Loneliness is hell: debilitating yet formative. Can we avoid the pains of loneliness yet enjoy the pleasures of solitude? By Cody Delistraty.

A St. Petersburg man who videotaped himself going into a local Target said he was just trying to clarify the company’s bathroom policy. That video has since gone viral. It was recorded on the heels of Target’s recent announcement about its policy. “(We) welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity … Everyone deserves to feel like they belong,” Target said.

Alzheimer’s disease, Harry Houdini, and America's invisible caregivers. By Lynn Casteel Harper.

In her new book, Nancy Jo Sales explores how teenage girls on social media provoke attention—but fails to show how they also demand respect.

A writer’s reflections on the pain of “passing” for neurotypical. By M.Nicole.R.Wildhood.

Unless you are a scholar of sixteenth and seventeenth century literature you have probably never heard of John Taylor the Water Poet. Or for that matter Robert Greene, the bohemian university wit, or Richard Barnfield, the sodomitical sonneteer... By Edward Simon.

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, marked by the Spring Equinox, a complicated astronomical event and a perhaps even more complicated Wiccan holiday. What better time to dive along with Alex Mar into the history and personality of celebrated 20th century witch Doreen Valiente?

New findings about schizophrenia rekindle old questions about genes and identity. By Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Megan Galbraith retraces the footsteps of her birth mother, who gave her up for adoption at nineteen years old in 1966 in New York City.

Before Josh McDermott was a neuroscientist, he was a club DJ in Boston and Minneapolis... By Daniel A. Gross.

Andrea Bowers's new exhibit asks "Whose Feminism Is It Anyway?"

“A young male’s hormonal constitution and the way his brain matures together increase his susceptibility to fanaticism, an extreme instance of bonding, and make him prone to taking risk-laden actions on behalf of his group.” By Joe Herbert.

Sexually abusing kids is about the worst thing you can be accused of in our society. The hatred reserved for those who do it is so intense that moral values we otherwise hold sacrosanct can be thrown out of the window in an instant in the rush to condemn. By Paul Willis. (Jan. 5)

My grandfather came to Brazil on a mission from God. At the age of thirty-five, he had a vision in his sleep. The next morning, he told his wife and son that there was nothing in Portugal for them anymore, that new opportunities lay ahead in Brazil... By Sofia Soter Henriques.

An inspiration for Spain’s May 15 movement, the sociologist is skeptical about chances for change. By Ricardo de Querol.

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ as Totem Transfer Narrative. By Dallas Hunt.

Surprising results show the fluidity of the "body schema." By Julie Sedivy.

David Bowie’s Sci-Fi Explorations. By Jason Heller.

Alex Ramos was once a contender in boxing's formidable middleweight division. But his toughest fight was for his own name. By William D’Urso.

A young woman fooled the governments of three countries. What does her con reveal about how we see the world? By Maria Konnikova.