Articles
I am a contributing editor at Scientific American and write the Brain Waves blog for Psychology Today (you can find those posts here). My work has also appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, Vogue and many other publications. Earlier in my career, I was on staff at Newsweek, and People, among other places and I’ve included a few of my old favorites from those days.
“Hyperscans” Show How Brains Sync as People Interact
Social neuroscientists ask what happens at the level of neurons when you tell someone a story or a group watches movies
Credit: John Wildgoose Getty Images The vast majority of neuroscientific studies contain three elements: a person, a cognitive task and a high-tech machine capable of seeing inside the brain. That simple recipe can produce powerful science. Such studies now routinely yield images that a neuroscientist used to only dream about. They allow…
The Kids (Who Use Tech) Are All Right
A rigorous new paper uses a new scientific approach that shows the panic over teen screen time is likely overstated
Credit: Getty Images Social media is linked to depression—or not. First-person shooter video games are good for cognition—or they encourage violence. Young people are either more connected—or more isolated than ever. Such are the conflicting messages about the effects of technology on children’s well-being. Negative findings receive far more attention and…
What Can Baboon Relationships Tell Us About Human Health?
Strong relationships seem to help baboons overcome early life adversity, and that could have big implications for human health
TROOP OF YELLOW BABOONS gathers at dusk at Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Researchers here are observing them to understand how social habits affect health. Credit: Nichole Sobecki It’s just after daybreak on a plain at the edge of Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. In a fever tree grove, a troop…
How Exactly does Autism Muddy Communication?
The root of the problem could be social or linguistic.
The quirks in Ramsey Brewer’s conversation are subtle. The 17-year-old repeats himself from time to time and makes small mistakes in the words he uses. For instance, he says he and his best friend look scaringly, not scarily, similar. He also pauses at odd spots, and for a beat or…
Preventing Suicide
Social scientists have begun to close in on new ways to stop people from taking their own lives.
Thirty minutes and an index card. That’s what clinical psychologist Craig Bryan needs to conduct what he calls crisis response planning with a soldier who is suicidal. “Tell me the story about the day you tried to kill yourself,” Bryan asks. Then he listens and follows up with the type…
I Feel Your Pain
Our new understanding of the underpinnings of empathy might help us harness the emotion—just when we need it the most
Last year, a striking video made its way around the Internet. In it, male sports fans sat, one at a time, opposite a female sports reporter who had been the target of abusive, misogynistic tweets. Each man had to read the messages aloud to the woman who received them. One…