At the University of California, psychologist Susan Charles has secured $2.55 million to pursue a question that quietly underlies much of human flourishing: whether the small, daily acts of reaching toward one another — a phone call, a lingering conversation — leave measurable traces in our biology. Drawing on two decades of data from nearly 3,000 adults, her research treats social connection not as a personality trait but as a living, fluctuating behavior, one that may shape stress hormones, inflammation, and the very pace at which our cells age. If she is right, the ordinary texture of our s