments @jeffersonfisher.bsky.social explains the price that we often must pay for indulging this urge, and the triggers to look out for: buff.ly/nNa8LsG

Total hours of sleep, deep sleep duration, and percentage of REM sleep don’t predict the quality of brain cleaning during sleep—“we have been measuring the wrong things about sleep.” buff.ly/GBX6zRI

Een toevallige ontmoeting op de trein die tot meer lijkt te kunnen leiden… impulsief de kans grijpen, of voorzichtig wachten tot het geschikte moment zich aandient? Mijn @apache_be stukje onderzoekt hoe we aan twee tegenstrijdige neigingen zijn gekomen: buff.ly/txPd0lO

During research on the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy to treat Misophonia (a hypersensitivity to certain sounds, eg others’ masticating), a link with broader sensory processing sensitivities—odours and touch—is discovered: buff.ly/WwNcuM3 via @psypost.bsky.social

Surgery would be unthinkable today without local or general anaesthetic. But despite the fact it certainly works and has done for nearly two centuries, we still don’t know precisely how, and experts still have lots of questions. What do we know? buff.ly/9RFkyml

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