Olga Khazan
Being Black in America Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
In Baltimore and other segregated cities, the life-expectancy gap between African Americans and whites is as much as 20 years. One young woman’s struggle shows why.
-
![]()
John Minchillo / AP Beto’s Marijuana Moment
The Democratic presidential candidate promoted a substitute for opioids that might be more dream than reality.
-
![]()
Flashpop / Getty The Self-Confidence Tipping Point
There seems to be a key difference between self-esteem and narcissism.
-
![]()
Nick Ut / AP How Syphilis Sneaked Up on Americans
The U.S. stopped taking STDs seriously, and now we’re suffering the consequences.
-
![]()
Jeneil S / Getty What to Expect When You’re Expecting Gender-Reveal Backlash
The psychology behind a controversial trend
-
![]()
Noel Celis / Getty Lift Weight, Not Too Much, Most of the Days
Have you ever tried to grease the groove?
-
![]()
Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters No One Keeps Secrets Better Than Your Therapist
A side benefit of therapy is that it’s the perfect place for gossip.
-
![]()
Michael Caronna / Reuters I Was Never Taught Where Humans Came From
Many American students, myself included, never learn the human part of evolution.
-
![]()
Win McNamee / Getty The Health-Care Debate Gets Nasty
In the latest Democratic presidential debate, the candidates stopped being polite and started getting real.
-
![]()
Eric Thayer / Reuters The Trouble With America’s Water
Lead-tainted drinking water is not only a problem in Flint and Newark.
-
![]()
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters What Your Politics Do to Your Morals
A twist in the science of how people form their political identities
-
![]()
Beck Diefenbach/Reuters For members: Trump’s big housing reform, Jay-Z’s NFL deal, Impossible Burger in grocery stores
Atlantic writers look ahead at their beats.
-
![]()
Simon Montag What Happens When You Don’t Pay a Hospital Bill
As Americans sink under medical expenses, debt collectors go to great—and sometimes strange—lengths to collect.
-
![]()
Bob Wands / AP The Quick Therapy That Actually Works
Just a few hours of therapy-like interventions can reduce some people’s anxiety.
-
![]()
Jan Havicksz Steen / Fine Art Images / ... Why Some Doctors Purposely Misdiagnose Patients
Hundreds of people say a Michigan doctor falsely diagnosed them with epilepsy. He wouldn’t be the first to lie to patients about how sick they are.
-
![]()
Toby Melville / Reuters The Life of a Person Who Wakes Up Really, Really Early
“Extreme larks” get up naturally when some people have hardly gone to bed.
-
![]()
Celia Talbot Tobin / The New York Times ... Why Many Mass Shooters Are ‘Loners’
Social rejection can fuel violence, but only if the perpetrator has access to a deadly weapon.
-
![]()
Jim Watson / AFP /Getty Why Won’t Democrats Blame Hospitals?
Democratic presidential candidates paint insurers as the health-care bogeymen, letting providers off the hook.
-
![]()
Brendan Smialowski / Getty John Delaney Had One Good Point on Medicare for All
Moving the whole country to public insurance could result in two tiers of health care. In fact, it did in Brazil.
-
![]()
Rick Wilking / Reuters The Real Difference Between Smoking and Eating Marijuana
There might be a simple explanation for why edibles make some people so paranoid.
-
![]()
Eloy Alonso / Reuters What It Means to Be a Bad Mom
Inside the mind of a psychologist who helps determine whether parents are “good enough” to keep their children
