The 2020 Oscar nominations confirm that awards don't matter
Alrighty folks, the Academy Awards announced its 2020 nominees this morning. If you haven’t perused the full list, here it is. Take a moment, read it fully, and let the snubs really sink in. Maybe spend some time raging about the fact that Joker got…
By Kara Weisenstein

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How to keep up with the news without killing your joy
By Tracey Anne Duncan
Staying informed with current events is daunting. There seems to be an overabundance of bad and scary news lately. It’s easy to feel apocalyptic about the state of the world when your social media feed is screaming doom. It’s tempting to hide or,…
Finding therapy can be hell for marginalized people. This app wants to help.
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Millennials have been nicknamed the “therapy generation,” which makes it seem like all of us are spending hours in our therapists’ offices, when in fact, many of us still struggle to access mental health services at all, let alone those that meet…
What happens to your body and mind when you quit weed
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Liz Benton recently quit weed after smoking it at least once a day for seven years — and the first week was especially brutal. Within two days of quitting, she experienced a panic attack. She struggled to fall asleep, and when she did, she’d have…
Why teen depression rates are rising faster for girls than boys
By Jean Twenge
We’re in the middle of a teen mental health crisis — and girls are at its epicenter. Since 2010, depression, self-harm and suicide rates have increased among teen boys. But rates of major depression among teen girls in the U.S. increased even more —…
How scientists measure the astronomical amount of plastic waste we generate
By Clyde Eiríkur Hull and Eric Williams
Countries around the world throw away millions of tons of plastic trash every year. Finding ways to manage plastic waste is daunting even for wealthy nations, but for smaller and less-developed countries it can be overwhelming. We recently carried…
The perplexing power of Pete Davidson
By Opheli Garcia Lawler
There are over 200,000 posts on Instagram with the hashtag #PeteDavidson. The most recent are about the breakup of the 26-year-old SNL star and model Kaia Gerber, 18, who split this week. It was the latest in a string of high profile relationships…
Netflix's 'Killer Inside' struggles to make sense of Aaron Hernandez's complicated past
By Opheli Garcia Lawler
There’s plenty to say about the new Aaron Hernandez Netflix documentary: it was long, it was upsetting, it didn’t really bring any new information to light. And those are all true things. Somehow, despite being over three hours, Killer Inside: The…
NASA planes will fly inside snowstorms to help give us better weather forecasts
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For many of us, a few inches of snow can be a nuisance, or at the very least keep us from getting to work on time. The worst part about impending snowstorms, however, is when we have no idea how much snow we're going to get during a given snowfall…
The Safdie brothers' new short film with Adam Sandler is a sneaky middle finger to the Oscars
By Kara Weisenstein
Uncut Gems got wholly, thoroughly snubbed by the people who dole out little gold men when the Oscars were announced on Monday. But Josh and Benny Safdie, the sibling writer-directors of the crime masterpiece starring Adam Sandler, seem…
Ukraine just announced a Trump-related investigation — but not the one the president wanted
By Ashleigh Atwell
Ukraine has launched an investigation to determine whether U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was under surveillance before she was fired by President Trump. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry announced Thursday that Ukraine's police would be investigating…
Why are businesses finally coming around on climate change? One word: Money
By AJ Dellinger
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Odell Beckham Jr. could face jail time for slapping a cop's butt
By Kara Weisenstein
Louisiana authorities issued an arrest warrant for pro football player Odell Beckham Jr. on Thursday, after a video surfaced in which it appears he slapped a police officer’s backside. The star wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns was in the…
You can vape melatonin now — but should you?
By Melissa Pandika
Melatonin supplements and their promise of a good night’s sleep have been mainstays of the wellness world for years. Now, vaporizers developed to deliver melatonin to the bloodstream significantly faster than a tablet have entered the market,…
How Australia’s firefighters kept a grove of prehistoric pines safe among the wildfires
By Brittany Vincent
Though seemingly endless, massive bush fires continue to plague Australia, there's one spot of hope that's still managed to come from the destruction. On Thursday, officials announced that a series of "dinosaur trees" from a 200-million-year-old…
'Mindhunter' is the latest casualty of the streaming era's breakneck pace
By Kara Weisenstein
I regret to inform you: the future of Mindhunter, one of many Netflix series about serial killers, is now in a vegetative state. The show’s second season dropped five months ago, to far less fanfare than its first. Mindhunter debuted in the fall of…
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Planned Parenthood is making its biggest election investment ever in 2020
By Ashleigh Atwell
As the battle for reproductive rights rages on, Planned Parenthood plans to spend $45 million on the 2020 elections. CBS News reports Planned Parenthood will dedicate funds to help campaigns at the state, congressional and presidential levels. The…
How low levels of Vitamin D affect Black and brown people differently
By Margherita T. Cantorna
Winter is upon us and so is the risk of vitamin D deficiency and infections. Vitamin D, which is made in our skin following sunlight exposure and also found in oily fish (mackerel, tuna and sardines), mushrooms and fortified dairy and nondairy…
Scientists just found two more potentially inhabitable planets
By Brittany Vincent
Another day, another exoplanet discovery! At least, that's certainly what it feels like as of late, with astronomers successfully seeking out the celestial objects and stumbling upon some pretty impressive discoveries. Most recently, two new…
A federal judge blocked Trump's executive order allowing states to deny refugees
By Ezra Marcus
Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that his state would no longer accept refugees, following an executive order by the Trump administration which decreed that state and local governments would have to consent to resettling refugees.…
The Machu Picchu poopers prove that tourists still don't know how to act
By Tracey Anne Duncan
Peruvian police are deporting five tourists for desecrating a temple in Machu Picchu with feces. Yes, you heard me correctly — they barged into a historical space for religious worship and then pooped in it. Those five suspects plus one more, who…
A tip for Trump cronies: Drunk texting is not the ironclad defense you think it is
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Campuses are embracing facial recognition technology. Students, however, are not.
By AJ Dellinger
The fear of school shootings, violence on campus, sexual assaults and other disturbing trends have schools from elementary to college scrambling to find ways to keep their campus safe. For some schools, that includes installing cameras and embracing…