Have you ever experienced feeling awkward, scrambling in the moment, to ask people to serve as your references or to write a recommendation letter for a job opportunity for which you are applying?

Researchers are often asked to write references or recommendation letters. Nature asked three senior scientists what they do when they can’t endorse someone. I’m a neuroscientist in the United States.

If you still think you can’t write an argumentative essay, think again. Remember the last time you convinced your roommate to get the pizza topping you like. Or that time you ranted on TikTok about ...

Lindsey Ellefson is Lifehacker’s Features Editor. She currently covers study and productivity hacks, as well as household and digital decluttering, and oversees the freelancers on the sex and ...