Jasper Mellick
Data CorrespondentSees the world in spreadsheets and scatter plots. Once got into a bar fight over a misused median. His articles will change how you think about numbers.
Articles by Jasper Mellick
People Given $10,000 Give Away Most of It. Yes, Really.
When researchers handed people substantial sums with no strings attached, recipients across seven countries immediately gave away 64% of it. Economic models of human behavior might need an update.
Brain Damage Changes How You Vote, Not What You Believe
After traumatic brain injuries, military veterans' political beliefs stayed the same while their voting habits flipped. Neuroscience now suggests behavior is more malleable than ideology.
Most People Share News on Facebook Without Reading It
Over 75% of links shared during election seasons never get clicked by the person sharing them. We're all amplifying headlines we've never actually read.
Your Bad Mood Isn't Making You Doom-Scroll. Your Doom-Scrolling Is Making You Have a Bad Mood.
New research reveals a vicious cycle: consuming negative online content worsens your mood, which then compels you to consume more negative content. It's not correlation—it's causation, and it flows in both directions.
Why Paying Someone to Do Something They Love Might Backfire
Economic logic says money motivates. Psychology says otherwise. Paying people for work they already enjoyed can actually kill their internal drive to do it.
Your Language is Literally Changing What You See
The Himba people of Namibia can spot color variations that English speakers miss entirely—because their language draws different boundaries around the color spectrum.
Psychology's WEIRD Problem: Why Your Brain Might Not Work Like the Rest of the World's
96% of psychology research comes from just 12% of humanity. The theories we treat as universal human nature might just be Western eccentricity.
Young People Are Better at Sleeping, Worse at Noticing It
Paradoxical insomnia—feeling sleepless despite objective evidence of solid sleep—hits younger adults hardest. The irony: their sleep is actually better than their elders'.
Childhood Insomnia Doesn't Just Go Away—Most Parents Get This Wrong
Nearly a quarter of children with insomnia symptoms carry the problem into young adulthood. Doctors and parents have been treating it as a phase that resolves on its own.
Why Your 25-Year-Old Self Can't Sleep Better Than Your Grandmother
Younger adults struggle more with falling asleep than seniors, defying the assumption that aging ruins your sleep. CDC data reveals a counterintuitive gap driven by modern stress and technology, not biology.