Articles · 36 and counting
What the research actually says.
How learning works, the numbers everyone misreads, science, money, thinking traps and personality. Plain English, with an honest line on how much each idea holds up.
Learning
3 min read
Learning Styles Are a Myth. Here’s What Actually Helps You Learn
Most people believe they're a visual, auditory or hands-on learner. Teaching to your style doesn't help. What does, and why the myth survives.
3 min read
The Spacing Effect: Why Cramming Fails (and What to Do Instead)
Why studying in spaced sessions beats cramming, the forgetting curve behind it, and a simple schedule for spacing out your study before an exam.
3 min read
Retrieval Practice: The Study Technique That Beats Rereading
Testing yourself isn't just a check on what you know; it's one of the best ways to learn. What retrieval practice is, why it works and how to use it.
Numbers
3 min read
Base Rate Neglect: Why a Positive Test Often Isn't What It Seems
A test that's 99% accurate says you have a rare disease. Are you 99% likely to have it? Usually far from it. Base rate neglect, explained with whole numbers.
3 min read
The Monty Hall Problem, Explained So It Finally Clicks
Three doors, one prize, and a host who opens an empty door. Why switching wins two times in three, explained four different ways until one of them lands.
3 min read
Correlation vs Causation: How to Tell the Difference, With Examples
Two things rising together doesn't mean one causes the other. The four other explanations to check, real examples, and how researchers actually establish cause.
3 min read
What a p-Value Actually Means (and the Three Ways People Misread It)
A p-value isn't the chance your result is wrong, or the chance it's right. What it really measures, with a coin-flipping example, and why p < 0.05 isn't magic.
3 min read
The Gambler's Fallacy: Is Tails Ever "Due"?
After five heads in a row, tails feels due. It isn't. Why the gambler's fallacy feels right, the Monte Carlo night it cost a fortune, and a coin to flip.
3 min read
The Law of Large Numbers, Explained With Coin Flips
Flip a coin enough times and heads settles near 50%. What the law of large numbers says, what it doesn't, and why casinos and insurers rely on it.
3 min read
The Birthday Paradox: Why 23 People Is Enough
In a room of just 23 people, it's more likely than not that two share a birthday. Why it's true, the maths in plain steps, and a room to check it.
3 min read
Relative vs Absolute Risk: What "50% Higher Risk" Really Means
A headline says a food raises your risk by 50%. Should you worry? Relative versus absolute risk, and the one question to ask of any health scare.
3 min read
Mean vs Median: Which Average Should You Trust?
Why the average salary is higher than what most people earn: the difference between mean and median, when each misleads, and which to use.
3 min read
Simpson's Paradox: Better in Every Group, Worse Overall
How a treatment, hospital or university can look better in every group and worse overall. Simpson's paradox, with real examples and a toy to flip it.
3 min read
Regression to the Mean: Why Extreme Results Don't Last
Why the worst performers improve and the best slip back, with no cause at all. Regression to the mean, and how it fools us about praise, cures and luck.
Science
3 min read
What Causes the Seasons? (It's Not How Close We Are to the Sun)
Most people think summer happens when Earth is closest to the Sun. It's actually closest in January. How the tilt of the Earth really causes the seasons.
3 min read
Why Does the Moon Have Phases? (It's Not Earth's Shadow)
The Moon's phases aren't caused by Earth's shadow. How the half-lit Moon's orbit makes crescents, quarters and full moons, and why we always see the same face.
3 min read
Where Does a Candle Go When It Burns? Conservation of Mass
A burning candle seems to vanish. It doesn't: its atoms leave as gases. Conservation of mass explained, with the candle, rust, and where lost body fat goes.
3 min read
Evolution Isn't Trying to Do Anything: 6 Common Misconceptions
Evolution has no goal, 'fittest' doesn't mean strongest, and humans didn't come from chimps. Six common misunderstandings about evolution, explained.
History
Money
3 min read
Compound Interest Explained: Why Growth Speeds Up
Why money growing at 10% a year doesn't add the same each year, the rule of 72, why starting early matters, and how compounding works against you in debt.
3 min read
The Rule of 72: How Long Until Your Money Doubles?
Divide 72 by the growth rate to see how many years money takes to double. How the rule of 72 works, how accurate it is, and using it on debt and inflation.
3 min read
Inflation Explained Simply: What It Is and Why It Matters
What inflation is, how it's measured, what causes it, why a little of it is considered healthy, and what it means for your savings and wages.
Thinking
3 min read
Cognitive Biases That Fool Smart People (and How to Catch Them)
Fast thinking is usually right, which is why its mistakes are so convincing. Eight common cognitive biases, with examples, and simple habits that catch them.
3 min read
Survivorship Bias: The Planes That Didn't Come Back
Why studying only the winners leads you wrong: the famous story of the WWII bombers, plus survivorship bias in business advice, investing and old buildings.
3 min read
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Why We Throw Good Money After Bad
Why we sit through bad films because we paid, stay in failing projects because of what we've put in, and how to make decisions that look forward instead.
Mind and body
Personality science
4 min read
Why Personality Tests Can Be Wrong (And When to Trust Them)
Why you get a different result each time, why vague descriptions feel so accurate, which personality tests have real science behind them, and how to use one.
5 min read
Understanding the Big Five Personality Traits: A Complete Guide
What the Big Five (OCEAN) traits are, what high and low scores look like, what each one predicts, and how to read your own results without over-reading them.
4 min read
MBTI vs Big Five: Which Personality Test Is Actually Accurate?
The Myers-Briggs is the most famous personality test; the Big Five is the one scientists use. How they differ, and why researchers prefer traits to types.
3 min read
Introvert vs Extravert: What the Science Actually Says
What introversion and extraversion really are, why introvert doesn't mean shy, what ambiverts are, and what the trait does and doesn't predict about your life.
4 min read
The Enneagram Guide: The 9 Types and How to Find Yours
The nine Enneagram types, the desire and fear behind each, wings and triads, how to find your type, and an honest look at what the evidence says.
3 min read
Can Personality Change? What Science Actually Says
Personality is stable but not fixed. How traits change across life, what drives the change, and whether you can change yours on purpose.
Relationships
3 min read
How Your Attachment Style Shapes Every Relationship You Have
Secure, anxious, avoidant and fearful-avoidant: where attachment styles come from, how they show up in adult relationships, and how they change.
3 min read
The Anxious-Avoidant Trap: Why Your Relationship Feels Like a Chase
When one partner wants more closeness and the other more space, each one's way of coping sets off the other's. How the cycle works, and how to break it.
3 min read
Love Languages in Practice: Beyond the Test Results
The five love languages are easy to learn and hard to live. What the research says about them, and how to actually use them with someone you care about.
Work
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