Q&A

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.

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.

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

Colorized scanning electron microscope image of excrement shows a pale green piece of plant fiber covered by tiny microbes colored teal, purple, red, green, brown and more.

The Mind

The growing link between microbes, mood and mental health

New research suggests that to maintain a healthy brain, we should tend our gut microbiome. The best way to do that right now is not through pills and supplements, but better food.

Conceptual illustration of a child sitting cross-legged, surrounded by a set of shapes and squiggles meant to signify all the stimuli they encounter in their young lives.

Health & Disease

Studying poverty through a child’s eyes

Research on early-life adversity should pay more attention to the perspective of children themselves

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?

A depiction of a synapse features two slender fibers that end in two cup-like structures facing each other, with many tiny dots in the space between the cups.

Health & Disease

Making and breaking connections in the brain

The links between nerve cells, called synapses, allow us to learn and adapt, and hold clues to conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and more

Patients in a mental hospital square-dancing.

The Mind

The trouble with medicating mental illness

Psychotropic drugs have severely narrowed how we treat psychiatric disorders — to the detriment of patients and society as a whole. A look at the past suggests a better way forward.

Photo of Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci at White House coronavirus task force daily briefing.

Health & Disease

Speaking of pandemics: The art and science of risk communication

Public health messages should be loud and clear, so that everyone listens and stays safe. But that’s easier said than done — especially with a case as complex as Covid-19.

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.

The Mind

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.

The Mind

How maternal mood shapes the developing brain

Stress and anxiety during pregnancy can mean a higher risk of offspring developing ADHD, depression or other conditions. Medical psychologist Catherine Monk explains how prenatal mental care benefits mothers and babies.