In The News: Department of Psychology
Earlier this month, Wisconsin lawmakers passed a bill that would expand sports betting in the state by allowing people to make wagers online. Governor Tony Evers will soon have to decide whether to sign the bill into law. Evers has said his decision will hinge on whether the state's 11 tribes with gaming compacts can agree on how to offer online sports betting throughout Wisconsin. In the meantime, a multitude of questions still exist around what online sports betting could mean for Wisconsin.
Pollan, a science writer, spent five years trying to understand how consciousness worked. The more he learned, the weirder things got.
The image is carefully curated: sourdough cooling on a scrubbed wooden counter, a woman in a floral apron, a husband greeted at the door. The #tradwife movement has attracted millions of followers across TikTok and YouTube since it began gathering momentum during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, and it presents itself as a domestic idyll, a nostalgic retreat from the grinding complexity of modern life. You might reasonably reckon the men drawn to it are the chivalrous sort. The ones who believe women deserve protecting, cherishing, putting on a pedestal. Turns out, no.
The pay gap—or the difference in earnings between men and women—persists throughout the U.S., with full-time working women earning just 81 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2024. A recent business.com analysis of U.S. Census data shows Nevada’s full-time workforce faring better than all but Vermont, but Henderson remains a major outlier. The city had the 15th largest gap in the study, with an average female resident earning $19,645 less than her male counterpart. That’s about 2.5 times greater than Las Vegas’ $8,172 and Nevada’s $7,805, and consistent with a 2024 ÐÔÊӽ紫ý Lincy Institute and Brookings Mountain West study ranking it 21st. Let’s take a closer look at these trends in honor of Equal Pay Day on March 26.
Why is it like something to be ourselves and how do physical processes create our subjective experience? These questions get to the heart of the knotty problem of consciousness, and they provided the spark for the latest book from award-winning author and journalist Michael Pollan.
Sports betting is now just a tap away — and experts say it’s easier than ever for it to spiral out of control. If you’re concerned about yourself or someone you love, here are some practical steps to regain control and get help.
The nearly $13 billion in wagers placed from North Carolina in 2024 and 2025 not only has generated more than $262 million in new tax revenue for state coffers. It has also exacerbated a swelling public health threat characterized by more people in need of help for gambling problems in a counseling and treatment infrastructure that’s ill-equipped to handle the flood. Calls to the problem gambling hotline are up more than 300 percent since 2021, according to state data.
More than $3 billion will be wagered on March Madness this year. Around $30 billion was bet on the last NFL season. All evidence of an explosion in sports gambling across this country.
Your inner monologue may be less constant than you think—more like a fridge light that turns on when you look.
While popular culture may lead you to believe that love and sex addictions are not only accepted conditions but also quite prevalent — think Frank in season 3 of White Lotus; Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest memoir All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation; and pretty much any cultural analysis of the actions of Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw around Mr. Big — the scientific understanding of problematic behaviors related to love and sex is far more nuanced.
The American Gaming Association estimates Americans will legally wager $3.3 billion on the NCAA Division I basketball tournaments this year -- a 54% increase over the past three years, according to a news release Friday from the association.
Could nicotine — the highly addictive chemical compound in tobacco plants — find a new identity as a health shortcut? Wellness influencers and biohackers are touting the benefits of nicotine in a multitude of forms, including patches, pouches, gum, and drinks.