July 2, 2025
(MIT Technology Review) – Peter—who asked to have his last name omitted from this story for privacy reasons—is far from alone. A growing number of people are using AI chatbots as “trip sitters”—a phrase that traditionally refers to a sober … Read More
July 1, 2025
(Aeon) – Emerging research from the past few years has revealed that, within an individual, ADHD can be highly unstable across the lifespan. Many, if not most, individuals with ADHD, will meet formal diagnostic criteria for the disorder during some … Read More
July 1, 2025
(Harper’s Magazine) – What were we if not obsessive-compulsive, we who so often traced our origins to a people whose very name, the Puritans, epitomized the perfectionistic delusion underlying this illness? A people so committed to virtue that they’d risked … Read More
June 30, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Among members of the Richardson family who carry a mutation in the PSEN1 gene, the average age when symptoms start is 39 Hannah’s family has a history of a rare genetic mutation that, when inherited, virtually … Read More
June 30, 2025
(The New Yorker) – Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and many other notorious figures lived in and around Tacoma in the sixties. A new book argues that there was something in the water. During the “golden age” of serial killing, between … Read More
June 24, 2025
(New York Times) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of health and human services, is correct that reported autism rates have exploded in the last 30 years — they’ve increased roughly 60-fold — but he is dead wrong about the … Read More
June 24, 2025
(Aeon) – The misunderstood story of Phineas Gage shows that we need a new way of understanding the experiences of brain injury survivors We mostly used the term ‘disinhibition’ as a mitigation: an invitation to think creatively about how to … Read More
June 24, 2025
(Nature) – Liraglutide, a member of the family of blockbuster weight-loss drugs, reduces headaches by half in a small study. Head-splitting migraines could be the next ailment in a seemingly endless list that a class of blockbuster weight-loss drugs might … Read More
June 20, 2025
(TIME) – Does ChatGPT harm critical thinking abilities? A new study from researchers at MIT’s Media Lab has returned some concerning results. The study divided 54 subjects—18 to 39 year-olds from the Boston area—into three groups, and asked them to … Read More
June 20, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Ibogaine has been touted for its potential to erase years of addiction and withdrawal in one session. Banned in the U.S., the drug is prompting Americans to cross borders for treatment. Desperate to break free from … Read More
June 19, 2025
(Fox News) – The potential risk of cannabis use has been in the spotlight following recent research pointing toward negative health effects. This includes a new meta-analysis by French researchers, published in the journal Heart, which reviewed multiple studies to … Read More
June 19, 2025
(AP) – The Dutch government advised parents on Tuesday not to have children under 15 use social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, citing psychological and physical problems among children using them, including panic attacks, depression and difficulties sleeping. … Read More
June 19, 2025
(NPR) – A new study finds that addiction to social media, mobile phones and video games is linked to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The study, published in JAMA on Wednesday, looked at data on more than … Read More
June 19, 2025
(Nature) – Research is revealing the cellular mechanisms that link mental well-being and longevity. There might be a paradox in the biology of ageing. As humans grow older, their metabolisms tend to slow, they lose muscle mass and they burn … Read More
June 16, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – Parents desperate for treatments say cannabis helps, but doctors urge caution Marijuana is becoming easier to get in many states, and one group showing interest might surprise you: parents of children with autism. In online and … Read More
June 16, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – A drop in overdoses astounded public officials and health experts who traveled across the country to learn the formula and replicate it The formula: making recovery a community affair. Many of the initiatives making a difference … Read More
June 16, 2025
(New York Times) – Generative A.I. chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild, mystical belief systems. For some people, conversations with the technology can deeply distort reality. ChatGPT presented Mr. Torres with a new action plan, this … Read More
June 13, 2025
(Undark) – Jennie Erin Smith’s “Valley of Forgetting” explores the genetics of early-onset dementia plaguing a mountain region. That cause — a hereditary genetic mutation known as E280A — is at the heart of science journalist Jennie Erin Smith’s deeply … Read More
June 12, 2025
(ABC News) – The Supreme Court sided with a teenage girl with a rare form of epilepsy on Thursday in a unanimous ruling that could make it easier for families like hers to go to court over access to education. … Read More
June 12, 2025
(Texas Tribune) – As Texas sets to crack down on the recreational use of cannabis, state leaders are opting to invest $50 million in another plant with purported medicinal benefits – a psychedelic called ibogaine. For several years, people have … Read More
June 11, 2025
(UPI) – A suspected link between childhood trauma and the risk of developing endometriosis in later life was strengthened Wednesday with the publication of study that showed a greater chance of the condition among women with histories of difficult childhoods. … Read More
June 10, 2025
(Wired) – Outro, which is now available in seven states, wants to help people taper off antidepressants without experiencing debilitating side effects. Outro officially launched in the US last month and is currently available in seven states, including California and … Read More
June 10, 2025
(MedPage Today) – The risks of social media-driven self-diagnosis extend beyond simple misinformation. Patients may engage in inappropriate self-treatment based on misdiagnosis, or experience a nocebo effect where expected symptoms begin to manifest simply because they anticipate them. Perhaps most … Read More
June 10, 2025
(KFF Health News) – “As a geriatrician, it gives me pause,” Han said. “Our brains are more sensitive to psychoactive substances as we age.” Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia now allow cannabis use for medical reasons, and in … Read More
June 9, 2025
(Washington Post) – For years, people have flown to clinics in Mexico to take ibogaine, the extract of an ancient African shrub that induces mind-bending hallucinations. Under medical supervision, patients undergo psychedelic trips that can last more than a dozen … Read More
