A nostalgia-fueled real-world renaissance is underway, led by young adults striving to counter the cultural pessimism and division that pervades much of online life.

Your inner monologue doesn't have to devolve into toxic "chatter."

The brain’s default mode network gives rise to costly ruminations, but it can also be a source of creative breakthroughs.

Mindfulness is trending, with widespread celebrity endorsements and varying claims about its benefits, but Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of The Center for Mindfulness, aims to clarify its true meaning amidst the hype.

When we see loneliness as a kind of failure, it becomes damaging. When we see it as information, it becomes actionable. A psychologist, a social health scientist, and a psychiatrist explain.

Optimistic people don’t just “feel happier,” they literally process information differently, at a perceptual level. Three experts explain.

As mental health diagnoses become more common and expansive, the labels meant to help us understand our suffering may instead oversimplify it.

A day in the Sierra Nevada with Tommy Caldwell reveals how pain, trauma, and “elective hardship” became the foundation of his fortitude.

When can a kid play outside alone? Two parents, one stranger, and the state collide.

By better understanding how the brain constructs pain, we may transform how we treat chronic suffering.

Americans believe they can outthink suffering. Historian Kate Bowler explains how our obsession with self-help, optimization, and positivity became a kind of secular religion.

Abigail Marsh unpacks what defines psychopathy, how it differs from antisocial behavior, and why terms like “sociopath” only add confusion.

Toxic positivity isn’t optimism. It’s denial. Historian Kate Bowler explains why our obsession with “good vibes only” is making it harder to cope.

Books don’t just stimulate the mind — they trigger physiological changes throughout the body.

The benefits of mathematical literacy reach far beyond the realm of numbers and equations.

In this excerpt from Flourish, Daniel Coyle shares how stillness, presence, and attention help people build meaningful connections.

Why social media is the perfect recipe for kids to become addicted to their smartphones.

Tara Narula shares how journalist Richard Cohen challenged conventional ideas about illness, identity, and strength while living with MS.

Health policy expert Ezekiel Emanuel says you don’t have to be obsessed to live a healthy life. Wellness can, and should, be something you enjoy.

Emily Mendenhall traces the medical myths, gender bias, and neurological truths behind hysteria, one of history’s most damaging diagnoses.

Psychologist Chris Moore reveals why guilt and anxiety lead us to the compassion necessary to earn forgiveness.

"Being connected to another person makes us feel safer and keeps our bodies at a kind of physiologic equilibrium that promotes health."

Joe Nucci, author of "Psychobabble," joins us to discuss how the misuse of psychological language risks blurring the lines between everyday problems and clinical diagnoses.

Be weird and esoteric because humans are weird and esoteric.

“Psychedelics crosscut so many interesting domains. They've been used for time immemorial by indigenous cultures. In our own Western cultural history, they really exploded on the scene in the 1960s, and were associated with radical changes to society.”

"Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end."

If you’ve gotten goosebumps when hearing a story about a stranger’s selfless heroism, or you’ve felt your chest swell at a concert, when the audience’s voice and the musician’s instruments align, you have felt awe. And, according to professor Dacher Keltner, who has spent his life studying it, it’s one of humankind’s most unifying traits:

Introverts have social batteries that will drain over time, but they can be recharged with good energy hygiene. Here’s how.

In this excerpt from "Playful," Cas Holman surveys the research that brought the neuroscience of play into the mainstream.

“It's certainly clear that the issues of boys and men haven't gone away in the last few years. If anything, they're getting even more attention, which is good when it's the right kind of attention.”