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JR Guillaumin/flickr Suicide and the 'Impure' Soul
New research says moral bias against suicide often comes from disgust over a tainted soul.
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stevendepolo/flickr Who Defines 'Medical Necessity'?
Many states require insurance to pay for seeing chiropractors. A few cover marriage counseling, and a handful reimburse for massage therapy. Increasingly, health experts rely on the political system to decide what should be reimbursable by insurers, Medicare, and Medicaid. The results haven't been promising for the expanding definition of care.
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The Electricity-Generating Bicycle Desk That Would Power the World
The story of Pedal Power's bike machine is spreading quickly. The two-man company has more than tripled its crowd-sourced fundraising goal, and its bike desk is being used to power laptops, grind grain for beer, and churn butter.
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Crafty Dogma/flickr The Shape of Your Head and the Shape of Your Mind
How the archaic study of brain shape and head reading — the origin of terms like “highbrow” and “lowbrow,” “well rounded,” and “shrink” — shaped the modern obsession with the mind. One reason phrenology attracted so many followers was that it seemed to provide the toolbox for the American dream.
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This Is Anxiety
Stories from Atlantic readers on how to think about anxiety, what is helpful, and what isn't.
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Sam Edwards / Getty The Dark Side of Emotional Intelligence
In some jobs, being in touch with emotions is essential. In others, it seems to be a detriment. And like any skill, being able to read people can be used for good or evil.
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Pichi Chuang / Reuters The Sugar-Addiction Taboo
When can you call a food addictive?
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Annelieke B/flickr Manly Faces and Aggressive Men
What can you learn from that appealing look of testosterone?
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Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters Religion as a Product of Psychotropic Drug Use
How much of religious history was influenced by mind-altering substances?
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This Is Your Brain on Gluten
A No. 1 bestseller by a respected physician argues that gluten and carbohydrates are at the root of Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression, and ADHD. What to make of the controversial theory?
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Tyrone Siu / Reuters The Health Risks of Small Apartments
Living in tiny spaces can cause psychological problems.
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Paulo Whitaker / Reuters Living Sick and Dying Young in Rich America
Chronic illness is the new first-world problem.
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kozumel/flickr Make Time for Awe
Novelty and perceptual vastness force us into the present moment, which has health benefits.
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Wikimedia Why Men Can't Take Compliments
Being the arbiter of someone's attractiveness can be interpreted as an expression of masculinity that women are not traditionally expected to adopt.
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Experts Decisive Against Multivitamins: 'Stop Wasting Money'
A panel of physicians wrote today in a major medical journal about which vitamin and mineral supplements are bad and which are null, and how we keep buying them.
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GlaxoSmithKline to Stop Paying Doctors for Endorsements
The drug company has issued an ethical challenge.
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philip.bitnar/flickr Anxiety About Certain Things Can Be Hereditary
Through epigenetics, our parents' lives could influence our memories.
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Keith Williamson/flickr There Is No Proof That Antibacterial Soap Is Better Than Regular Soap, FDA Says
A proposed rule would require companies to show antibacterial soap prevents infection more effectively, or else reformulate products.
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♥ jules/flickr Midwives for the Dying
A physician and nurse practitioner discuss the emerging role of medicals professionals who ease the death process. There is no one right way to die, but just as we need help coming into the world, we need support and love going out of it.
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Am I Evil Because of the Darkness? Vitamin D Explains The Hobbit
A medical journal's scientific analysis of diet, sunlight exposure, and of the role of vitamin D in fantasy characters is excellent.
