June 7, 2023

Beethoven’s Music

Genius, Curiosity, Liver Disease, and Lead

Larry S. Sherman and Dennis Plies

In our book, Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music, we discuss the contributions of curiosity to creating music. Curiosity is a trait that can be described as “a state of information seeking that can...

June 1, 2023

Q&A: Patrick J. Charles on Vote Gun

Today, gun control is one of the most polarizing topics in American politics. However, before the 1960s, positions on firearms rights did not necessarily map onto partisan affiliation. What explains this drastic shift? In Vote Gun: How Gun Rights Became...

May 31, 2023

Oonagh McDonald on Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin burst on the scene in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis when trust in the Federal Reserve and financial institutions was at an all-time low. It appeared to offer a new kind of payment without any intermediaries—a...

May 25, 2023

Q&A: Simon LeVay on Attraction, Love, Sex

Why do we have sex? Why do we fall in love? What attracts us to one another? And how do we compare to other species in the animal kingdom? Researchers have been trying to answer these questions for years, and...

May 17, 2023

Q&A: David Hellerstein on the “Wild Ride” and The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner

The Couch, the Clinic, and the Scanner, Dr. David Hellerstein’s new book, consists of fourteen personal chapters that capture the momentous changes in psychiatry over the past half century. Rather than a conventional dispassionate narrative, the tales told here explore...

May 12, 2023

Q&A: Don Grant on Nursing the Spirit

Illness and death have always raised profound spiritual concerns. However, today most people experience suffering and treatment in hospitals and other impersonal, bureaucratic facilities whose employees are expected to follow scientific, rationalized norms of behavior. How do professional caregivers—the nurses...

May 9, 2023

What Can a Study of American Polygamy Tell Us About Being Human?

William Jankowiak

America’s fascination with the cable show Sister Wives (about an American polygynous family), along with their increased interest in exploring the viability of forming a polyamour (or plural love) arrangement, arises out of a relentless interest in whether they can achieve a...

May 1, 2023

Q&A: Matthew Smith on The First Resort

In the mid-twentieth century, social psychiatry was an approach to mental health that stressed the prevention of mental illness rather than its treatment. In the 1960s, it led to the closure of asylums and the emergence of community mental health...

April 26, 2023

The History and Politics of “More Guns”

Patrick J. Charles

To those who emphatically support gun rights, having “more guns” is generally seen as the solution to society’s woes. The way these people see it, the more guns there are, the less likely it is that crimes will be committed...

April 25, 2023

Max Gillman on The Spectre of Price Inflation

“Why are prices so high? Is this a temporary spike due to Covid or the war in Ukraine?” In my new book, The Spectre of Price Inflation, I argue that our current predicament of price inflaction is unlikely to be...

April 18, 2023

Three Reforms That Congressional Committees Should Institute

Maya L. Kornberg

Committees are essential institutions in Congress. My book, Inside Congressional Committees: Function and Dysfunction in the Legislative Process, unpacks the contemporary legislative process to show what is working, what isn’t, and what can be changed. Based on my research, here...

April 14, 2023

25 Must-Read Books for Earth Month 2023

During Earth Month, people worldwide unite to awaken our environmental consciousness and raise awareness of our planet’s health. The books on this list speak to the challenges we face today, including climate change, natural disasters, climate resilience, living and conducting...