At NPSC we know that one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy is to learn new things. Unfortunately, with all of the information available to us, it can feel almost impossible to find the time to sift through the web to find the gems.

So, we’ve decided to do it for you! Every Friday, you can find five new articles or videos from the week that will stretch your mind, fuel your spirit, and feed your brain.

“Yazidi Women Finally Go To School, Defying Former ISIS Rulers — And Their Own Parents” by Jane Arraf, npr.org

“Before ISIS, the Yazidi community in Sinjar was one of the poorest and most underdeveloped groups in Iraq. In some villages, it was considered improper for girls to go to school. But now, young Yazidi women like Hussin have resolved to take their future into their own hands.”

“Is there really such a thing as ‘muscle memory’? For example, in the sense of your fingers remembering where the keys of the keyboard are?” by Quora.com, mentalfloss.com

“Women Were Better Represented in Victorian Novels Than Modern Ones” by Kat Eschner, smithsonianmag.com

“Since the birth of modern English-language novels in the 1700s, male and female characters from Paul Atreides to Elizabeth Bennet have laughed, grinned, felt and acted through their pages. A new study conducted using a machine learning algorithm has offered fresh perspective on their histories.”

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be: But how many ideas did Shakespeare himself ‘borrow’?” by Brandon A. Weber, bigthink.com

“In the new book, authors Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter establish the links between The Bard and a man named George North, who wrote an unpublished manuscript titled, ‘A Brief Discourse Of Rebellion And Rebels.’”

“How to Get by in a Country Where You Don’t Know the Language” by Shivani Vora, nytimes.com

“Not knowing the local language is no reason not to travel. Here are some tips to get by from someone who does it all the time.”

At NPSC we know that one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy is to learn new things. Unfortunately, with all of the information available to us, it can feel almost impossible to find the time to sift through the web to find the gems.

So, we’ve decided to do it for you! Every Friday, you can find five new articles or videos from the week that will stretch your mind, fuel your spirit, and feed your brain.

“EVERYONE HAS ANXIETY DREAMS. OLYMPIC ATHLETES HAVE OLYMPIC-SIZED ONES” by Melissa Block, npr.org

“What do these athletes dream about? In particular, what are their anxiety dreams — the ones that make them wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night?”

“HOW PHYSICS KEEPS FIGURE SKATERS GRACEFULLY ALOFT” by Evelyn Lamb, smithsonianmag.com

“Olympians, after all, understand science at a visceral level in ways most of us don’t.”

“ALL OF YOUR TEETH EVOLVED FROM A SINGLE ANCESTRAL TOOTH IN THE AGE OF THE DINOSAURS” by Michele Debczak, mentalfloss.com

“In their new video, TED-Ed explains what exactly makes teeth unique.”

“THIS SIMPLE SOLUTION TO SMARTPHONE ADDICTION IS NOW USED IN OVER 600 U.S. SCHOOLS” by Tara Bahrampour, washingtonpost.com

“I don’t think people realize how radically different it is to be a human being with a phone in your pocket.”

“THE FIRST GIRL SCOUT COOKIE WAS SURPRISINGLY BORING” by Anne Ewbank, atlasobscura.com

“No coconut, chocolate, or mint in sight.”

At NPSC we know that one of the best ways to keep your brain healthy is to learn new things. Unfortunately, with all of the information available to us, it can feel almost impossible to find the time to sift through the web to find the gems.

So, we’ve decided to do it for you! Every Friday, you can find five new articles or videos from the week that will stretch your mind, fuel your spirit, and feed your brain.

“THE KEY TO ROBERT E. LEE’S PUZZLING DEATH MIGHT BE HIDDEN IN A PHOTO OF HIS EARLOBE” by Evan Lubofsky, mentalfloss.com

“Now, new research from East Carolina University sheds light on the age-old question of what actually caused Lee’s demise, thanks to the discovery in a photograph of a crease running diagonally across Lee’s right earlobe.”

“FOUR WAYS TO FIND MEANING IN LIFE” by Derek Beres, bigthink.com

“We are obsessed with happiness, often believing it a birthright, yet as journalist Emily Esfahani Smith notes in her book, The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed by Happiness, all that searching is actually making us unhappy.”

“THE GIFT AND POWER OF EMOTIONAL COURAGE” by Susan David, ted.com

“Psychologist Susan David shares how the way we deal with our emotions shapes everything that matters: our actions, careers, relationships, health and happiness.”

“TEN MAJOR ANNIVERSARIES WORTH TRAVELING FOR THIS YEAR” by Ryan P. Smith, smithsonianmag.com

“As you ponder travel destinations for the year ahead, consider looking back at history for inspiration.”

“WHY READ ALOUD DAY MATTERS: IN A WORLD OF SCREENS AND BUSYNESS, WE FIND THE TIME FOR MAGIC” by Kristin O’Keefe, washingtonpost.com

“LitWorld designated Feb.1 as World Read Aloud Day to bring attention to the importance of reading aloud, sharing stories and the idea of literacy as a human right.”