Your true friend. via Flickr user Bishop^

Going out to the bar is one of life’s great pleasures. And yet there’s always some busybody chiming in with their “blah blah blah Sobruary” or “yadda yadda cirrhosis and liver failure.” Well look who’s laughing now teetotalers and buzzkills: a new study from Yale notes that alcohol can have a positive effect on your brain, and not just when you sit down to read at the bar. We’ll drink to that. (more…)

Guess who’s NOT going to have heart attacks. via Flickr user Vix Walker

We’re always willing to give a fun volunteer opportunity a shout out here. For starters, because it’s a free thing to do, and, sometimes it even comes with sweet perks. Free food or drinks, meeting new people, the ability to lord your kindly humanity over your lazy friends. And now, via The Atlantic, comes the news that volunteering can actually be good for your health. (more…)

Go ahead, drink it all. via Flickr user Mel B.

We’ve all had moments at the end of the night where we either dread taking the long , drunk trip home or do something incredibly regrettable that requires a hurried exit and a ton of apologies the next day. But what if, instead of people giving you water when you’ve had too much to drink, your friends could just reach in their medicine cabinets or pockets and get a pill to sober you up? Would you ever stop drinking? (more…)

Don’t bother, you won’t lose any weight. via Flickr user Lulu11

Cheap exercise is hard to come by, hence all the guides to taking advantage of gym deals or talking them down to a level you’re comfortable paying. You could always run, we guess, that’s free. But running is boooring and gets worse than usual in the winter months. It was a widely held belief that you could burn a lot of calories by getting down with someone in the biblical sense, which is also free, but now science says that just isn’t true. (more…)

Totally unbiased sources agree. via Vando Comics

Oh sure everyone knows they should use condoms, but everyone also knows they’ll come up with plenty of excuses not to use them, chief of among them “it just feels better.” But have your nerve endings and brain been lying to you this whole time? The Atlantic found a University of Indiana study that says yes, they were. Well, there goes that excuse. (more…)

What secrets are lurking in your double helix? via NIST

DNA tests are often the province of “You are NOT the father” jokes or unrealistic depictions on CSI: Richmond. They can be useful if you’re curious about how your family came to be your family, and maybe even toss you some surprises, like cluing you into the fact you have secret Tibetan cousins. Or maybe your family ends up being exactly what you thought it would be. In that case you’d be better served not paying full price for your DNA test, and the good news is now you don’t have to, thanks to a Living Social deal at AncestrybyDNA. (more…)

A burned out Oslo is just the beginning. Photo via Austin McCutchen

This could be the end of life as we know it. It’s true, Brokesters, things are a-changin’, for better and for worse. For better: we may be seeing improvements on the G train. For worse: we may be losing Coney Island to a strip mall anti-paradise. But the biggest change to come, indeed one of the most horrifyingly and universally life-altering things we could imagine, has to do with none other than our precious, precious coffee supply. That’s right, folks, according to The Awl, our future coffee supply is in danger. (more…)

What kind of crap has Gowanus Canal washed ashore? via Flickr user Jackie Weisberg

The Gowanus Canal is legendary for its pollution, invisible shrimp and possible canal monster. Basically all it hasn’t done is catch fire like the Cuyahoga River, but we shouldn’t give up hope on that one yet. In the wake of it getting all up in our business because Sandy pushed it out of its borders and into our yards, we can find out if the canal has infected our soil like a wave of STDs thanks to a new study called Send Us Your Dirt from Sandy (SUDS). (more…)

Don’t be sorry, buddy. via Prince of Petworth

Drinking excessively is commonly seen as “bad for you” by “experts,” who we really know are just buzzkills. After all, if the Lord didn’t want us to drink eleven beers in a night, He wouldn’t made them so damn tasty. And now, science has finally come around to the side of the frequent partier: a newly published study found that patients with higher BAC levels were more likely to survive visits to the trauma center. (more…)

Atlas Cafe in Williamsburg, never for a lack of MacBooks. Photo via NYT.

The next time someone tries to give you guff for spending all your supposed-to-be productive hours in your neighborhood coffee shop, throw this study down on the table and scream “Science, bitches!” (before politely asking them to leave so you can return to doing your work, of course). Some researchers wanted to find out whether ambient noise, such as your coffee shop chatter, can actually help productivity. The conclusion? “The next time you’re stumped on a creative challenge, head to a bustling coffee shop, not the library.” (more…)