Despite Trump’s change in emphasis, it’s possible that U.S. government research on climate change will continue—under an assumed name. Since Trump’s inauguration, U.S. government websites seeking to scrub “climate change” from their record…

Given the short time they had to develop the shot, however, the data only included information on the safety and efficacy of the booster in animals. Human studies are planned and will be ongoing even if the FDA and CDC decide to authorize …

America has begun the gradual process of accepting that COVID-19 is going to be endemic—meaning it will always be present in the population to some degree—due to inherent properties of the virus, and will remain so for the foreseeable futu…

The very use of the concept "foreign" shows little grasp the Japanese have of anything outside their own country, and whenever I read anything about my own country in newspapers or magazines here I am appalled by the amount of ignorance di…

My own feeling now is that the great majority of people have no interest whatsoever in understanding people of different cultures. The language barrier alienates people, and translation does not overcome it, probably because people like th…

It’s not entirely clear why these disparities exist, or why ADHD diagnoses are on the rise overall. But the study suggests that heightened awareness of the condition and changing diagnostic criteria may partially explain the higher numbers…

Man's love of "a quiet life" and his resistance to anything that threatens his mental harmony account for his dislike of change. He is a creature of habit whose ways of thinking are thrust upon him. He is taught from infancy to accept the …

A certain number of people are always upset by hearing such stories. Soon after this meeting, I got a pleasant but agitated letter from an intelligent and highly trained psychologist who had heard my talk. How, she demanded, could children…

It’s unclear what underlies the placebo effect. Some experts argue that the human body subconsciously responds physically and physiologically to the ritual of treatment, like Pavlov’s dogs, while others argue it’s the power of positive thi…

We get used to particular newspapers and magazines and often, after a while, come to take their typical content for granted. Some degree of familiarity with a particular paper or magazine is often necessary, if what it has to offer is to c…

Who ever reads a newspaper from cover to cover? Clearly almost nobody. There isn't time in a busy day, and not all the articles are equally interesting. All readers have their own personal tastes and purposes for reading, which cause them …

Try to consider what would happen if a person were left totally unchanged by his experiences and activities. It is almost impossible to imagine what he would be like. Every situation he encountered would be forever strange, unfamiliar, unp…

What light does the study of past history cast on the meaning of human experience and, in particular, to what extent does it sustain the belief in the progress of civilization? Leaving on one side the pessimistic theories widely prevalent …

From the earliest age, we’re taught to follow the rules. Look both ways before crossing the street. Don’t talk to strangers. Color inside the lines. Wait your turn. Say please and thank you. Raise your hand to speak. Don’t talk with your m…

To treat the wolf and the grandmother as opposite aspects of the same person may appear nonsensical to some readers. Red Riding Hood does not realize, any more than any other small child can be expected to recognize, that grandmotherly car…

When an investigation was made into the effects of television programs on children, it was discovered that one of the things which most alarms the young is to find that an apparently 'good' and reliable parent is really a wicked person.So …

When Red Riding Hood visits her grandmother she finds that a wolf has wrongfully taken the grandmother's place. The protective, kindly figure has been replaced by a dangerous and destructive creature. It is this exchange of figures which m…

Both environmental and internal changes could enhance an older person’s sense of control, Bellingtier says. A nursing home, for example, could allow residents to select their own food options and mealtimes, rather than mandating a set menu…

We found schools with just a few seals in attendance, not feeding so much as playing with the shoal ― treating it as a living beach ball. Watching sardines part and re-form around a seal is like watching some superorganism reshaping itself…

During our weeks at Mkambati we dived on dozens of shoals, and every one was different. Some shimmered like blue carpets that suddenly turned silver as the fish caught the sun on their sides. Some were so solid and dense right down to the …

Men are seduced by the trappings of wealth, power, status, and possessions, but the secret of a fulfilled and satisfied life is the wisdom to know what will truly make us happy. Montaigne believed in the superiority of wisdom ― knowing wha…

Seneca can be referred to for advice on coping with hardships, and actually he has much to say of relevance to such contemporary stupidities as violence observed in some soccer fans. He sees anger as a kind of madness, given that what make…

Consider Epicurus. Here was a man prepared to confront the question, what does it take to make a man happy? His answer includes: friendship; freedom; a willingness to analyze and reduce anxieties about such things as death, illness, and mo…

There is no point in philosophy unless it helps dispel mental sufferings. Originally the philosopher's role was like that of today's psychiatrist – to provide answers to how we are to live. In fact, modern psychiatry, whether it knows it o…

X-rays reveal an arrowhead buried deep in the Iceman’s left shoulder—an injury that could not possibly have been self-inflicted. This discovery consequently led archaeologists to believe that the Iceman had been killed. The wound, visible …

Over the 11 years since his discovery the Iceman mummy has been examined from every possible angle. But not until this past summer did those studying his still frozen body notice a crucial piece of evidence that dramatically rewrites his s…