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 This article appeared in the March 29 issue of The New York Times Magazine. 
 
 Dark moods are bad for your health. Scientists have known for decades that a wide variety of unpleasant emotions, like shame, depression and anxiety, are linked to greater rates of ills like heart disease, inflammation, cancer and premature death. Conversely, positive feelings have been shown to be good for you. 
 
 Far less is known, however, about the health benefits of specific upbeat moods — whether contentment, say, might promote good health more robustly than joy or pride does. A new study singles out one surprising emotion as a potent medicine: awe. And happily, awe seems to be much easier to come by than many might expect, even for the busy and stressed-out. 
 
 For the study, published in January in the journal Emotion, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and other institutions focused on some particularly moody subjects: college freshmen. Ninety-four Berkeley students were recruited to fill out questionnaires about how frequently during the past month they felt various positive and negative emotions, like hostility, enthusiasm and inspiration. The students then supplied saliva samples, which were analyzed for interleukin-6, a molecule known to promote inflammation throughout the body. Because inflammation is tied to poor health, researchers figured that low levels of IL-6 might signal good health. As anticipated, when students’ moods were checked against their IL-6 levels, those who had experienced more positive emotions generally had lower levels of IL-6 than classmates whose moods were more frequently sour. 
 
 Researchers next enlisted 119 students to complete more elaborate questionnaires about their normal dispositions and the extent to which they had recently felt seven specific emotions: awe, amusement, compassion, contentment, joy, love and pride. The students also provided a saliva sample. While happy moods were collectively still associated with low IL-6 levels, the strongest correlation was with awe. The more frequently someone reported having felt awe-struck, the lower the IL-6. 
 
 “There seems to be something about awe,” says Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology and the senior author of the study, who is also the faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley. (He has studied laughter, empathy and blushing, too.) “It seems to have a pronounced impact on markers related to inflammation.” 
 
 Somewhat surprisingly, awe isn’t necessarily a rare occurrence, he adds. On average, the students in the study reported feeling the emotion three or more times a week. “How great is that?” Dr. Keltner says. 
 
 While acknowledging that awe is conceptually squishy and subjective, Dr. Keltner says that in general, a primary attribute of an awe-inspiring event is that it “will pass the goose-bumps test.” And he advises that people “seek it often.” He is just not certain what that means for everyone. “Some people feel awe listening to music,” Dr. Keltner says, “others watching a sunset or attending a political rally or seeing kids play.” 
 
 
 
 For more fitness, food and wellness news, “like” our Facebook page. ||||| By now you’re probably mulling over some of your New Year’s resolutions – do five planks a day, eat more quinoa, keep better track of expenses. Let me add one more to your list: seek more daily awe. 
 
 Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world. Early in human history, awe was reserved for feelings toward divine beings – e.g., gods humans invoked in the village ritual houses that sprang up some 10,000 years ago, the spirits Greek families felt guarded over their fates, and encounters with the divine at the center of the world’s great spiritual traditions. 
 
 In 1757, a revolution in our understanding of awe began thanks to Irish philosopher Edmund Burke. In A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Burke detailed how we feel the sublime (awe) not just during religious ritual or in communion with God, but in everyday perceptual experiences: in hearing thunder, in being moved by music, in seeing repetitive patterns of light and dark. Awe was to be found in daily life. 
 
 Today in our Berkeley lab when we study people’s narratives of awe, we find evidence of awe in the quotidian. Yes, awe arises during the extraordinary: when viewing the Grand Canyon, touching the hand of Iggy Pop, or experiencing the sacred during meditation or prayer. More frequently, though, people report feeling awe in response to more mundane things: after the perfect burrito, when seeing the leaves of a Gingko tree change from green to yellow, in beholding the night sky when camping near a river, in seeing a stranger give their food to a homeless person, in seeing their child laugh just like their brother. 
 
 A new science is now asking “Why awe?” This is a question we can approach in two ways. First is the distal sense of why awe became part of our species’ emotional repertoire during seven million years of hominid evolution. A preliminary answer is that awe binds us to social collectives and enables us to act in more collaborative ways that enable strong groups. 
 
 For example, in one study from our Berkeley lab, Michelle Shiota had participants fill in the blank of the following phrase: “ I AM ____.” They did so 20 times, either while standing next to an awe-inspiring replica of a T. rex skeleton in UC Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology or in the exact same place but oriented to look down a hallway. Those next to the T. rex were more likely to define their individual selves in collectivist terms – as a member of a culture, a species, a university, a moral cause. Awe embeds the individual self into social collectives. 
 
 Near to Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology is a stand of eucalyptus trees, the tallest in North America. When you look up into these trees, and their peeling bark and surrounding nimbus of greyish green light, goosebumps may ripple down your neck, a sure sign of awe. So in the spirit of Emerson and Muir – who found awe in nature and changed our understanding of the sublime – Paul Piff staged a minor accident near that grove to see if awe would prompt greater kindness. Participants first either looked up into the tall trees for one minute or oriented 90 degrees away to look up at the facade of a large science building. Participants then encountered a person who stumbled, dropping a handful of pens into the soft dirt. Our participants filled with awe picked up more pens. In subsequent studies, we have found that awe – more so than emotions like pride or amusement – leads people to cooperate, share resources, and sacrifice for others, all of which are requirements for our collective life. And still other studies have explained the awe-altruism link; being in the presence of vast things calls forth a more modest, less narcissistic self, which enables greater kindness toward others. 
 
 A first answer, then, to the question of “Why awe?” is coming into focus. In the course of our evolution, we became a most social species. We defended ourselves, hunted, reproduced, raised vulnerable offspring, slept, fought, and played in social collectives. This shift to more collective living required a new balancing act, that between the gratification of self-interest and an orientation toward enhancing the welfare of others. Awe emerged as one solution to this problem. Brief experiences of awe redefine the self in terms of the collective and orient our actions toward the interests of others. 
 
 A second answer to the question of “Why awe?” is of the proximal kind: what does awe do for you in the present moment? And here, the science is proving to be clear. Momentary experiences of awe stimulate wonder and curiosity. Parents have long known this. Sleep deprived, they watch, on occasion awe-struck, as their four-year-old marvels at every object in the world, in a perpetual state of awe, peppering them with endless questions of why. Biographers routinely discover this in their studies of innovators. Awe drives people to paradigm-shifting discoveries and new technologies. Such was the case of Darwin, Muir, and Einstein. Our studies at Berkeley are finding that simply watching short videos of expansive images of the Earth leads people to generate more unusual exemplars of a category (e.g., “furniture”), to find greater interest in abstract paintings, and to persist longer at working at difficult puzzles when compared to appropriate control conditions. 
 
 Awe also may be important for good health. The focus in our lab is on one branch of the immune system known as the cytokine system. Cytokines are chemical messengers that are often produced by cells in damaged tissue. Many cytokines elicit an inflammatory response, which is important for killing pathogens and healing wounds. Psychology is discovering that a hyperactive cytokine response renders the individual chronically sick and vulnerable to disease, a process that may be involved in how poverty shortens lives. Jennifer Stellar from our lab recently documented that of all the positive emotions humans experience, only awe predicted reduced levels of cytokines. Though this is still quite speculative, it raises the possibility that some of the pernicious effects of poverty are due to awe deprivation. 
 
 One last study from our Berkeley lab speaks to the promise of daily awe. Amie Gordon gathered people’s daily reports of awe for two weeks and found that it is surprisingly common in everyday living. Every third day, people feel that they are in the presence of something vast that they do not immediately comprehend. For example, seeing gold and red autumn leaves pirouette to the ground in a light wind; being moved by someone who stands up to injustice; and hearing music on a street corner at 2 AM all elicited such an experience. Intriguingly, each burst of daily awe predicted greater well-being and curiosity weeks later. 
 
 Thus, I suggest that you add “seek more daily awe” to this year’s resolutions. Take the time to pause and open your mind to those things which you do not fully understand, and you will be the better for it. 
 
 Dacher Keltner is professor of psychology at the University of California. ||||| Opinions 
 
 Dacher Keltner Professor of psychology at the University of California. By now you’re probably mulling over some of your New Year’s resolutions – do five planks a day, eat more quinoa, keep better track of expenses. Let me add one more to your list: seek more daily awe. Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world. Early in human history, awe was reserved for feelings toward divine beings – e.g., gods humans invoked in the village ritual houses that sprang up some 10,000 years ago, the spirits Greek families felt guarded over their fates, and encounters with the divine at the center of the world’s great spiritual traditions. Read More 
 
 Shaun Gallagher Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Excellence at the University of Memphis. Gazing at the heavens has long been known to elicit feelings of awe and wonder. The first forays into philosophy and science put the night sky at the center of inquiry. Thales, often considered the first philosopher, was an accomplished astronomer who predicted the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC. An old tradition, derived from Plato, holds that after dusk he would walk about, eyes fixed on the stars, until the night he tumbled into an open well. Of course, one need not be a philosopher to be awestruck by natural beauty. Sunrises and sunsets, views from a mountaintop or from the edges of the sea, desert vistas or the silence of deep forests—all of these can inspire a sense of awe and wonder. What precisely are such feelings, and from where do such experiences arise? Read More 
 
 Kathryn A. Johnson Assistant research professor of psychology at Arizona State University. People often experience awe when they encounter things like the vastness of the Grand Canyon, great feats of architectural engineering, or a perfectly pitched symphonic orchestra. These “peak experiences” typically involve moments of self-forgetfulness and a sense of great wonder. We simply cannot grasp the immensity of the Canyon or the colossal challenge of building the Great Pyramid. Any amazing or information-rich encounter that challenges one’s ability to comprehend can elicit awe. For instance, people can also experience awe when they are exposed to new scientific theories, scientific discoveries, or novel religious and philosophical perspectives outside their perceived norm. Consequently, many psychologists study awe in terms of learning theory and cognitive development. In that sense, awe is an emotion that arises when we try to comprehend or accommodate new information that challenges, disorients, or overwhelms our existing knowledge structures. Read More 
 
 Michelle Lani Shiota Professor of psychology at Arizona State University. More than 4.5 million people visited the Grand Canyon National Park in 2013; more than 3.5 million visited Yosemite. That same year, worldwide revenues for Cirque du Soleil, the Quebecois theatrical venture emphasizing extreme feats of acrobatics and agility, were close to $850 million. Fireworks displays, first developed in seventh-century China, are now featured in celebrations throughout the world at tremendous public expense. The Hubble telescope, which provides our most vivid images of outer space, initially cost $1.5 billion to launch—and accumulated costs of the project have been estimated at over $10 billion. A behavioral scientist looks at these numbers and asks, Why? Why do people spend huge amounts of time, effort, and money on these apparently pointless activities? An economist might conclude that they are all an appalling waste of resources. Why are fireworks, circuses, and images of distant space experienced as so moving and meaningful, when they offer neither material nor social reward? Read More ||||| News 
 
 Being in Awe Can Expand Time and Enhance Well-Being 
 
 It doesn’t matter what we’ve experienced – whether it’s the breathtaking scope of the Grand Canyon, the ethereal beauty of the Aurora Borealis, or the exhilarating view from the top of the Eiffel Tower – at some point in our lives we’ve all had the feeling of being in a complete and overwhelming sense of awe. 
 
 Awe seems to be a universal emotion, but it has been largely neglected by scientists—until now. 
 
 Psychological scientists Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management devised a way to study this feeling of awe in the laboratory. Across three different experiments, they found that jaw-dropping moments made participants feel like they had more time available and made them more patient, less materialistic, and more willing to volunteer time to help others. 
 
 The researchers found that the effects that awe has on decision-making and well-being can be explained by awe’s ability to actually change our subjective experience of time by slowing it down. Experiences of awe help to brings us into the present moment which, in turn, adjusts our perception of time, influences our decisions, and makes life feel more satisfying than it would otherwise. 
 
 Now that’s awesome. 
 
 The study, “Awe Expands People’s Perception of Time, Alters Decision Making, and Enhances Well-Being,” will be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. ||||| Drinking three or more glasses of milk per day may be harmful to women's health, a new study suggests. 
 
 Women in the study who downed at least three glasses of milk a day were nearly twice as likely to die over the next 20 years compared with their peers who drank less than a glass daily, researchers in Sweden found. In addition, the study found that women's risk of bone fracture climbed steadily as their milk intake increased. 
 
 The culprit could be galactose, a simple sugar found in milk, said Karl Michaelsson, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and one of the study's authors. "That compound might induce oxidative stress and low-grade inflammation, and that type of inflammation can affect mortality and fractures," Michaelsson told Live Science. "The funny thing is that if you provide galactose to experimental animals, they will die faster by induction of oxidative stress and inflammation." 
 
 The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that adults get the equivalent of 3 cups of milk daily, based on the idea that dairy is good for the bones, and may reduce heart disease risk. But there's actually little scientific evidence to support these recommendations, the study authors said. 
 
 Given the harmful effects of galactose in animals, Michaelsson and his team hypothesized that higher milk consumption in humans would be associated with more oxidative stress and, therefore, a greater risk of fractures and mortality over a period of time. [5 Wacky Things That Are Good for Your Health] 
 
 Their study included 61,433 women who were ages 39 to 74 at the study's start, and 45,339 men ages 45 to 79. All of the study participants reported on their diet at the beginning of the study period. 
 
 The women were followed for 20 years, on average. During that time, 15,541 died and 17,252 had fractures, including 4,259 hip fractures. After the researchers took into account factors like age, body mass index and alcohol consumption, they found that women who drank three or more glasses of milk daily were 1.93 times more likely to die during the follow-up period than those who drank less than a glass of milk daily. 
 
 The risk of death during the 20-year period rose by 15 percent with each daily glass of milk consumed, the researchers also found. 
 
 Perhaps unexpectedly, higher milk consumption was linked with an increased likelihood of fractures, including hip fractures, the researchers found. Although its not clear what mechanism may underlie this possible link, it could be that a greater intake of galactose increases the levels of oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, making fractures more likely, according to the researchers. 
 
 Among the men, who were followed for an average of about 11 years, there was no association between mortality or fractures and milk consumption, according to the findings, which are published today (Oct. 28) in the journal The BMJ. 
 
 But dairy lovers need not despair. The researchers found that fermented milk products, like cheese and yogurt — which contain little or no galactose — had the opposite effect: Women who ate or drank the most fermented milk products were less likely to die or sustain fractures during the study. Women's mortality and hip-fracture risk declined by 10 to 15 percent with each daily serving, the study found. 
 
 The researchers also looked at markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in a subset of study participants. Both men and women who drank more milk had higher levels of a compound called 8-iso-PGF2a, which is a marker of oxidative stress in the body found in urine. 
 
 Milk consumption was also positively associated with levels of interleukin 6, a marker of inflammation, in men, but not in women. However, a higher intake of fermented milk products (aside from cheese) was linked with lower levels of these markers. 
 
 People shouldn't change their dietary habits based on the findings of a single study, Michaelsson said. But he admitted he quit drinking milk two years ago, and opts for yogurt instead. "I've been involved in this research area for several decades now," he said. "This last study really convinced me." 
 
 In future research, Michaelsson said, he and his colleagues would like to see if the effect of milk on mortality is modified by antioxidant intake. 
 
 In an editorial accompanying the new study in the journal, C. Mary Schooling, a professor at the City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College, wrote that the findings "raise a fascinating possibility about the potential harms of milk, with an interesting inner mechanism" involving galactose. 
 
 The idea that galactose may be involved is consistent with evidence from other studies, wrote Schooling, who was not involved in the new research. 
 
 However, she noted that the new findings "should be interpreted cautiously, though, because the authors rely on observational — not experimental — evidence, potentially reflecting correlation, not causation." 
 
 Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
– News that's kind of, well, awesome: Research suggests that the feeling of awe offers a health boost, and it actually happens quite frequently. "Some people feel awe listening to music," University of California, Berkeley, researcher Dacher Keltner tells the New York Times, "others watching a sunset or attending a political rally or seeing kids play." When a moment has "passed the goosebumps test," his team finds, it has a physical effect that can be detected in your saliva. Based on two sets of surveys of and saliva samples from freshmen at the school, Keltner's team found an apparent link between low levels of the molecule interleukin-6—associated with inflammation, and thus unhealthiness—and positive feelings. In the study, published in January in the journal Emotion, researchers note that "awe was the strongest predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines." And students actually experienced it fairly frequently: at least three times weekly on average, the Times reports. Awe itself is the subject of increasing scientific interest, Slate notes; indeed a 2012 study found that after experiencing awe, participants felt "like they had more time available" and were in turn more patient and willing to help others. Writing for Slate, Keltner himself recommends that we "seek more daily awe," noting that researchers have linked it to a sense of community and even more kindness. And he drives home the idea that awe can be found in moments as simple as "after the perfect burrito." (Optimism, meanwhile, may have other benefits.)