“Historically, many cases of demonic possession have masked major psychiatric disorder[s].”-Kazuhiro Tajima-Pozo et. al. BMJ Case Reports 2009 “Juana (also known as Joanna and Joan) of Castile was born in Toledo, Spain on 6 November 1479, the third child of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Not long after her marriage [...]

SAN FRANCISCO—Standing at a podium in front of an audience of psychiatrists, clinicians and scientists, Firdaus Dhabhar brings up a video of his infant son on a large projector screen and presses play. Smiling and wriggling, Dhabhar’s son rests on his back in a doctor’s office—perfectly content. “Watch for the immediate reaction,” Dhabhar tells the [...]

This month the American Psychiatric Association will publish the latest edition of its standard guidebook for clinicians, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5). In somewhat the same way that a field guide to birds helps people distinguish different species with illustrations and descriptions of physical features—a beak’s hooked tip, a blush [...]

On any given day, millions of conversations reverberate through New York City. Poke your head out a window overlooking a busy street and you will hear them: all those overlapping sentences, only half-intelligible, forming a dense acoustic mesh through which escapes an exclamation, a buoyant laugh, a child’s shrill cry now and then. Every spoken [...]

The following is written by Michael Chwe, associate professor of political science at the University of California Los Angeles and author of the recent book Jane Austen, Game Theorist Dear Miss Austen, It is an immense honor to be addressed by you.  However, I worry that the letter addressed to me was written not by [...]

Dear Mr. Michael Chwe, It is with a mix of delight, embarrassment and confusion that I have watched people analyze and adapt my novels all these years. Cassandra often hears of the latest developments before I do and takes great pleasure in bringing me tidbits of gossip. When she floats towards me with more enthusiasm [...]

By Mara Grunbaum and Ferris Jabr Dear Evolution, Let’s start with the wings: did you really have to turn them into flippers? Don’t get us wrong—we appreciate the swimming and diving talents. But couldn’t you have come up with some kind of compromise so that we could still fly? Maybe a 2-in-1 special, a wing/flipper [...]

TRANSCRIPT After Thanksgiving dinner, many people start to feel a little drowsy. Turkey typically gets the blame. It supposedly contains high levels of tryptophan, an amino acid that is sold in a purified form to help people fall asleep. But turkey contains about the same amount of tryptophan as chicken, beef and other meats. If [...]

Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk was born and raised on an island that tectonic forces are ripping apart. Iceland is part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which separates the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate. These two plates are drifting away from one another at a rate of about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) each year. Most of [...]

My father called me one night: “So, I’m trying to figure this thing out. How does it work exactly?” Some of my friends and colleagues have made similar inquiries: “I should probably get the hang of this. Can you show me?” The thing, the ‘this’ in question, is Twitter. Type “What is t—” into Google’s [...]