Your “Budget” Was Once a Little Leather Bag Before a budget could be balanced, it could be carried. The word entered English in the early fifteenth century from Old French…
“Alcohol” Was Originally Eye Makeup Today, alcohol usually means the intoxicating ingredient in beer, wine, and spirits. But the word began with something completely dry: a finely powdered cosmetic. It…
Why Differences Look Bigger Side by Side Why do we view options as more distinct when evaluating them simultaneously? Imagine you’re choosing between two televisions. One has slightly better contrast….
In late May 1940, Britain came frighteningly close to losing the army it would need to continue fighting Nazi Germany. Hundreds of thousands of British and Allied soldiers were trapped…
Why Investors Sell Winners Too Soon and Hold Losers Too Long Why do we tend to hold on to losing investments? Imagine you own two stocks. One is up 25%….
From Blitzkrieg to Berlin When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, few could have imagined the scale of the war that would follow. Within less than two years, Nazi…
The Animal That Built a World Humans are not the strongest animals on Earth. We cannot outrun a cheetah, overpower a gorilla, smell like a dog, or see like an…
Chimpanzees are often described as our closest living relatives, but some of their behavior can be disturbingly familiar. Researchers have observed groups of chimpanzees deliberately isolating, surrounding, and killing other…
For most mammals, milk belongs to infancy. After weaning, production of lactase—the enzyme that breaks down milk sugar—declines. Many humans follow that same developmental pattern. But some populations evolved lactase…
“Hazard” Began With a Roll of the Dice Today, a hazard is something dangerous: a slippery floor, a chemical spill, or a reckless driver. But the word originally belonged at…