Keeping up with the Joneses is a well-established aspect of the human condition: we want what our friends, neighbors and co-workers have, whether it’s a sports car, a high-powered job or cute new shoes. But a new study finds that …
Mental Health
In the Candy Store of iPhone Apps, Users Treat Health Apps Like Broccoli
The average American’s smartphone may be pretty dumb about health, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Study: Paying Cash, Not Credit, Leads to Healthier Food Choices
Paying with cash instead of plastic at the grocery store leads to more careful spending and healthier food choices, a study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds.
To Keep Willpower from Flagging, Remember the F-Word: ‘Fun’
Exercising self-control isn’t fun.
If you’re dieting, for instance, you may easily resist the blueberry muffin at that impossibly aromatic bakeshop you pass by in the morning. You may then have lunch with your friends but just …
Alzheimer’s: Largely a Woman’s Issue
Recently the Alzheimer’s Association teamed up with California’s First Lady Maria Shriver and issued The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s, based on a survey of 3,118 American adults about the experience and …
Thank You, Ginni Thomas
Virginia Thomas has done the nation a great service. In calling up Anita Hill, now a Brandeis law professor whose calm but graphic accusations of sexual harassment put the eeew in Clarence Thomas’s Seeewpreme Court confirmation …
The Lab Rat: How to Improve Memory in 15 Minutes
Stories about brain research can get a little boring if you just cite an endless stream of academic papers and statistics. So welcome to Healthland’s latest feature: The Lab Rat.
Is Marijuana Addictive? It Depends How You Define Addiction
Does marijuana cause addiction? As Californians prepare to vote on Prop 19 — which would legalize recreational use of the drug, at least under state law — the question is more pertinent than ever. The answer, however, is less …
Mad Mad Men Men: Why People Love Repetitive Brand Names
No one ever pretended that shopping for anything is a rational experience. If it were, would there be Fluffernutter? Laceless sneakers? Porkpie hats? Would the Chia Pet even exist? To the list of ridiculous reasons we often buy …
How a Study of a Failed Antidepressant Shows That Antidepressants Really Work
The British Medical Journal recently released a study finding that the antidepressant reboxetine, which is manufactured by Pfizer and has been used in Europe since 1997 — but is not approved in the U.S. — does not work at …
Study: Telltale Signs that a CEO Is Lying
Public confidence in big business is in bad shape, not least because so many CEOs have been caught lying to investors and the public. It’s hard to know who to believe anymore. So two researchers from Stanford’s Graduate School of …
Q&A: An Author Takes Back Her Accusation of Incest
Mind Reading is TIME Healthland’s new series of talks with authors of “brainy” books. Following is a conversation with journalist and author of My Lie, Meredith Maran, who falsely accused her father of molesting her.
At Last, Some Hope for Preventing the Slow Mental Decline of Alzheimer’s
I’ve been waiting to write this week’s TIME Magazine cover story on Alzheimer’s disease for a long time. It’s been a while since there has been any significant progress in treating this stubborn degenerative brain disease.