Dieci alberi ti fanno felice

ArgentieriAmbiente, Ricerca, SaluteLeave a Comment

La famosa ricerca di Ulrich negli anni Ottanta (i pazienti ricoverati in un ospedale sono stati dimessi quasi un giorno prima, se le finestre delle loro camere davano su alberi al posto che su un muro) hanno stimolato una domanda molto importante in alcuni scienziati guidati dal professore di psicologia Marc Berman (Università di Chicago): che tipo di potere curativo ... Read More

What counts as a serving?

ArgentieriAlimentazioneLeave a Comment

Everybody knows that a healthy diet includes at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. This general tip, in addition to being healthy and adequate, also introduces many different flavors that can please all palates, thanks to the enormous variety of fruit and vegetable products from our planet. Let's clear up the meaning of the word "serving". First ... Read More

The source of human emotions

ArgentieriEcopsicologia, Senza categoriaLeave a Comment

Human emotions are some of the most confusing and inexplicable “whatevers” that ever refuses to submit to rational analysis, yet they are what make us feel alive. Our feelings can help return us home to heal and rediscover our origins in the life force. Even those emotions that leave us lost, such as anger, sadness and guilt. Emotions just happen. ... Read More

The first of spring

ArgentieriNaturaLeave a Comment

Spring. This beautiful word comes from the Old English springan, meaning "to leap, burst forth, fly up; spread, grow". In Italian, the name of this season is primavera, from Latin primo vero, meaning "beginning of spring" (in Latin, the word ver (veris) means spring). In Dutch, the word lente comes from Old English lencten "springtime, spring". This year, spring arrives ... Read More

Teens, social media and sex

ArgentieriPsicologia, Ricerca, SessualitàLeave a Comment

Social media are part of our life, most people use it on a daily base, especially adolescents and young adults. The kind of use changes from person to person. 20% to 50% of adolescents show sexually revealing images of themselves on their online profile. What are the basis for this sexualization of their online profiles? Is it the easy access ... Read More

How to add an extra day to your life

ArgentieriEcopsicologia, PsicologiaLeave a Comment

This story has begun more than two thousand years ago and may have a huge impact to your life at the end of this month. It has some romance, some sci-fi and some exhistentialism. It all started with a romantic infusion. In 46 b.C. Caesar and Cleopatra were having their famous liason that could have completely changed our history. Well, ... Read More

January as a bridge

ArgentieriEcopsicologiaLeave a Comment

It is in one mild day of winter, when the sun timidly shines in the cold air, that January seems a bridge. A bridge between two periods of the year, the dark winter and the colorful spring. A bridge between our old self and the new year's resolutions. A bridge is a necessary connection, the important "in-between" that defines a ... Read More

New year of the trees

ArgentieriEcopsicologia, NaturaLeave a Comment

In the past we were more dependent on the weather outside our windows. That is why the seasonal holidays were particularly important during the coldest and darkest period of the year. It was a way to add light and remind that a warmer temperature and a longer daylight was on its way. Right yesterday I started a new book about ... Read More

Homemade cough remedies

ArgentieriConsigli, SaluteLeave a Comment

Everything started once upon a time. Smart viruses and bacteria understood that animal breath was a great, cheap way to travel from body to body. When assaulted, the breathing passages would generate a powerful injection of air to kick the invaders out. Straight to another host! Moreover, they would produce mucus to trap the unwelcome guests. Therefore coughing is a ... Read More

Frozen Bubbles

ArgentieriFotografia, Natura, Senza categoriaLeave a Comment

When the weather forecast announced about the unexpected cold from -9°C to -12°C last week, Washington-based photographer Angela Kelly decided to take an advantage of it in one truly creative way. Together with her 7-year-old son, Kelly combined the home-based remedies – dish soap, karo syrup, and water – and went out to blow bubbles and take pictures as they ... Read More

Winter is here

ArgentieriEcopsicologia, NaturaLeave a Comment

Cold as the northern wind in December morning… (Enya – Exile) Today it’s such an important date. January will still be pretty dark and cold, but from now on the Sun will be with us more and more, the days will grow longer, the light will pour out more abundant day by day. It’s a day of celebration, the Solis … Read More

Roots in Nara

ArgentieriNaturaLeave a Comment

A good friend of mine, graduated in Oriental Studies, visited Japan and its many beauties. I want to share with you some pictures she sent me, in particular some very particular trees in the Nara Park. I love the formations of the roots, I find them fascinating, like we have the glimpse of what's underneath the surface, beneath the undergrowth.

Nature decor 1

ArgentieriNaturaLeave a Comment

Unlike the "practical" taste of human beings, made of squared edges and cuts, nature is shaped by the wind which harmonizes the rocks, the tides that gently mold the curves of the coastline, the elegant creativity of trees and shrubs. The ecopsychologist Marcella Danon says that our culture, so marked bythea rational use of our mind, created square and artificial ... Read More

Dutch grey sky

ArgentieriNatura, PsicologiaLeave a Comment

I spent quite some time on Google looking for Dutch dirty-white sky pictures, the kind of sky that is so typical in this part of the planet. It is that light grey, almost homogeneous, and it stays like that whole day long, sometimes for days. I took the picture you can see in this post and I showed it to ... Read More

Autumn as a gateway

ArgentieriEcopsicologia, NaturaLeave a Comment

The most widely used calendar in the world is the Gregorian one, a refinement of the previous Julian calendar where January was the first month of the year due to political and civil reasons. The Celtic year, on the contrary, had a more evident seasonal root: it started in November, when the trees drop their leaves, everything is apparently dying ... Read More

We have always been part of the cycle

ArgentieriEcopsicologiaLeave a Comment

What do a bumble bee and a farmer have in common? What's the real difference between planting potatoes in a field and getting some nectar from a flower? In this very interesting speach, journalist and author Michael Pollan helps us see things from a different point of you. Namely, the plant's perspective. When we plant something to eat, we think ... Read More

L’autunno secondo Jeroen

ArgentieriFotografia, NaturaLeave a Comment

Jeroen Drummen è un giovane fotografo di talento che vive a Masstricht (Paesi Bassi). A dire il vero, il suo amore per l'arte è davvero vasto: infatti ha composto finora una sorprendente quantità di pezzi musicali, qualcosa tra Enya degli inizi e Vangelis. Inoltre gira e monta i suoi video. Mezzi visuali e sonori per la sua creatività. Nel suo ... Read More

Gecko the little warrior

ArgentieriAnimali, CuriositàLeave a Comment

People have opposite feelings about geckos: they either consider them cute or revolting. What about me? Well, one summer evening I was sitting with my family in a veranda, under a very beautiful wisteria pergola. While I was chatting, I felt something falling on my right shoulder: I turned my head and I saw a dark green spot. It didn't ... Read More

Psychobiotics against depression

ArgentieriAlimentazione, RicercaLeave a Comment

What we eat is what we are made of. It is not just a saying. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are made of the very same elements our body is made of, that's why we need these nutrients. How do our genes interact with these nutrients? This is what nutrigenomic studies. And since we all have a different body, the effort ... Read More

Sadness impairs color perception

ArgentieriPsicologia, RicercaLeave a Comment

"Mood and emotion can affect how we see the world around us", says psychology researcher Christofer Thorstenson. This apparently simple statement is the result of a very interesting research in University of Rochester. We all use colors to talk about feelings: wouldn't you use yellow or orange to express happiness and excitement on a canvas, for example? Or blue and ... Read More