'Fear

Pessimism and factional tensions are surging ahead of a possible recession this year. Just 40% of respondents in a new global survey believe they'll be "better off" in the next five years. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer also found growing trust in business versus the public sector. While war rages in Ukraine, layoffs roil a…

Screenshot: Saturday Night Fever/Paramount PicturesImagine Trainspotting without “Lust for Life.” Do the Right Thing without “Fight the Power.” Shaft without...”Shaft.” You can’t. The perfect song choice can make a good cinematic moment great, and a bad one can ruin an otherwise decent scene.There’s an art to building a stellar movie soundtrack, and plenty of them…

Screenshot: Saturday Night Fever/Paramount PicturesImagine Trainspotting without “Lust for Life.” Do the Right Thing without “Fight the Power.” Shaft without...”Shaft.” You can’t. The perfect song choice can make a good cinematic moment great, and a bad one can ruin an otherwise decent scene.There’s an art to building a stellar movie soundtrack, and plenty of them…

Photo: Southworks (Shutterstock)In my mid-20s, I was hit by a car while walking to school. The driver, who was elderly, thought the median was an extra turn lane, and in the process, hit three pedestrians, including me. One moment I was a stressed-out graduate student worrying about finishing her experiments; the next moment, I looked…

Don’t be afraid of flying...Photo: diy13 (Shutterstock)We all know that traveling by air is incredibly safe—arguably* the safest form of transportation yet invented. Still, 40 percent of Americans report being at least somewhat afraid to fly. There’s something so unnatural about casually eating Chex Mix while 40,000 feet in the air, that we can’t quite overcome…

I used to be freaked out on airplanes. My aerophobia wasn’t severe enough that I took trains everywhere, but it was bad. I had to force myself to board flights, and the days preceding any trip were spent fretting about the upcoming trial-by-airline instead of planning vacation activities.My pre-flight ritual was to down a couple…

Enlarge / Caltech researchers conducted a study on how the body responds to threats in conjunction with The 17th Door haunted house experience in Orange County, California. The 17th Door haunted house experience has become a fixture of the annual Halloween fright scene in Orange County, California, attracting thousands of scare seekers since it opened…

Jesus Gonzalez of Lexington, Ky., has been struggling to make ends meet after the $600 per week in extra federal unemployment benefits ran out. Stacy Kranitz for NPR hide caption toggle caption Stacy Kranitz for NPR Jesus Gonzalez of Lexington, Ky., has been struggling to make ends meet after the $600 per week in extra…

Photo: ShutterstockParental AdvisoryParental AdvisoryTackling your most pressing parenting dilemmas, one tantrum at a time. Email your kid-rearing questions to mwalbert@lifehacker.com with "Parental Advisory" in the subject line.We’ve all got stories about that neighbor. The one who never cuts the grass. The one who never cleans up after their dog. The one who plays video games—with…

Despite our best efforts to not scare the crap out of our kids at an early age, our kids have friends. And those friends have older siblings or YouTube and are often all-too-happy to introduce them to the horror villains of our childhood—Freddy Kruger, Pennywise, Michael Meyers, Jason Voorhees. Remember how creepy Gremlins were?? That’s…