Love feels like the greatest thing in the world... until it ends. When it does, we stop functioning at our full capacity. We lose motivation, find challenges insurmountable, and sometimes feel like we won’t love again. Fortunately, several studies have uncovered the root of why breakups just plain suck—and what you can … Read on Lifehacker 11/11/13 2:19pm 11/11/13 2:19pm

A recent study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science examines the motivations that women have for buying into paternalistic garbage stereotypes about women. Specifically, researchers at the University of Auckland have elucidated a connection between a feeling of entitlement in women and… Read… 10/18/13 3:10pm 10/18/13 3:10pm

Scientists at Cambridge University have found that girls with anorexia possess traits that echo characteristics of autism; their findings may helpfully impact the way we discuss, diagnose, and treat the disorder. Read… 8/06/13 6:40pm 8/06/13 6:40pm

The lady in red is dancing with you, cheek to cheek*, but only because she wants you (or anyone) to put a baby in her. Read… 5/29/13 12:40pm 5/29/13 12:40pm

A newly published study out of the University of New South Wales concludes that men and women find bearded faces more attractive than shaven ones. WHO'S THE DISAPPOINTMENT NOW, MOTHER? Read on io9 5/06/13 10:35pm 5/06/13 10:35pm

Openly gay people are less stressed than closeted homosexuals and usually more relaxed than straight people, according to a new study which finds that being out and proud makes a person extremely chill. Read… 1/29/13 12:20pm 1/29/13 12:20pm

Some exciting new research has recently hit the scene suggesting that some human beings might be in possession of a special gene that makes them more sensitive than others. No, this does not mean that Jennifer Aniston was right when she said that Brad Pitt was missing a "sensitivity chip." It has nothing to do with hurt… Read… 1/25/13 11:10am 1/25/13 11:10am

Imagine if "instant corrections" popped up every time you read something that wasn't true on the internet. Life-changing, right?!? No way. According to a recent study, stubborn fools who are already inclined to believe that vaccines cause autism/Obama wasn't born in the U.S./the apocalypse is nigh will go on believing… Read… 1/24/13 4:15pm 1/24/13 4:15pm

Despite what you may have heard from the Circle Jerks, Rick Ross and the insistent warbling of Ke$ha, not all pop stars live by the motto "die young." But a study looking at the careers of 1,400 rock and pop stars — famous between 1956 and 2006 — found that solo artists were twice as likely to die prematurely when… Read… 12/20/12 1:40pm 12/20/12 1:40pm

When it comes to spatial memory—the part of one's memory responsible for navigation—there appears to be an inherent difference between the sexes. According to a study published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, men and women use different methods for remembering where one object is in relation to another—and … Read… 11/26/12 12:35pm 11/26/12 12:35pm

Many of us have believed that being a late bloomer was a good thing, that our shy, socially awkward ways in high school would be rewarded in spades if we made it to graduation. We heard that if you go through middle school and high school as an ugly duckling, and you are guaranteed to blossom into a brain scientist… Read… 10/23/12 9:30am 10/23/12 9:30am

Scientists studying the "boss effect"—in short, how "social pressure of status and power affects our neurobiology"—have released a new batch of research exploring the ways that perceived social rank dictates our involuntary facial expressions. The idea, in essence, is that when a person who we feel outranks us smiles or… Read… 10/18/12 10:25am 10/18/12 10:25am

I don't want to hate evolutionary psychology, but I do. I hate it. It's a field of study that could be legitimately interesting, if it weren't constantly being twisted into a justification for backward (and, frankly, un-evolved) anti-feminist bullshit. Like, sure, maybe a part of me does want a dude who could kick a… Read… 9/10/12 5:40pm 9/10/12 5:40pm

Matrix-y memory researcher Malcolm MacLeod was curious whether people might be able to improve their ability to forget embarrassing or traumatizing personal memories, so he ran some experiments on "intentional forgetting" with co-researcher Saima Noreen. Both were doubtful — "Autobiographical memory is so vivid, so rich, … Read… 9/03/12 3:15pm 9/03/12 3:15pm

"Happiness" isn't real—right? I mean, I know a lot of people, but I don't know a single "happy" person. There are moments of elation and periods of contentment and you can get to the point where the good consistently outweighs the bad, but "the bad" is still in there. Because life is complicated. Trying to nail down… Read… 8/30/12 6:40pm 8/30/12 6:40pm

Forget "spare the rod, spoil the child" — research shows that experiencing spanking, slapping, and hitting as a kid leads to an increased risk of mental disorders as an adult. Read… 7/03/12 2:00pm 7/03/12 2:00pm

We all do it: we meet people, we forget their names, and then when we see them again, we say apologetically, "I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names? What's yours again?" Except it seems the truth may be that we aren't terrible with names—we just don't care enough to remember them. Ouch. Read… 6/21/12 11:15am 6/21/12 11:15am

Turns out our bitchiest middle school classmates were right: you CAN judge a person just by looking at their shoes. Researchers at the University of Kansas found that people were able to correctly guess a stranger's age, sex, income, political affiliation, and other characteristics simply by looking at their footwear. Read… 6/13/12 6:00pm 6/13/12 6:00pm

Have you been longing for scientific confirmation of what every adult has figured out in therapy or learned from watching TV? Well, you're in luck. It's now been proven that our parents can fuck us up like almost nothing else can. And it's not just our mothers who mess us up. It turns out our dads are equally… Read… 6/13/12 2:40pm 6/13/12 2:40pm