"As a descendant of slaves and slaveholders, I embody uncomfortable incongruities — just as America does." By Sheryll Cashin. (June 3, 2017)

Swine Flu, Naples Soldier, Ebola. Disease names express fear, create stigma and distract attention. Can they be improved? By Laura Spinney.

Every year, Facebook gathers hundreds of developers, corporate allies, and members of the press to hear CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of our shared near future. The gathering is known as “F8,” and this year’s iteration included some radical plans, one of which could’ve been pulled from a William Gibson novel… By Sam Biddle.

Deborah Cohen reviews “Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First” by Frank Trentmann.

The political left might consider itself more open-minded than the right. But research shows that liberals are just as prejudiced against conservatives as conservatives are against liberals. By Matthew Hutson.

Many people text dead loved ones to cope with their grief – but trouble arises when they get an unexpected reply.  By Amelia Tait.

Why do overbearing, obnoxious people so often come out on top? What a story from Papua New Guinea reveals about the rise of Donald Trump. By Joel Robbins, (Feb. 2, 2017)

Long before he drummed on upended pails at People’s Park in Berkeley, Calif., Mark Hawthorne wrote about impromptu instruments in Washington Square Park... By David W. Dunlap.

They’re a very particular form of deception that can build solidarity within groups. By Jeremy Adam Smith.

Come to his Dilbert-shaped home. Bite into a Dilberito. Be persuaded on genocide, mental orgasms, and his fellow Master Wizard, the president of the United States. By Caroline Winter.

Cast your mind back over the past week. How many times were you tempted to act dishonestly? Perhaps you were given too much change… By Neil Garrett.

Can an app that lets strangers — and bots — become amateur therapists create a safer internet? By Ben Popper.

“Many of them have started eating independently again, they go to the toilet on their own, even some who were bed-ridden have got up.” By Justin Huggler.

Unexpected yet popular answers often turn out to be correct. By Cathleen O’grady.

Know yourself, know your worth. By Drake Baer.

What makes things cool? By Derek Thompson.

We talked to a researcher behind a new study on the motivations behind revenge to find out why burning all your ex's clothes just feels right. By Kimberly Lawson.

Crowds aren’t as smart as we thought, since some people know more than others. A simple trick can find the ones you want. By George Musser.

Why worldview threats undermine evidence. By Michael Shermer.

How Great Man theory allows us to abdicate collective responsibility. By Megan Carpentier.