Last month, Dr. David Nutt, the UK’s former scientific advisor to the government on drugs, gave 25 British volunteers ecstasy (MDMA) on live TV.
mind reading
Why Solving Puzzles Is Fun: Q&A with Consciousness Researcher Daniel Bor
The evolutionary link between acquiring good information and survival may have given rise to both consciousness and the pleasure of problem-solving
Why Humans Have Color Vision, and Other Qs & As with Neuroscientist Mark Changizi
Why do humans see in color? According to neuroscientist Mark Changizi, who left academia to run a research institute called 2Ai, it’s so that we could read the emotions of others. In his book, Harnessed, published last summer, …
Can You Learn to Play an Instrument at 40? Q&A with Psychologist Gary Marcus
Have you got zero musical talent, but a burning desire to play? NYU psychologist Marcus says there’s hope for everyone.
Q&A: Psychiatrist Dr. David Healy Defines ‘Pharmageddon’
A Q&A with the author of Pharmageddon about how the pharmaceutical industry has co-opted medicine.
Q&A: Are You Just the Sum of Your Brain’s Connections?
Sebastian Seung, professor of computational neuroscience and physics at MIT and author of the new book, Connectome, argues that you are.
Q&A: Q&A with Susan Cain on the Power of Introverts
Are you the quiet, retiring type? You’re not alone. To find out more, read TIME’s cover story, “The Upside of Being an Introvert,” available to subscribers here.
The Truth About ‘Sybil’: Q&A with Author Debbie Nathan
The famous patient “Sybil” is now known to have fabricated her many personalities, but the hysteria in the 1970s surrounding “multiple personality disorder” reveals some interesting truths about society at the time.
Girls on the Spectrum: Q&A with the Author of Aspergirls
Is Asperger syndrome really less common in girls and women, or are females just better than males at masking autistic symptoms?
Q&A: What We Can Learn From the Dutch About Teen Sex
(Updated) Teen birth rates are eight times higher in the U.S. than in Holland. Abortion rates are twice as high. The American AIDS rate is three times greater than that of the Dutch. What are they doing right that we’re not?
Q&A: Two Harvard Docs Talk About Making the Best Medical Choices
(Updated) Critical medical decisions can be difficult to make — even for two Harvard doctors. But Dr. Jerome Groopman, who is also a staff writer for the New Yorker, and his wife, Dr. Pamela Hartzband, have thought a great deal …
Q&A: Steven Pinker’s Case for Why the World Is Heading Toward Peace
Amidst the headlines tallying the damage wrought by persistent economic decline, cataclysmic climate change and unbending political stalemate — among other things — Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker brings good news.
Q&A: Why Bad Math Can Ruin Your Health
How do we know which numbers to trust and which health studies are sound? Healthland faces this dilemma every day, so we spoke with Charles Seife, the rare journalist with an undergraduate degree in mathematics, from Princeton no less.