The Ideological Brain
The best explanation yet for the maddening rigidity on the far right—and the far left.
Science & Nature
Take This Sugar Pill and Call Me in the Morning
How much of a placebo's efficacy is in the brain, and how much in the heart?
Should AI Flatter or Play Devil’s Advocate?
The AI with the calm, reflective voice, encouraging us to think? They scrapped it for a fast-paced sycophant.
How We Learn the World
Why are we humans so impatient with any way of learning the world that is not our own?
How a Propaganda Campaign Killed Our Trust in Science and Government
Market fundamentalism’s propaganda gave us climate destruction, a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, a lousy pandemic response...and, ironically, Trump.
Why April Really Is a Cruel Month
Spring, after all, is the supposed season of renewal after the darkness of winter. In fact, for millions of people who straddle the cause-and-effect of depression, allergies, and autoimmune disorders, it is the season of spiritual and physical struggle.
Rite of Spring
Even Earth spring cleans. And there is power in this dreaded ritual.
What Buckminster Fuller Would Tell Us
He wanted to “make the world work, for 100 percent of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.” Seems so quaint now.
Symptoms of Windy Hypochondriacal Melancholy
"You listen constantly, in a kind of trance, for communications from your body; it is as if you have become a medium, and your organs a company of fretful ghosts."
Scatological Politics
The gut is a place of confusion. And yet, it remains our best guide....