Pocket-Worthy Reads

Stories to fuel your mind

Knowable Magazine

The Neurons That Make Us Feel Hangry

Neuroscientists think a cluster of cells in the brain that stimulate appetite could be a target for eating disorder therapies.

Fatherly

One Underrated Nature Show Drove Kids Wild

Let’s go back to the original Wild Kratts — Zoboomafoo.

MEL Magazine

The Rickety Economics of Food Trucks

Can you ever do more than break even when selling hot dogs, kimchi-flavored tacos, lobster rolls or ironically-shaped pretzels to the fickle masses?

The Hustle

How Hollywood Insures Its Biggest Stunts

When Tom Cruise drives off a cliff, insurance companies are standing by in case something goes wrong.

Bloomberg

Meet the Falconer Who Earns $20,000 a Month

You do what? A Long Island native traded book publishing for birds and never looked back.

Scientific American

Borderline Personality Disorder May Be Rooted in Trauma

A focus on the traumatic origins of an often stigmatized psychiatric diagnosis is inspiring treatments.

Darius Foroux

How to Beat Procrastination (Backed by Science)

Procrastination has been around since the start of modern civilization. Historical figures like Herodotus, Leonardo Da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Benjamin Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt, and hundreds of others have talked about how procrastination is the enemy of results.

Bon Appétit

Simple Pasta Carbonara

Humble ingredients—eggs, pasta, cheese, and pork—combine to create glossy, glorious spaghetti carbonara.

SELF

7 Ways to Heal Your Relationship With Exercise and Movement

Moving your body shouldn’t be a punishment.

Nir Eyal

Hindsight Bias: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices

Hindsight bias is when people feel they “knew it all along.” You see it in business, medicine and law. Learn how it works, why it exists, and how to beat it.

Popular Mechanics

Scientists Found a Paradox in Evolution—and It May Become the Next Rule of Biology

A study unexpectedly reveals that cells thrive on chaos.

Homes & Gardens

Best Trees to Grow in Pots – 16 Species to Suit Any Outdoor Space

Growing trees in containers gives us so much more freedom to plant creatively on our patios and terraces.

Popular Collections

Curated guides to the best reads on the web

Pocket Collections

The Art of Navigating Thorny Office Politics

From bad bosses to gossipy colleagues and, of course, office refrigerator drama.

Today’s Pocket Hits

Tuesday, July 29

NBC News

Crypto Kidnapping: How Armed Gangs Are Hunting the Internet’s High Rollers

Kidnapping and extortion are growing concerns in the crypto world, with cases rising alongside the price of bitcoin.

Vox

Am I Actually “Too Sensitive”?

Some people, in fact, are more prone to big feelings than others.

The 19th

Debbie Dingell Tells Her Story — Even When She Doesn’t Want To

The Michigan congresswoman is again recounting her childhood experiences as funding to combat domestic violence is under threat.

NPR

She’s Trying to Open a Birth Center Near a Maternity Desert. It’s Not Easy.

When Katie Chubb was pregnant she wanted to have her baby at a birth center, but there was no local option. Now she's trying to open one herself. She has community support, but not from the hospitals.

The Independent

Why Are We So Bad at Apologising?

For a nation that is famously apologetic about everything, the UK apparently has a hard time saying sorry. Olivia Petter asks why we find making genuine apologies so difficult – and what that says about our ability to take accountability.

Atlas Obscura

The Original ‘Survivor’ Island Changed Television Forever

Pulau Tiga, best known as the original ‘Survivor’ island, was as much of a character on the show as the contestants were.

BBC

The ‘Other’ Michelin Award Travellers Should Know

Long overshadowed by the coveted Michelin stars, the Bib Gourmand celebrates the world's best budget-friendly restaurants.

Axios

Why GLP-1s Could Become the “Everything Drug”

The biggest buzz around GLP-1 drugs these days has nothing to do with weight loss. And that might lead to some problems for patients and insurers.

Recommended Reads

Curated by Pocket

The Conversation

My Child Is Always Losing and Forgetting Things. How Can I Help – Without Making It Worse?

Doing everything for your child robs them of an opportunity to learn. Here are the dos and don’ts.

TASTE

Gas Station Food Is Southern Black Resilience

Important restaurants with ambition, heart, and seven-cheese mac and cheese, are hiding in plain sight.

Motherly

Most Premature Baby Ever Born Celebrates His First Birthday

At just 21 weeks gestation, weighing only 10 ounces, baby Nash Keen entered the world fighting. A year later, his parents, Mollie and Randall, are celebrating a milestone they once weren’t sure they’d see: Nash’s first birthday.

W Magazine

Liza Minnelli Talks Her Life in Parties & Why She’ll Never Stop Dancing

From Studio 54 to sobriety, the icon revisits her star-studded nights out.

Axios

Car Buyers Aren’t Waiting for Prices to Go Higher, Survey Finds

55% of Americans are now weighing car purchases in the year ahead, up from 47% in Q1.

KCUR

Sales Plummet at Hispanic Business Strips Because of ICE Fears

President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has many recent immigrants terrified, hunkering down and holding onto their money.

Journal of Democracy

Venezuela’s Lost Year

A year ago Nicolás Maduro stole Venezuela’s election and entrenched his power by jailing and killing those who opposed him. But the world’s democracies don’t need to sit on the sidelines.

Big Think

The Katie Gatti Tassin Interview: “Go the Extra Yard — Not the Extra Mile”

The host of the ’Money with Katie’ podcast has some priceless advice for women on how to approach pay-rise negotiations.

USA TODAY

Why These 4 Very Good NBA Players Remain Unsigned

NBA free agency is, for the most part, complete. Players have signed, the dust has settled and teams are headed toward a few quiet weeks of summer vacation.

BBC

The F1 Driver Who Survived a Devastating Crash

The F1 champion Niki Lauda had a near-fatal accident in Germany in August 1976. After defying all expectations, he told the BBC in 1977 how he willed himself to stay alive.

The New York Times

How Parenting Changed After Etan Patz

Did the shocking disappearance of a 6-year-old in 1979 forever alter how Americans raised children? Or were there other reasons for parents to be anxious?

WIRED

The First Planned Migration of an Entire Country Is Underway

The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu could be submerged in 25 years due to rising sea levels, so a plan is being implemented to relocate its population to Australia.

Life Hacks

Tips for better living

The Guardian

Trust Your Gut and Fail Bravely: Seven Influential Women on the Advice They Would Give Their 30-Year-Old Selves

It’s tempting to imagine what we might have done differently. But, as Diana Nyad says: ‘We earn our wisdom.’

Vox

How to Make the Hardest Choices of Your Life

From picking a career to picking a spouse, one radical philosophical idea will guide you.

The Cut

What If a Child Was Terrified of Food?

The rise of ARFID, a new eating disorder driven not by body image but by fear.

The Associated Press

If You Don’t Have Diabetes, Do You Really Need a Continuous Glucose Monitor?

A quarter-size device that tracks the rise and fall of sugar in your blood is the latest source of hope — and hype — in the growing buzz around wearable health technology.

CNBC

Even Many High-Earning Americans Don’t Feel Wealthy. Here’s Why

Many high earners in the U.S. still feel broke. Between lifestyle creep, debt and social pressure, even $200,000 per year doesn’t always buy peace of mind.

The Guardian

‘It Would Destroy Me’: Fear of Student Loan Default Haunts US Borrowers

The Trump administration has ended the pandemic-era pause on repayments, leaving many facing colossal debts.

CNBC

Animal Shelters Are Crowded as High Costs Squeeze Pet Owners

Millions of animals are stuck in increasingly cramped shelters because their owners are struggling to pay rising vet bills and other expenses.

The Atlantic

The Problem With Rewards Credit Cards

Their fees are getting higher—and their benefits are sometimes wildly complicated to redeem.

NPR

Dear Life Kit: My Friend Says Ugly Things About Her Body and It Makes Me Anxious

Body-acceptance advocate Katie Sturino and Ronald Young Jr., host of the podcast Weight for It, answer listener questions about body image, weight loss drugs and bullying.

Harvard Business Review

The Right Way to Prepare for a High-Stakes Conversation

Before commercial pilots push back from the gate, they complete a comprehensive preflight check to verify that every system functions correctly during the journey ahead.

Parents

A Parent Let Their Son Choose What to Do With Money They Found–Here’s What He Decided

Doing real-time experiments like this in the wild can teach us a lot about our kids and ourselves as parents.

Kiplinger

Are You an Auto Theft Target? Discover the Clues

Thieves seized over 850,000 cars last year. See which models, states and behaviors draw the eyes of opportunists.