Atlantic
DNA testing uncovers fertility doctor’s decades-old dark secret
The first Facebook message arrived when Heather Woock was packing for vacation, in August 2017. It was from a stranger claiming to ...
Viewpoint: Autism research is leaving girls behind
Evidence that clinicians are missing girls with autism has been building for years. Because autistic girls tend to exhibit different traits than ...
Huntington’s risk spawns niche IVF market for people who don’t want a diagnosis
When Jennifer Leyton was going through IVF, her doctors would tell her very little. They turned off the ultrasound screen ...
Is there such a thing as an anti-Alzheimer’s diet?
By 2050, an estimated 15 million people in America will have Alzheimer’s—the equivalent of the combined populations of New York ...
DNA of the dead: Genetic testing companies offering to use envelopes licked by the deceased
In the past year, genealogists have been abuzz about the possibility of getting DNA out of old stamps and envelopes ...
Why your dog really can tell if you are sick
I was sick last week, and as [my Chihuahua] Midge was glued to my side, friends told me about their ...
Why bleak, frightening dreams may make us better people
What are dreams for? A handful of theories predominate. Sigmund Freud famously contended that they reveal hidden truths and wishes. More recent ...
What explains twins that are ‘somewhere in between’ fraternal and identical?
A few years ago, Michael Gabbett got a call from a very confused ob-gyn. A woman had come in pregnant ...
Making the case for potential benefits of microdosing LSD and ‘magic’ mushrooms
[A]necdotal endorsements of [psychedelic] microdosing claim that the routine can lead to a whole variety of benefits, including heightened emotional ...
Viewpoint: Why the crusade against ‘toxic masculinity’ ignores ‘real-life conditions’
Over the past several years, toxic masculinity has become a catchall explanation for male violence and sexism. The appeal of ...
Why growing up poor could hurt your brain in old age
In 2004, a study titled “The Long Arm of Childhood” found that whether children were rich or poor could influence their health ...
70% of teens see mental health, depression as a ‘major struggle’ for their generation in Pew survey
In the past decade, young people in the United States have borne the brunt of some of the most highly ...
‘Google of sorts’: DNA database harnesses power of genome sequences
In 2015, scientists discovered a pig in China that would set off a frantic, worldwide search. The pig carried bacteria ...
Why Silicon Valley’s food-depriving ‘productivity hacks’ could be dangerous
Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, doesn’t eat for 22 hours of the day, and sometimes not at all. Over the weekend ...
How long can bacteria live? 500-year experiment could provide answers
In the year 2514, some future scientist will arrive at the University of Edinburgh (assuming the university still exists), open ...
‘Men are struggling’: Psychologists get new guidelines for ‘traditional masculinity’
[T]he American Psychological Association, the country’s largest professional organization of psychologists, did something for men that it’s done for many ...
‘Affective presence’: It’s what helps others decide if you are likable
Some people can walk into a room and instantly put everyone at ease. Others seem to make teeth clench and ...
How AIDS transformed genetic engineering
For two decades, [Matt] Sharp had been living with HIV. He’d watched the height of the aids crisis claim dozens of his ...
‘Cute aggression’: Why our brains love puppies and kittens
I harass my dog [constantly]. She’s a little loaf of a thing, with big eyes and satellite-dish ears and a ...
Controversial treatment: Can we treat drug addiction with heroin?
As overdose deaths have broken records year after year in the U.S., a group of researchers has looked around the ...
Only half of psychology studies can be replicated. That’s a big problem
Over the past few years, an international team of almost 200 psychologists has been trying to repeat a set of ...
‘Anti-evolution drug’ could stop superbugs from mutating
Over the past 90 years, scientists have discovered hundreds of antibiotics—microbe-killing drugs that have brought many pernicious diseases to heel ...
DNA test for your dog? Here’s what your vet thinks about it
[T]he direct-to-dog-owner market has become bigger and more crowded: Embark, DNA My Dog, and Paw Print Genetics are just a few ...
Why our shrinking attention spans might be a good thing
Our supposedly shrinking attention spans are a hot topic these days—as you may have seen on TV or heard on a ...
‘Blinding speed’: How an ice age led to the populating of the Americas
Tens of thousands of years ago, two gigantic ice sheets smothered the northernmost parts of what has since been named ...
No, humans haven’t wiped out 60 percent of animals since 1970. But things still look ugly
Since [October 29], news networks and social media have been abuzz with the claim that, as The Guardian among others ...
Chasing the virus behind surging polio-like illness
[Fall 2014] Kevin Messacar, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Colorado, started seeing a wave of children with inexplicable paralysis. All of ...