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.

Large platters hold monkey meat that has been cooked. Several women stand behind the platters.

Food & Environment

In defense of wild meat’s place at the table

Sustainable and safe consumption of wildlife is possible, and important for those who depend on it, says a conservation researcher

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

Collage juxtaposes silhouettes of overweight people with unlabeled graphs, a BMI (height-weight ratio) chart, scale and measuring tape.

Society

She saw the obesity epidemic coming. Then an unexpected finding mired her in controversy.

Katherine Flegal was a scientist who found herself crunching numbers for the government, until one day her analyses set off a firestorm. What does she make of her decades as a woman in public health research?

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 four health workers clad in blue gowns, face shields and masks. They are moving from bed to bed in a hospital room. Three beds are visible, as well as various kinds of medical equipment including ventilators and drips.

Health & Disease

How health insurance is faring under Covid

Millions of Americans lost employer-sponsored coverage when Covid-19 disrupted their jobs. Can America come up with a better system?

A collage of public health wins includes public service announcements about measles and malaria and photos of people wearing masks and getting shots.

Health & Disease

Pandemic puts all eyes on public health

Covid-19 has exposed the weak spots of the US public health system — and that presents an opportunity, says an epidemiologist, for the nation to recognize the problems and act to fix them

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.

A wealthy woman walks past a homeless man on the street.

Health & Disease

America the Unhealthy: Inequality kills

Smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise? Yes, but that’s not all. A researcher tells us what really hurts US life expectancy.

Photograph of a row of skeletons in a trench.

Health & Disease

Profiling the perpetrators of past plagues

The ancient pathogens in old graves are as dead as the people they once infected. Still, they tell a vivid tale.

Collage shows a silhouette of surgeons working on a patient, surrounded by graphics denoting measurement and ratings.

Health & Disease

Measuring surgical quality

Not all surgeons are equally skilled with a scalpel. Doctors are developing new ways to test — and improve — operating room performance.

Photograph of an elderly woman lying in bed. Standing and sitting around her are family members, two of them holding her hands. A hospice aide and a bottle of lotion are seen at the foot of the bed.

Health & Disease

Going gentle

A sociologist explains how to get the most out of the final months of life

Conceptual illustration of migrant farmworkers. Migrants often work in hazardous jobs.

Society

Unhealthy work: Why migrants are especially vulnerable to injury and death on the job

A mysterious kidney disease is just one of the many health risks faced by immigrant laborers. In a Q&A, occupational health expert Marc Schenker discusses the hazards and a few potential solutions.

Time-lapse shows a couple's restless sleep over six hours.

Health & Disease

In adults, and now in teens, poor sleep is linked to cardiovascular risk

A slumber researcher explains why getting enough z’s is crucial to your health

Conceptual illustration of a person suffering from back pain

Health & Disease

Managing pain in a time of opioid abuse

Other therapies, more training, a new mindset: Can doctors bring relief to patients without putting them at risk for addiction?

Society

How to detect clandestine nuclear weapons programs

A “policy physicist” explores practical ways to sniff out uranium processing from afar

Illustration of a doughnut on a mousetrap

Society

In promoting health, when to tiptoe — and when to stomp?

Inform, incentivize, legislate: There’s a ladder of escalating approaches for changing citizens’ behavior — and nudges for every rung

Health & Disease

Can marriage make you sick?

In general, it promotes health. But it might not if your relationship is troubled or your partner is ill. Here's why, and what can be done.

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Q&A

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