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From mangled bodies to the twisted psychological world of Abu Ghraib, the stories Middle East veterans tell Nancy Sherman reveal a side of war not shown on TV.

Maddening boredom. Utter numbness. Comradeship so intense that it threatens family ties. War’s worst psychological effects can be the ones you’d never expect.

The bizarre seizure that struck the author at her father’s memorial service launched her on an exploration of neurology, psychology, and the ancient study of buried memory.

“Although there must be a physical limit to how many memories we can store, it is extremely large. We don’t have to worry about running out of space in our lifetime,” writes Paul Reber.

The official unemployment rate remains almost 10%. That in itself is nearly as high as it has been since the early 80s and is plenty bad enough. But it nevertheless […]

In a number of fundamental ways, human psychology hasn’t budged in a very long time.

Smart people have long had a history of quirky and inexplicable habits: Nietzsche wound up hugging horses, Freud couldn’t kick a drug addiction, Nikola Tesla adored white pigeons and loathed […]

“I remember I was reading Svevo, it was ‘The Confessions of Zeno’…And I looked—I was lying in bed and I looked down at the floor and there was a little […]

Empathy is a complicated emotion, even for mice. On seeing another in pain, a mouse will act as if it itself is also hurting—much more, though, if it knows the […]

Emory University Neuroscientist and Behavioral Biologist Lori Marino discusses how evolution has allowed a basic psychological continuity to develop across human, dolphins, primates and all species.

NBC’s recent debacle elicits a long standing fact of late-night TV: whether it’s the mental state that occurs just before going to bed or the effect of having a couple […]

Seeking the hidden causes of behavior, some scientists work on the scale of brain regions and neurons, searching inside people’s heads. Others work on the scale of crowds, neighborhoods and […]

Photographer Ansel Adams claimed that the goal of his art was “to rekindle an appreciation of the marvelous.” Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light at the Amon Carter Museum rekindles the marvelous […]

If David Cameron wants to beat Gordon Brown next month, he might want to play a lot of tennis. According to this paper, anyway, gestures and small movements are enough […]

Researchers at the University of Utah have found that 2.5 percent of the population is able to do two or more tasks at the same time without hurting their ability to perform each.

Russia is threatening stop American families from adopting Russian orphans after a Tennessee family sent its adopted Russian son back to Moscow unaccompanied, save for a written letter.

As advice columnists go, Emiy Yoffe of “Dear Prudence” is usually relatively compassionate. Today, however, Prudie was shockingly cruel to a young woman* grieving the loss of her best friend: […]

A new study contradicts the popular wisdom that people hide their true selves online suggesting that Facebook profiles are usually an accurate portrait of a person’s personality.

Why is evolutionary psychology so popular, and what questions has it not yet answered?

Solar panels aren’t born green. Their manufacture uses power, often generated in plants that burn coal or oil, and releases pollutants (including greenhouse gases) into the environment. The extent of […]

Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, came by Big Think today to share his unconventional wisdom about highly intelligent people and their preferences. Liberals, he […]

Scientists have found that microbes living in the human gut may have more influence over our health than our own genes, perhaps causing psychological and physical changes like obesity.

Victims of a widespread child abuse scandal in Ireland have begun speaking out after report found that the Catholic Church had covered up tens of thousands of abuse cases.

Want to terminate your pregnancy? Under a new Nebraska law, you’ll have to prove you’re not crazy first. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman signed two new laws restricting abortions on Tuesday. […]

Is it time to accept that plenty of cancer-screening in the developed world is motivated by psychological needs, rather than fact? Screening addresses our fears of statistically unlikely horrors, which […]

Though often indirect, many urban dwellers are guilty of participating in a devastating pattern of displacement that is harming both the lives of low-income families and the fabric of cities […]

A conversation with the professor of psychology at Yale University.

There is no easy answer as to why we keep sales humming for books many would profess are not worth their time. “Betrayal” Lit, as so-called by The Daily Beast‘s […]

“Religion is not an adaptation,” Robert Wright says in his Big Think interview. “That is, it’s not here because it was conducive to the replication of the genes underlying it.” But […]

Paul Bloom has researched everything from religion and moral reasoning to children’s understanding of fiction and art. What’s the most unusual project he’s working on now?