The science of why it's stressful and meaningful at the same time ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
November 11, 2025—Parenting can be hell AND the best thing in your life. How? Plus, optimists' brains look alike, and the most powerful wind turbine in the world. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Ming Yang's 16-MW OceanX twin turbine off the coast of Guangdong Province, China. Ming Yang Smart Energy Group | | Parents tend to report more stress in their daily lives than adults without children, but also higher life satisfaction in general. This contradiction is known as the "parenting paradox." Psychologists recently dug into it by scanning the brains of 35 fathers before and after their babies were born, and asking them about their levels of stress and satisfaction. In fathers whose sense of meaning in life stayed steady or increased after having become a parent, the researchers found increased brain activity in the temporal poles and insular cortex, which are important for contextualizing one's life. Why this is interesting: A new father might feel overwhelmed by sleepless nights yet still contextualize the experience as part of a meaningful existence. The findings suggest that challenging short-term emotions, like sheer exhaustion or stress, can become independent from a long-term sense of satisfaction—potentially because different brain processes are behind the two. What the experts say: "Integrative regions such as the temporal poles and insular cortex allow both positive and negative events to fit together, potentially into a framework that facilitates long-term well-being," writes Anthony Vaccaro, a research assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies the neuroscience of emotion. —Andrea Tamayo, Newsletter Writer | | Optimism and pessimism look different in the human brain. Researchers scanned dozens of study participants while they were in an fMRI machine as they imagined good and bad things happening to them and their spouses. Then the scientists looked at the brain activity in the region associated with imagining future events: the medial prefrontal cortex, located in the middle of the very front of the brain. They found that optimistic brains were more alike in their patterns of activity, whereas pessimistic brains were all different from one another. Why this is interesting: Cultural values may be driving the observations, especially regarding optimism. Things that are valued by a society—having many social connections or being optimistic, for example—lead individuals to behave or think similarly. What can be done: "There may be many different ways for a person to be pessimistic, while optimistic people tend to converge on a few shared mental models of a hopeful future," says Elisa Baek, a social neuroscientist at the University of Southern California. Pessimism can be advantageous as well. "There's evidence that some people can be 'defensive pessimists,' which can actually help them better prepare for the future," says Aleea Devitt, a psychologist at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
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NEWSLETTER SPONSORED BY CRICKET MEDIA | | Kids benefit significantly from reading for pleasure, yet the percentage of kids who say they love to read has declined to historic lows. How can we inspire kids to become lifelong readers? Award-winning children's publisher Cricket Media shares these expert tips. Learn More | | | | |
- Solve this jigsaw puzzle of our May 1952 cover image, if you can. The assembled image depicts a flowering experiment in which a baby's breath plant grows in various artificial day-night cycles.
| | Eve Lu; Sources: Ming Yang Smart Energy presentation at China Wind Power 2025, Beijing, October 2025 (twin-headed 50-MW turbine); Dongfang Electric Wind Power (26-MW turbine); National Park Service (Statue of Liberty); Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (Golden Gate Bridge); Empire State Building (Empire State Building) | | - China's newest wind turbine will have two sets of engines and blades, each capable of generating 25 MW of energy. They are supported by a Y-shaped tower on a single platform. Each of its blades is 145 meters long, roughly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty. "If successful [at this scale], this model can be a game changer in the floating wind industry," says Umang Mehrotra, an offshore wind analyst at the Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy. Read more.
| | The novel Anna Karenina begins: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Nearly 150 years ago, author Leo Tolstoy neatly encapsulated the findings from the above study on optimism and pessimism, that finds unique brain activity among only the pessimists. A positive outlook seems to look the same in many people's brains, but each pessimistic person may have their own reasons to feel the way they do. I'll be curious to read follow-up studies on this research and if we ever discover that where we put our attention partially determines how we feel about the future. | | Are you an optimist or a pessimist and how does that affect your worldview? Let me know and send any other ideas or feedback on this newsletter to: newsletters@sciam.com. Thanks for reading. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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