Has the Drug-Based Approach to Mental Illness Failed?
Journalist Robert Whitaker is more concerned than ever that psychiatric medications do more harm than good
Stories by John Horgan
Big Tech, Out-of-Control Capitalism and the End of Civilization
A new documentary, The Social Dilemma, warns that the harm wreaked by digital technologies is outweighing the benefits
How to Be a Mystical Skeptic
Psychologist Susan Blackmore stays grounded in science while exploring the outer reaches of consciousness.
How Do I Know I’m Not the Only Conscious Being in the Universe?
The solipsism problem, also called the problem of other minds, lurks at the heart of science, philosophy, religion, the arts and the human condition
Quantum Escapism
How quantum mechanics gives me a refuge from reality
Does Optimism on Climate Change Make You Pro-Trump?
Apocalypse Never, a book by iconoclastic environmentalist Michael Shellenberger, triggers polarized responses
Who Wants to Be a Cyborg?
Philosopher Susan Schneider weighs the pros and cons of radical technological enhancement
Let’s Defund the Pentagon, Too
We must begin moving beyond militarism, as Martin Luther King urged more than 50 years ago
On Crazyism, Jerkitude, Garden Snails and Other Philosophical Puzzles
Eric Schwitzgebel investigates an eclectic assortment of mysteries with (unintentional?) irony and humor
My Quantum Experiment
An aging science journalist with a literature degree sets out to learn quantum mechanics, mathematics and all...
The Problem with Protesting Violence with Violence
Empirical studies have shown that nonviolent movements are more successful than violent ones at bringing about positive social changes...
Exposing the World’s Biggest Carbon Emitters
“Energy accountant” Richard Heede does research needed to hold major polluters accountable for their actions...
One of the World’s Most Powerful Scientists Believes in Miracles
NIH director Francis Collins, winner of the 2020 Templeton Prize, answers questions about God, free will, evil, altruism and his Christian faith in a 2006 interview...
Should Scientists Take UFOs and Ghosts More Seriously?
Journalist Leslie Kean investigates topics that many consider to be beyond the pale
Will the Nature-Nurture Debate Ever End?
Biology writer Carl Zimmer answers questions on heredity, CRISPR, human enhancement, immortality and the coronavirus...
A Liberal East Coast Science Writer Talks to a Pro-Trump Texan Strength Coach about COVID-19
A weight-lifting guru, author and podcaster calls the U.S. response to the pandemic an “exercise in hysteria" that might do more harm than good...
Will COVID-19 Make Us Less Democratic and More like China?
The pandemic has revealed the disadvantages of laissez-faire governance and advantages of centralized control
Will COVID-19 Make Us More Socialist?
Pundits hope the pandemic will lead to more humane government policies but fear darker outcomes...
Remembering Big Bang Basher Fred Hoyle
The great astrophysicist Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) named the big bang theory but never embraced it...
Does Surging Existential Dread Help Trump?
As fear of mortality rises, so does tribalism and support for authoritarian leaders, according to terror-management theory...
