Thirteen-year-old Jahi McMath was declared brain dead after complications arising from a tonsillectomy, raising new questions …
ethics
Cheater’s High: Why Not Playing Fair Feels So Good
We like it when we get away with cheating— and not just in relationships.
Controversial Surgery for Addiction Burns Away Brain’s Pleasure Center
Will destroying parts of the brain’s pleasure center help addicts to recover?
What Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You About Your DNA
The test results were crystal clear, and still the doctors didn’t know what to do. A sick baby whose genome was analyzed at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia turned out to possess a genetic mutation that indicated …
My Brain Made Me Do It: Psychopaths and Free Will
Why judges hand down shorter sentences to convicted psychopaths when their behavior is blamed on the brain
Dukan Diet Founder to Face Ethics Hearing
Should teens get extra points for being thin? Dr. Pierre Dukan, the French founder of the controversial Dukan Diet, thinks so.
Why the Rich Are Less Ethical: They See Greed as Good
A new study suggests that being wealthy primes people to act like jerks.
Using Magnets Aimed at the Brain to Influence Whether People Lie
Zap one part of the brain with a magnetic pulse and people become more likely to lie. Stimulate the opposite side of the region and truth-telling increases, according to new research.
Should a Mother Lose Custody of Her Kids Because She Has Cancer?
Alaina Giordano was already engaged in a battle royale, fighting Stage 4 breast cancer, when her struggle intensified recently: a judge ruled that the N.C. woman must give up custody of her two children to her husband, who lives in Chicago, in part because “children who have a parent with cancer need more contact with the non-ill parent.”
Genetic Testing for Kids: Is It a Good Idea?
With the advent of new genetic tests, it’s increasingly easy to gauge whether you’re predisposed to developing certain conditions — diabetes, say, or breast cancer. For adults, that knowledge can be simultaneously …
Customized Kids: Parents Abort Twin Boys in Quest for Daughter
Of course, every parent-in-waiting hopes for a healthy baby, but most — whether they admit it or not — have a preference for one sex over the other. But to what extremes would you go to make it happen?
Ethics, Shmethics. Teaching Kids Right from Wrong Isn’t Easy
As parents, we are tasked with teaching our children the difference between wrong and right. It’s easy when they’re very young, and most of their moral encounters are black or white: We don’t hit people. We don’t make fun …
Q&A: Discussing the Dark Side of Medicine with Author Carl Elliott
Welcome to Mind Reading, Healthland’s new series of talks with authors of “brainy” books.