Weekly notes on peer-reviewed research about how people thrive and what gets in the way.https://bradflinn.com/https://bradflinn.com/research/willpower-muscle-replication/https://bradflinn.com/research/willpower-muscle-replication/Two large preregistered replications found the classic ego-depletion effect close to zero. Willpower is real; the idea that it drains like a fuel tank hasn't held up.Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://bradflinn.com/research/exercise-depression-headline/https://bradflinn.com/research/exercise-depression-headline/Across about 1,000 trials, physical activity produced moderate drops in depression and anxiety. The "1.5 times more effective than medication" line came from a press release, not the paper.Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://bradflinn.com/research/aces-populations-not-people/https://bradflinn.com/research/aces-populations-not-people/Childhood adversity raises risk across a population. As a forecast for any one person, an ACE score performs only modestly better than chance.Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT