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Lil' Bear, a grizzly, and Tala, a wolf, have been best friends for six years. Better yet, there's video of the besties (beasties?) playing as babies. This might be the cutest thing you'll watch all day. More »
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We all have those friends who are competitive or are constantly causing drama for one reason or another. It's tempting to just put up with them, but a new study has found that conflicts with those kinds of people could actually be irritating you physically—as in causing your immune system to fire up. This leads to your body to become inflamed, a state which has been associated with things like cancer and diabetes. More »
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Steinbeckian simpleton Tim Tebow is a divisive figure. On one hand, he was in that obnoxious Super Bowl commercial where his mom implied that women who die in chldbirth aren't tough enough, he's really seems to think that God cares about football and he's been known to spend free time "converting" Catholic Filipinos into more sensible evangelical Tebowian Christians. On the other hand, America loves few things more than a big, gentle, soft-hearted dummy. And sometimes he acts like an incredibly decent guy. Take, for example, his friendship with 22-year-old cancer survivor Kelly Faughnan. More »
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It's usually charming when a human forms a deep friendship with a powerful animal like a gorilla or a lion. Even though you're aware of the danger, you can see the emotions they feel for one another, and it's so heart-warming when the giant creature nuzzles their head into their human pal's chest or rests their massive paw in their lap. Yeah, well, this might be the exception to the rule that human-animal bonds are always adorable. More »
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Especially now that jobs are hard to come by, a lot of people find themselves in long-distance relationships. And there's a lot of advice about to manage such relationships. But what about the rest of your life — how do you keep up with your friends when you're always jetting off to see your partner? Below, some tips on exactly that. More »
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"What are friends for" is often posed as a rhetorical question. But a team of scientists believe they have an answer, and that answer is: to keep you from getting eaten. More »
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When you're single, hanging out with coupled friends can be awkward. You don't want to break up with your friends when they enter relationships, but you don't want to be the third wheel, either. And what about "couple-y" social functions where everyone seems to have a partner? Never fear, we have tips for you — and for couples, too. More »
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According to Niobe Way, male friendships are in as state of crisis, and the problem can't be solved simply by dudes watching sports together and declaring they're in a "bromance." As it turns out, mimicking what you see in a beer commercial is not enough. More »
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Do you ever feel like everyone is just terrible? Everyone thinks you're terrible, too. Especially if you're a woman. More »
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We recently learned that women are outliving not only their husbands, but their bank accounts as well. As you climb the aging beanpole, longstanding friends can make a major difference in your life, perhaps even more so than your ol' husband. And, as it turns out, some friendships get better with age. More »
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One of the toughest things about forming new friendships is making friendly overtures without having them mistaken for overtures of another kind. Making it clear that things are platonic can be awkward — but it doesn't have to be. You can, in fact, make new friends without making out. More »
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In a study that will surprise no one, psychologists have found that hating the same person can bring two people closer. More »
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A writer in the Daily Mail says her "platonic affair" with a male friend "ended her marriage." Naturally, this being the Mail, this leads to generalizations about the rest of us. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5783065&view=rss&microfeed=true A team of French Canadian researchers followed 400 adolescents' friendships with members of the opposite sex and published their findings in the Journal of Research on Adolescence. Among their findings: while girls receive certain perks from befriending boys- access to alcohol from boys who reached the legal drinking age of 18 first, for example- adolescent girls tend to receive the most emotional support from their friends of the same sex, while boys receive their emotional support from their opposite sex friends. Girls who had a larger number of opposite-sex friends at a younger age tended to use alcohol and drugs at a higher rate, while boys with a large number of female friends did not. More »
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This year, more female freshman at Harvard rushed for a sorority than in the University's history. This means both less and more than it appears; there are only three sororities on campus, and Greek life has always played second fiddle to the college's more established final club scene. (Remember that AEPi scene in The Social Network? Well, that was sorta realistic.) But it's worth considering, more broadly, why women (and men) seek out social spaces that will include them — and exclude others. More »
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Got a lot of friends? Thank your amygdala! A new study may shed light on how this brain structure, often associated with fear, may regulate our social lives as well. More »
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The new Sundance channel show Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys is a "groundbreaking" (their claim) series that explores the relationship between a woman and her gay best friend. More »
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Survey says, one in four of us is still best friends with someone from elementary school. Okay, a dubious survey. More »
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Rent-A-Friend is like an escort service, except it's platonic and just for hanging out. And weirder. More »
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Platonic friendships between men and women may be a relatively new phenomenon — but over time, they could make us better people. More »
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Only children of the world, rejoice — a new study says "an only child isn't necessarily a loner, misfit and brat!" More »
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One men's group is trying to address an oft-ignored problem: lacking the close friendships many women have, old dudes often get lonely. More »
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It seems like whoever can quantify the following will be able to take over the Internet dating market. More »
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We've all been there — a friend drops a comment that leaves us seething, but rather than say anything, we just let the resentment rankle. No longer! Here's how to speak up when someone's out of line. More »
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Someone writes into XX's "Friend or Foe" column with a question: why does her friend insist on bringing her "bratty and obnoxious" kids — and hubby! — everywhere? After all, "If I enjoyed having kids around, I'd have some myself:" More »
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Yesterday Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman discussed the age-old When Harry Met Sally question: can men and women be platonic friends? The typical answer (no) doesn't give men enough credit. More »
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Today in Social Minefield, we look at how to help a friend in need — or a friend in need of a swift kick. Follow the jump for tips on dealing with a friend's breakup, bereavement, or bad behavior. More »
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Often when we're talking about growing our souls, living big, shining, we speak about clearing our life of toxic friendships, bad influences, and people who trigger our fears. But I worry about this trend towards disposable friendships, relationships, and marriages. More »
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Neil Gaiman once pointed out that "dream logic isn't story logic," and that if you attempt to describe one of your dreams to someone, you should prepare to "watch their eyes glaze over." Not so, says the New York Times: More »
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The word "love" may get thrown around a lot these days, but there's one group conspicuously not using the L-word: straight men when talking to each other. More »
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Earlier this week we discussed how to make new friends. But what to do when an existing friend wants more than you can give — and what about when you realize you are that friend? More »
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This summer, a whole crop of new graduates will have to learn how to make friends in the grownup world — something that's tough even for adults of longer standing. Luckily, we've culled some tips. More »
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From the NY Times: "Increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend?" Our question: why is it their business? More »
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Rachel Shukert's moving essay about defending Courtney Love after Kurt Cobain's death — and the resulting treatment from her peers because of that choice — is a poignant reminder of how it feels when you don't stand up for someone. More »
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Shane Watson of the Times of London argues that if women perhaps considered "a list of rigid rules" when it came to selecting a husband, we'd be able to avoid the drama that has befallen the likes of Elin Nordegren. More »
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"Breaking up with a friend is much harder than dumping a lover — especially for women, a study has shown." Yeah — we know. More »
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According to Jeffrey Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal, men's friendships aren't like women's friendships. Specifically, they involve more fishing. And poker. More »
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The title Lonely tends to conjure up words like shy, sad, and withdrawn, so it's something of a surprise that Emily White has written an impassioned call to arms on behalf of a condition no one wants to talk about. More »
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Today's Wall Street Journal has some reasonable, if cynical, advice on how to break up with a friend (example: "lie"). But when is a friend breakup truly necessary? More »
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If you've ever dumped someone or been dumped right around Thanksgiving, you're apparently not alone: the holiday is responsible for the demise of many a shaky relationship, thanks to the phenomenon known as "the turkey drop." More »
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