Imperial College London researchers conducted largest placebo-controlled trial of psychedelics

A new study finds that on average, participants wished their conversations had been 1.9 minutes (or 24%) longer than they were.

Sometimes thinking is a bad idea. Ian Leslie draws on Dylan, Djokovic and academic research to put the case for unthinking

We are all suffering from a certain amount of loneliness as a result of social distancing during the pandemic. This post focuses on the particular disadvantages faced by many boys and men. Males in our culture tend to rely on opportunistic socialization—socializing while engaging in a shared activity. For them, feeling the need to actively reach out to others can trigger a shame response about appearing ‘needy.’

Having children will cause you to happier than staying childless, consistent with a replacement study, but not until later in life, once they have flown the nest. A team of researchers at Heidelberg University in Germany found that oldsters tend to be happier than non-parents in adulthood , but this only holds if their kids have removed.

There are many kinds of pseudosciences: astrology, homeopathy, flat-Earthism, anti-vaxx. These ‘fields’ traffic in bizarre claims with scientific pretensions. On a surface level, these claims seem to be scientific and usually appear to comment on the same kind of things that science does. However, upon closer inspection, pseudoscience is revealed to be bullshit: it is indifferent to the truth.

Psychologists have found that using nature scenes to experimentally induce a sense of awe can reduce the strength of one’s ideological convictions. The findings, which appear in the journal Emotion, provide evidence that the mix of wonder, reverence, and dread we feel in response to the vastness of the world can promote intellectual humility and reduce polarization.

Back in clinical psychology, a “victim complex” or “victim mentality” refers to a character trait of persons who think they’re always the victims of others’ damaging activities, even if made aware of proof to the contrary. Many men and women undergo regular periods of easy self-pity — within their grieving process, for instance.

Gaby Morse, 28, and her partner, Doug Marshall, 30, had been living the dream in London: relishing the creative chaos and thriving on the social life of the capital – and barely noticing that they could only afford to live in separate, tiny flats.

During the pandemic, suicidal thinking is up. And families find that hospitals can’t handle adolescents in crisis.

My wife was recently telling some mutual friends an amusing anecdote about the time she was changing our then-baby son’s nappy in the toilet of a busy café, only for him to urinate all over the groin region of her trousers, meaning she had to return to the crowded eating area displaying a deeply suspicious stain. Big laughs all round.

Excellent analysis of cults.

According to new research published in PLOS One, dating apps may not deserve the bad rap they receive. A large Swiss study found that relationships that were initiated through dating apps were just as satisfying as those initiated offline, and featured couples who were actually more inclined toward moving in together.

One doesn’t have to believe in God to believe in goodness, according to an analysis published in PLOS ONE on Wednesday analyzing various values driving the morals of atheists and religious believers. This finding challenges many people’s belief in belief itself.

One day a number of years ago, I was deep into a game of draughts on holiday with my daughter, then almost four, in the small library of a beachfront town. Her eye drifted to a nearby table, where a black-and-white board bristled with far more interesting figures (many a future chess master has been innocently drawn in by “horses” and “castles”).

According to a recent report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (2020), each year in the U.S. farmers throw away up to 30% of their crops, equal to 66.5 million tons of edible produce, due to cosmetic imperfections. Such food waste has detrimental consequences for the environment: 96% of wasted food is left to decompose in landfills, releasing methane and contributing to climate change.

Cambridge University team say their findings could be used to spot people at risk from radicalisation

For the millions of Americans living with dementia, every day during this pandemic can bring a fresh horror.

Dreaming experiments involved real-time conversations between sleepers and scientists

A study by researchers at Columbia University's Center of Prevention and Evaluation finds that most mass murders are not committed by individuals with serious mental illness.