In The News: Department of Psychology
The first time a child refuses to go to school, it can feel confusing 鈥 maybe even a little annoying. But when this pattern goes on for days, weeks or months, it can disrupt entire family systems and impact the mental health of the whole family unit. Advice such as 鈥渏ust be firmer,鈥 or 鈥渕aybe they just need more time,鈥 is often well-intentioned, but it rarely addresses the heart of the issue.
When neuroscientists began studying consciousness in the early 1990s, they sought to explain how and why three pounds of spongy grey matter could generate a subjective point of view鈥攁ssuming that the brain is the source of our felt reality. Pollan takes us to the cutting edge of the field, where scientists are entertaining more radical (and less materialist) theories of consciousness. He introduces us to 鈥減lant neurobiologists鈥 searching for the first flicker of consciousness in plants; scientists striving to engineer feelings into AI, and psychologists and novelists seeking to capture the felt experience of our slippery stream of consciousness.
Discover how this feedback can manifest as traits in adulthood.
"Consciousness is under siege," says author Michael Pollan. His new book, A World Appears, explores consciousness on both a personal and technological level.
A new survey shows why girls play sports, and here's a hint鈥攊t's not all about winning.
Scientists and philosophers studying the mind have discovered how little we know about our inner experiences
The clock ticks past 2am. Your body is screaming for rest, but your brain just won鈥檛 quit. Instead, it replays every embarrassing thing you鈥檝e said in the past ten years or plans for unlikely worst case scenarios. Plus, the lack of sleep will only make the anxiety worse tomorrow. You definitely need something to break the cycle, but the search for the best sleep aid for adults with anxiety has only added more anxiety and overwhelm to your plate so far.
What if pretending that you鈥檙e younger could really make you appear younger?
For more than a century, psychologists thought that the infant experience was, as the psychologist and philosopher William James famously put it, a 鈥渂looming, buzzing confusion.鈥 But new research suggests babies are born with a surprisingly sophisticated neurological toolkit that can organize the visual world into categories and pick out the beat in a song.
The popularity of cannabis continues to rise in 2026, with statistics showing that around 15% of Americans are current users, and more than 22% have used it sometime in the past year. As more people cut out alcohol amid the Dry January trend, dispensaries have reported a surge in marijuana sales, leading to what some industry insiders and media outlets have dubbed "High January."
The popularity of cannabis continues to rise in 2026, with statistics showing that around 15% of Americans are current users, and more than 22% have used it sometime in the past year. As more people cut out alcohol amid the Dry January trend, dispensaries have reported a surge in marijuana sales, leading to what some industry insiders and media outlets have dubbed "High January."
A gripping look at how legal sports betting transformed fandom, blurred the lines between sport and profit, and reshaped a generation raised on the thrill to bet.
