Culture

The seven-sentence habit that separates secure couples from the rest

A Harvard psychologist shares the seven tiny phrases that build lasting trust.

Relationships are complex things, but the ones that really work, according to Dr. Cortney Warren, a Harvard-trained psychologist, have something surprisingly consistent in common. In this story by Erik Barnes, she reveals the tiny verbal habits she hears in the happiest, most secure couples.

Warren says these seven phrases act like emotional shortcuts. They soften conflict, signal safety, and quietly rewrite the rules of partnership in all the best ways. Pair them with a few nonverbal cues, and suddenly the whole relationship feels sturdier.

What are the phrases? Why do they work so well? And which one might change your dynamic tonight?

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Animals

Real bears, CGI chimps, and the quiet extinction of animal actors

CGI chimps, pixelated predators, and one very real sea lion: Is Hollywood done with live animal actors?

From Lassie to Mr. Ed, and all the way to Flipper, real animals once packed Hollywood’s sound stages and sets. Animal trainers say those glory days are fading fast as studios swap fur and feathers for pixels and mocap suits. Jurassic Park didn’t just change cinema. It quietly kicked off a slow hiring freeze for every horse, hawk, and scene-stealing sea lion in town.

The shift isn’t only about tech flexing its muscles. As Cynthia Chris reports, activist exposés, pandemic shutdowns, and industry strikes all nudged the trend forward. The next act for Hollywood’s four-legged (and feathered) workers depends on how good the fakes get, and how much authenticity we still crave.

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Health

A new study flips our hydration instincts on their sweaty little heads

The results were udderly shocking.

It’s a hot day in summer, and you’ve just gone for a long, healthy jog. Time to rehydrate, and what better way than with water. Right? Nope. In a story that might turn your stomach, no matter your lactose tolerance, Mark Wales reports the liquid that you’ll want to chug is milk.

Yep. Moojuice. I wouldn’t trust it either, but researchers at the University of St. Andrews basically ran a beverage battle royale, and water didn’t take gold. Thanks to its proteins, fats, lactose, and built-in electrolytes, milk hangs out in your system longer, giving your body more time to absorb fluid instead of flushing it out immediately.

So yes, it feels deeply weird that your post-workout hero might be the thing you mostly pour over cereal. But that is what the science says.

I don’t know. Water wasn’t the best, but it still did pretty well, so maybe I’ll just stick to that. Just me?

On February 19, 1968, the sun rose on the first beautiful day in the neighborhood when Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood debuted nationally on National Educational Television (NET), a forerunner to PBS. The show, with its almost daringly slow pace, treated children as whole people: capable of big feelings, worthy of straight talk, and in need of reassurance that their inner lives mattered. That gentle format became the innovation, proving that “quiet” could still be compelling, and that emotional honesty could be the point, not the commercial break.

Fred Rogers himself was perfectly suited to the show he created. A music graduate, he started in TV at NBC, then returned to Pittsburgh to help shape children’s programming at WQED, refining his voice through earlier projects like The Children’s Corner and Misterogers (in Canada). Along the way, he trained at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a Presbyterian minister, explicitly framing his work as a kind of ministry to children and families, supported by serious child-development thinking, including a long collaboration with psychologist Margaret McFarland.

The downstream influence is everywhere: from the broader early-childhood field’s embrace of intentional, research-informed media to today’s wave of gentler, feelings-forward kids creators who cite him as a model.

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