June 17, 2026
(Wired) – A decade ago, kratom advocates fought a surprisingly successful campaign against a proposed Drug Enforcement Administration ban that claimed the obscure Southeast Asian plant posed “an imminent hazard to public safety.” They won bipartisan allies from Bernie Sanders … Read More
June 16, 2026
(NYT) – Thanks to new treatments, some patients with the disease are living longer — leaving them in limbo for years. Twenty years ago, the words “Stage 4” almost invariably meant “end of life.” A cancer had spread far from … Read More
June 15, 2026
(New York Post) – They were too busy partying like immortality could wait — which, oddly enough, may be part of the secret they traveled to the Texas capital to learn in the first place. “If you look at the … Read More
June 11, 2026
(CBC) – Alan isn’t a medical professional, but a drug user who learned to inject other people for a small fee “My whole thing is the risk of accidental overdose,” Alan explains. “I’m always right there beside them for at … Read More
June 11, 2026
(Business Insider) – Thanks to technology, we can know more about our bodies than ever before. From wearables to full-body scans, deep-dive blood and DNA tests, and even at-home vaginal microbiome kits, we have a wealth of insights at our … Read More
June 9, 2026
(Axios) – Rest, longevity and fitness are the new status symbols, and burnt-out Americans are spending big on all of the above. Why it matters: The wellness economy is in its next phase, beyond fancy gym memberships and meditation apps. … Read More
June 9, 2026
(The Guardian) – Diagnostic interviews seen as ‘gold standard’ vary in reliability from condition to condition, study says Even though evidence on the reliability of these interviews has long been mixed, “they continue to be widely viewed as the best … Read More
June 9, 2026
(Washington Post) – A new study suggests spending time in nature may boost body appreciation, self-compassion and overall life satisfaction. Decades of research suggests there are many positive mental and physical health effects of spending time outdoors, from boosting mood … Read More
June 8, 2026
(404 Media) – Planning documents for “Scout” say the plan is to “make people addicted” to the tool before adding new features. An internal Microsoft strategy document says that the plan for its just-announced “Scout” personal assistant AI is to … Read More
June 5, 2026
(The Dispatch) – Screen time gets the blame, but the increase in diagnoses comes more from subjective criteria interacting with financial incentives. The diagnostic category itself has been steadily widened by the institutions that define it and the financial structure … Read More
June 4, 2026
(JAMA Pediatrics) – Questions As of 2025, what percentage of US adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 21 years used artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for mental health advice, and among those who use AI chatbots for this purpose, to … Read More
May 29, 2026
(The Free Press) – ‘I don’t want my little girl to die,’ Cissy Dekker said about her 19-year-old daughter, Iris. ‘But out of love, I also don’t want this life for her.’ The symptoms began early in Iris’s adolescence. In … Read More
May 26, 2026
(STAT News) – Advisory offers ways to reduce exposure, including bell-to-bell school bans, tech design changes Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is issuing a U.S. surgeon general’s advisory urging families, schools, and providers to reduce children’s screen time, according … Read More
May 25, 2026
(NPR) – The COVID-19 pandemic introduced people across the U.S. to a global health emergency that they may have never imagined. That experience is coloring how some people are thinking about Ebola and hantavirus, public health and infectious disease experts … Read More
May 21, 2026
(After Babel) – As a social psychologist, I’m used to speaking to academic audiences, making arguments from evidence. This was different. I spoke to the graduates — members of Gen Z — to offer advice about how to flourish in … Read More
May 19, 2026
(NYT) – When psychiatrists say that you “have A.D.H.D.,” what they really mean is something like this: After spending time listening to you, talking with people who know you and observing how you think and behave, I’ve made a judgment … Read More
May 15, 2026
(After Babel) – A new survey of U.S. parents by the Institute for Family Studies suggests that kids are still overprotected in the real world and underprotected online. Are norms around childhood and technology actually changing? Looking at policy both … Read More
May 6, 2026
(NYT) – The health secretary has long complained that Americans overuse psychiatric medications. New policies he is introducing aim to change that. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced several initiatives intended to rein in the prescription of … Read More
April 29, 2026
(NYT) – A headset recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration uses a weak electric current to shock the brain. Some researchers hope it could challenge the current pill-centric paradigm. Ms. Davies did an internet search and confirmed that … Read More
April 29, 2026
(The Guardian) – Elon Musk’s AI chatbot ‘extremely validating’ of delusional inputs and often went further, ‘elaborating new material’, study finds Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok 4.1 told researchers pretending to be delusional that there was indeed a doppelganger in … Read More
April 28, 2026
(Wired) – While many brain-computer interface companies are focused on helping paralyzed people communicate, Motif Neurotech is targeting mental health disorders. The latest brain-computer interface could help people recover from severe depression. Motif Neurotech announced Monday that the US Food … Read More
April 24, 2026
(The Atlantic) – In March, I put my iPhone into a yellow cardboard box with MO stamped on top—the M looked like a riff on the Motorola logo; the O looked like a flower. Over the next several weeks, I … Read More
April 21, 2026
(Wired) – A longitudinal study found that loneliness is closely linked to lapses in immediate and delayed recall. Neuroscientists know that there is a link between loneliness and cognitive decline in older adults, although it is still difficult to understand … Read More
April 20, 2026
(Compact Magazine) – Marijuana remains the most misunderstood vice in America. Our large and growing marijuana industry depends on obscuring the well-documented connection the drug has to a wide variety of severe physical and mental health issues, as well as … Read More
April 13, 2026
(WSJ) – Jonathan Gavalas was a seemingly healthy and even-keeled 36-year-old when he began chatting with Gemini, Google’s chatbot, in part to seek comfort about splitting up with his wife. A Wall Street Journal analysis of the entire chatlog between … Read More
