Neuroscientist David Linden sheds light on the biology behind phenomena that medicine has long struggled to explain, from voodoo death and broken heart syndrome to the placebo effect, and why grief shows up in autopsy results

In this preview, the Stanford professor muses on how emergence, arriving at complex patterns from simple parts, explains AI, brains, and life itself.

"I call it a tyranny of attention because there's so many demands on our attention coming from so many different directions that we are simply overwhelmed and we don't have the mental bandwidth to cope with it."

Why social media is the perfect recipe for kids to become addicted to their smartphones.

The actor learned control, endurance, and focus on-set. Those lessons became the foundation of his real-world fight with addiction and self-hatred.

“Psychedelics crosscut so many interesting domains. They've been used for time immemorial by indigenous cultures. In our own Western cultural history, they really exploded on the scene in the 1960s, and were associated with radical changes to society.”

“No matter what their gods were, what they did for a living, what they wore, the songs they sang, everything varies except love, and everybody loves.”

Getting drunk might be bad for you but good for us.

Daily habits can help you thrive or quietly turn into addictions. The difference is how your brain handles cues, routines, and rewards. Three experts explain how to work with your wiring instead of against it.

“It's certainly clear that the issues of boys and men haven't gone away in the last few years. If anything, they're getting even more attention, which is good when it's the right kind of attention.”

“A lot of the trends in the economy, in family life have just been much harder for working class men.”

Stuck on a hamster wheel of mindless social media scrolling? Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff explains how to consciously redirect your reward system.

In "Human History on Drugs," Sam Kelly explores what the research can tell us about one of history’s most brilliant — and troubled — artists.

Why do we fall in love with one person over another? The late biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher unpacks the evolutionary roots of romantic love, sex, and attachment.  Using research […]

Are we enslaved by the finer things in life?

Will platforms continue to offer the like button as an all-purpose tool — or will each of the button’s various functions exist in new forms?

A powerful psychedelic long used in African rituals shows surprising promise for treating traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

Big Think spoke with author and psychiatrist Elias Dakwar about addiction, rock bottom, and the moment you realize your compass is broken.

After decades of drug and alcohol abuse, the chef and television personality labeled himself as an ‘irredeemable human being.’ Everything changed when he found the courage to ask for help.

When it comes to behavior, genetics may play a larger role than you think.

Could studying the Oriental hornet lead to a treatment for people with alcohol use disorder?

The writer’s tragic death at age 46 has led many to view him as a tortured artist. Here’s why this label is reductive.

Through woodworking, John Furniss, known as The Blind Woodsman, discovered a new purpose and a way to share his vision with the world.

In a major shift, psychologists now view an out-of-control compulsion to work as an addiction with its own set of risk factors and consequences.

What are we supposed to do when experts look at the same data yet reach starkly different conclusions?

Everyone has to learn about sex somehow. Today, billions of people are learning about it from porn.

There’s never been more ways to connect with the people in our lives — so why are we lonelier than ever?

The hangover "cures" on the market don't work. A new hydrogel does.

GLP-1 agonists may be able to treat addiction, prevent Alzheimer’s, and more.

A new family of drugs is changing the way scientists are thinking about obesity.