Iserotope Extras - Issue #30

Alex, Janet, and Julie are new subscribers — welcome! (Extras is blowing up!) This week, enjoy articles about resilience, the current state of teenagers, and how wealth determines your life expectancy even more than it did in our parents' generation. (And please don't unsubscribe just because I'm including an interview with Justice Scalia, who, by the way, had 28 grandchildren.) Have a wonderful week, and thank you for reading Iserotope Extras!

How People Learn to Become Resilient

What sets resilient children apart? Turns out trauma isn't trauma unless we decide it's trauma. If we practice a growth mindset, and if we ruminate less, then bad things in our lives don't have to be so bad.

In Conversation With Antonin Scalia

The death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is, obviously, a big deal. My gut says that the Senate will eventually concede and end up confirming the second or third of President Obama's nominees. This 2013 interview with Justice Scalia is evidence why people have remember him as "colorful" and a "firebrand."

This is not Hawaii! This is Pescadero, CA. Growing up and living for years in California often means that you are unaware of nearby beautiful things.

Today’s teens are better than you, and we can prove it

Nope, things aren't getting worse; they're getting better. Today's teenagers take care of themselves better than we did growing up. This article has charts and graphs, plus it's interactive, so you can play with it and enjoy all the numbers.

Disparity in Life Spans of the Rich and the Poor Is Growing

Despite advances in medicine, a longevity gap that has long favored wealthy Americans has more than doubled since the 1970s. The gap is not small, and it's startling and disturbing. Part of the reason — smoking — is understood, but other factors (e.g., obesity, drugs, the effects of poverty) still need additional study.

There it is, the 30th edition of Iserotope Extras! I'm going to stick to it on a weekly basis until people start shouting no (or unsubscribing). And if I get better at this, maybe I'll move away from the tried-and-true Times and New Yorker (though their writing is always solid). Great week to you!