Pocket’s Top Stories of August 2023

“I know that at any bar or party I can get anyone I want.”

Their big promise has fizzled out.

Exploring the wider range of meditation is no longer reserved for the monasteries. The new science of meditation is just getting started.

The killing of Wagner’s leader, who is presumed dead after his private plane crashed en route to St. Petersburg, won’t address the deeper sources of stress affecting the Russian President’s grip on power.

How counsellors learn to be good listeners.

How the U.S. government came to rely on the tech billionaire—and is now struggling to rein him in.

Reality TV disasters, boneheaded cancelations, cable news calamities, and more.

A partial “sorry” is worse than none.

PFAS lurk in so much of what we eat, drink and use. Scientists are only beginning to understand how they’re impacting our health — and what to do about them.

“I don’t get rid of them, per se; rather, I set them afloat, in search of new homes.”

Most parents won’t admit it, but a surprising number have a ‘hidden favourite’ and the way they treat that child compared to their siblings can have long-lasting impacts.

It’s not dissimilar from talking to other adults, but even the most well-meaning grown-ups can forget that.

Online merchants changed the way we shop—and made “reverse logistics” into a booming new industry.

Americans are drinking more water. How best to contain it: That’s the burning question.

Angst about mortality is part of being human, but if it’s interfering with your life, there are proven ways to dial it down.

From Craigslist to eBay and beyond, here’s how to turn your castoffs into cash.

One minute you’re doing the downward dog, the next you’re listening to conspiracy theories about Covid or the new world order. How did the desire to look after yourself become so toxic?

Positivity, consistency, and vulnerability play a key role.

Plastic straws used to be “environment enemy number one.”

The brutal procedure can save lives, but only in particular cases. Why has it become a default treatment?

Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk’s once controversial theory of trauma became the dominant way we make sense of our lives.

For millennia, human beings have engineered what they eat. Have we finally gone too far?

We’re always procrastinating on something so learning how to neglect some things in order to focus on others is a vital skill.

The defining problem driving people out is ... just how American life works in the 21st century.

Multimillion-dollar cables crisscrossing the bottom of the ocean have become the vital connections of our online lives.

Check out the stories that Pocket readers saved most last month.