Culture

‘Opposites attract’ was never the whole story

🎶 I’m looking for baggage that goes with mine! 🎶 - Jonathan Larson | Rent

“Opposites attract” is a phrase borrowed from physics, where it works beautifully. In pop culture romance, the results have been… mixed. As Mark Wales reports in this story, researchers are starting to question whether difference is really the secret sauce we think it is.

A 2025 study suggests people may be drawn together by something more subtle and more intimate than shared hobbies or values. As mental health language becomes more common in everyday life, patterns are emerging in who we choose to love and why those relationships tend to stick.

The research hints at a new way of understanding compatibility, one that has less to do with sparks and more to do with how two people experience stress, connection, and the world around them.

And what did we learn?

Tired of your to-do list making you tired? Yesterday, we shared the power of the done list. You should check it out if you missed it.

How do GOOD readers manage their tasks? Over 40% trust the ol’ sticky note. Me? I’m an emailer. I can’t leave anything in the inbox undone. It’s a sickness!

• Post-its. Just... so many post-its. (41.5%)

• I email myself and let future me deal with it. (24.4%)

• I don't, it's a whole thing. What was I supposed to be doing? (19.5%)

• I have an app for that, and sometimes I even open it. (14.6%)

Reader LucyLikesOranges (Hi, again, Lucy!) has a rep around the office for her prolific post-it-ing. “The system works beautifully for me and provides tremendous aesthetic satisfaction, to boot.”

Health

For cancer patients, mushrooms are doing what antidepressants couldn’t

Researchers are rethinking how we treat grief, fear, and despair at the end of life.

Grief and anxiety are almost inevitable when someone is facing a terminal cancer diagnosis. And for years, medicine has struggled to offer real emotional relief beyond standard antidepressants.

But as Mark Wales reports, a new clinical study suggests help might come from an unlikely source: psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in so-called magic mushrooms. In a controlled setting, cancer patients reported rapid and meaningful drops in depression and anxiety, often right after a single session.

Even more surprisingly, higher doses led to longer-lasting improvements, sometimes weeks later. Researchers also found the treatment played well with chemotherapy, sidestepping some of the side effects that plague traditional antidepressants.

The research is still early. But for patients navigating fear, grief, and limited time, it hints at a radically different way to find peace when it matters most.

Culture

The fax that made Hollywood flinch

At the height of their power, Michael Ovitz and Joe Eszterhas had a private meeting that was supposed to end quietly. It didn’t.

This story is about two Hollywood BIG SHOTS at the absolute peak of their influence. Michael Ovitz was an agent who ran his agency, CAA, like a command center. Joe Eszterhas was a star screenwriter coming off Flashdance and commanding seven-figure deals.

When Eszterhas decided to leave CAA for a rival agency, the fallout was immediate. In Ovitz’s world, that move wasn’t a strategy. It was personal. After their meeting, Eszterhas said he felt BETRAYED, shaken not by the loss of an agent but by what he believed were explicit threats meant to keep him in line.

Hollywood is a small town, and once Eszterhas decided not to stay quiet, Ovitz had NOWHERE TO RUN. It might be a BASIC INSTINCT to retreat in a moment like that. Eszterhas did the opposite. He went home, typed a three-page letter detailing the alleged intimidation, and faxed it across Hollywood.

THE IMPACT was immediate. The fax raced through agencies and studios, reframing a private dispute as an industry-wide question about power and fear. Suddenly, everyone was CHECKING OUT the situation and quietly asking whether the most powerful agent in town had finally pushed too far.

Hey… someone should really write a movie about this!

Those BOLD phrases are not accidental. They’re all titles of Joe Eszterhas movies. Consider it a small SLIVER of fun.

On December 30, 1924, Edwin Hubble announced findings that entirely reshaped our understanding of the universe. Working with the world-leading 100-inch Hooker telescope above Los Angeles and building on work by Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Hubble measured the distance to Andromeda at about 900,000 light-years, far, far outside the Milky Way, settling the Great Debate over spiral nebulae.

Harlow Shapley, a proponent of the one-galaxy universe model, reportedly showed colleagues Hubble’s note and sighed, “Here is the letter that destroyed my universe.”

Hubble was only beginning his work. In the years after changing our place in the universe, he spent his life mapping the skyline, championing better telescopes, and codifying astronomy with systems still in use today. He only paused long enough to join the effort during World War II, earning the U.S. Medal of Merit in 1946.

Today, the magnificent Hubble Space Telescope that bears his name continues to capture mind-expanding images of a universe that is, itself, expanding all the time.

Do you have something GOOD to share?

We’re always on the lookout for uplifting, enlightening, and engaging content to share with readers like you. If you have something you think should be featured in the Daily GOOD, let me know!

💬 From the group text…

Meet Walter Schmidt, the unsung hero of eyewear.

Join the Group Text! Send us your social media gold.