A decade of confinement can do untold psychic trauma, yet the Cleveland victims may well move past it
Psychology
The Evil Brain: What Lurks Inside a Killer’s Mind
As tragedies like Boston and Newtown mount, scientists and criminologists are trying harder than ever to understand the minds behind the crimes
Brothers in Arms: Sibling Psychology and the Bombing Suspects
Siblings can be powerful forces for good in one another’s lives — and powerful forces for evil too
Bombs, Instincts and Morals: Why Heroes Risk It All for Strangers
As some flee a dangerous situation, others, against millions of years of instinct, rush in
The Mind of Petraeus: Why Cheaters Think They Won’t Get Caught
The doublethink behind understanding consequences and acting despite them
Why Thinking About Your Death May Prompt You to Save the Planet
Thinking about your own death isn’t usually the most pleasant experience, but it can be a beneficial one. Reminders of our own mortality can increase our desire to make decisions that will leave long-term, positive impacts on …
What Eric the Red and Modern Greens Have in Common
Environmentalists can be a gloomy bunch, but they’re also realistic. In the past several years, most have given up on the idea of stopping climate change altogether; there’s just too much greenhouse gas already in the system for that. Instead, the refrain has essentially been: adapt or die. Even as we try to curb future greenhouse-gas …
Getting Out of Danger’s Way: Why We’re Not Prepared for Twisters
The Midwest has every reason in the world to be sick of tornadoes by now. In April alone, there were a shocking 600 of them, and in the past two months more than 400 Americans have been killed by the storms. At least 116 more were added on May 22 in the massive twister that cut a 6-mile (9.6 km) swath across Joplin, Mo., generating winds …
The Psychology of Environmentalism: How the Mind Can Save the Planet
There aren’t a whole lot of scientific disciplines that haven’t had something to say about climate change over the years — and with good reason. When a problem is global in scale there’s a universe of specialists and subspecialists who have to pitch in to to fix it — meteorologists, chemists, geologists, physicists, zoologists, …
Humbled Japan Vows Improvements on Nukes
People signal contrition in a lot of ways, and few countries are better at it than the Japanese — a culture rich in the art of social protocols and interpersonal gesturing. It was not for nothing, then, that when Prime Minister Naoto Kan spoke before parliament this week about the country’s ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi …
