Stories by John Horgan

Harvard’s Richard Wrangham and Stanford’s Robert Sapolsky clash over claim that war has deep evolutionary roots

Psychiatrist John Halpern discusses the psychotherapeutic potential of peyote, ayahuasca, psilocybin, MDMA and other psychedelics

A journalist exploring psychedelics’ therapeutic potential participates in a ceremony of the Native American Church

Science journalist Gary Taubes weighs in on PSA tests and mammograms

Physicians are still recommending the blood test for prostate cancer even though it harms far more men than it helps

Big-picture biologist Tyler Volk talks about his book on “How We Came to Be” 

Scholars debate filmmaker Errol Morris’s attack on Kuhn’s influential philosophy of science

Filmmaker Errol Morris claims Kuhn’s critique of science paved the way for a post-truth presidency

Intellectuals defend the value of being intellectuals.

Physicists battle over whether the theory of inflation is untestable, and hence not really scientific

Scientists and philosophers doubt the ancient claim that vigorous examination of yourself and others makes you a better person

Physicist, mathematician and blogger Peter Woit whacks strings, multiverses, simulated universes and “fake physics”

Imagining an ideal world can help us make this world better

Consciousness will still mystify us even if we scientifically solve it, philosopher predicts

Americans should have a more vigorous debate over Pentagon’s relentless pursuit of “disruptive” innovations

The advocate of "perennial philosophy" held that “entheogens” can provide glimpses of transcendent truths embodied in religions

A historian claims only apocalyptic destruction can close the gap between rich and poor

Philosopher Daniel Dennett tries, once again, to explain away consciousness

Psychoanalysis still attracts adherents in spite of relentless criticism and the rise of psychopharmacology and other alternatives

Creator of Mathematica and A New Kind of Science remains confident that he can transform science and other realms of knowledge

Science Journalist Michael Lemonick answers questions about his new book The Perpetual Now: A Story of Amnesia, Memory, and Love.

Philosophers react to a science journalist’s critique of their calling

Philosophy’s chief value is countering our terrible tendency toward certitude

The line between philosophy and the arts can get awfully blurry