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Photo shows a 2016 image of a woman who lives with chronic pain laughing with friends at her dining table while creating Zen tangle art.

Living with chronic illness: Why some cope and others don’t

What helps some people diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or diabetes stay relatively happy and healthy, while others are devastated? Psychologist Vicki Helgeson explains the traits and mindsets that can make the difference.

Photo shows a colony of ants on a white background. The workers are each painted individually with different colors of paint droplets. Larvae and a larger queen are also visible.

Living World

The mind of an anthill

Can we use the tools of psychology to understand how colonies of social insects make decisions?

Photo shows a small boy by himself running down the nondescript hall of a shelter.

The Mind

Treating the growing trauma of family separation

War, disasters, trafficking and immigration are tearing millions of children from their parents all around the world. A psychologist explores how to help them recover.

A small boy reaches out to touch a robotic toy dog.

Technology

A robotic window on the human mind

Engineers aim to build machines that put people at ease. The effort reveals truths about ourselves.

Computer-generated image that maps the many and diverse neural connections between the cortex and thalamus in a mouse.

The Mind

A long-overlooked brain region may be key to complex thought

The thalamus has traditionally been viewed just as the brain’s sensory relay station. But it may also play an important role in higher-level cognition, MIT’s Michael Halassa explains in a Q&A.

The Mind

Feeling the pressure

How we want to be perceived influences how we act, and that presents persuasion opportunities. But the social factors involved are not easy to unravel.

Hands type at a computer with bar graphs on screen, other hands hold questionnaires.

Society

Can you believe the polls? It depends

A veteran of survey research explains why high-quality polling matters — and warns of the proliferation of shoddy gimmicks

Still photograph from the 2015 movie The Revenant. Frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brandishing a rifle and shouting in fury, beneath trees.

The Mind

Revenge is bittersweet at best

Research is starting to reveal how the urge for vengeance may have evolved, when it can be useful and what could prevent the violence it can provoke

Food & Environment

How to overcome political polarization on climate change

Conversations — in real life — can help bridge the partisan divide, but the trick is to have some structure to the discussion, says a human ecologist

A woman holds a conductor's baton in front of red neon sculptures of various musical instruments. Human response to music has deep evolutionary roots and seems hard-wired in the brain, says cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin in this Q&A.

The Mind

The music moves us — but how?

The author of This Is Your Brain on Music talks about the very human ways the mind and body keep the beat.

The Mind

Do yourself a favor

Thinking of others enhances your well-being, while selfishness just adds to stress, studies show

Photograph of two elderly men sitting outdoors. They are enjoying a good joke or tale. The man on the left has his arms around the shoulders of his friend. He ls laughing. The man on the right has his arms out in front, slightly raised, as if he is relating a story. He is grinning.

The Mind

Emotions get better with age

As people grow older, they gain greater control of their feelings. How do they do that — and can they teach young whippersnappers a thing or two?

Photo of a young man staring off into space, in a kind of reverie. In the background, colored lines with arrows at the end of them swirl around, representing wandering thoughts.

The Mind

The science of a wandering mind

More than just a distraction, mind-wandering (and its cousin, daydreaming) may help us prepare for the future

Conceptual illustration includes a state capitol building, tall mushrooms, a statue of Justice holding a scale, a pack of pills, and a bright pink, yellow and orange sky with molecules and other wavy patterns visible in it.

Society

Psychedelic drugs and the law: What’s next?

The push to legalize magic mushrooms, MDMA, LSD and other hallucinogens is likely to heighten tensions between state and federal law, drug law expert Robert Mikos says

Brightly colored microscope image shows a close-up of a small part of the human brain, highlighting its dense, forestlike thicket of brain cells.

The Mind

Mapping the brain to understand the mind

New technology is enabling neuroscientists to make increasingly detailed wiring diagrams that could yield new insights into brain function

Conceptual illustration shows a person vaulting over a book and calendar away from bad habits and poor willpower, as depicted by unhealthy food and money and scrunched-up paper.

The Mind

Time for half-year resolutions?

If your good intentions from a few months ago haven’t led to much, take note. A psychologist tells us what we can learn from studies on willpower.

A conceptual illustration shows a young girl with dark hair and an unhappy expression. In the green background are a sea of eyes that seem to be staring at her.

The Mind

Inside the adolescent brain

This challenging phase of life may get a bad rap, but it’s also full of opportunity. A developmental neuroscientist shares what she’s learned from studies on young people’s risk-taking behavior, reasoning and more.

Conceptual illustration shows a person speaking words that appear as aspects of the natural world, like plants and animals.

Society

Indigenous languages are founts of environmental knowledge

Peoples who live close to nature have a rich lore of plants, animals and landscapes embedded in their mother tongues — which may hold vital clues to protecting biodiversity

Conceptual collage shows two upset parents with some large, accusing fingers pointed at them. In the background is a teenager holding a placard with his details on it, as if posing for a mug shot.

Society

When are parents responsible for their kids’ behavior?

A researcher weighs in on who’s accountable, when and why, in the eyes of the law — and whether the measures work as intended

Photograph of a warning label on the side of a cigarette pack. It says SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.

Health & Disease

The tussle over cigarette warning labels, and the hazy future of vaping

Regulatory hurdles, industry objections and legal fights have gone on for decades over traditional tobacco. What’s in store for the next generation of smoking?

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