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OpenMind

Cultural Synesthesia

An intermingling of the senses creates not just a different way of perceiving the world, but a window into your past, like psychological amber.

By Meera Khare (the synesthete) and Apoorva Bhandari (the neuroscientist)

Deceptions

Weaponized Empathy

The impulse to look out for other people can be hijacked to spread confusion and misinformation.

By JoBeth McDaniel

Controversies

The Extra Deaths

#DiedSuddenly has been a trending hashtag, and the United States lists 400,000 Covid-era fatalities not formally attributed to the virus itself. Do the numbers add up, and are they dividing us?

By Jill Neimark

Culture

Science for Peace

In tumultuous times, science diplomacy can help keep the world stable — if we let it.

By Fintan Burke

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Reads

What We're Reading

Recommended articles from our editorial team on misinformation, cognitive science, and more.

By Jillian Mock

Explainer

Are You a Climate Culprit?

The carbon footprint and calculator were popularized by Big Oil to shift blame for climate change from industry to the individual. But you can turn the tables and use these tools for good.

By Victoria Clayton

BS Alert

Gaslighting Long Haulers

Despite all the patient voices and validating studies from university labs, long Covid has been dismissed by some doctors and journalists as a contested, even psychiatric, disease. In this column, we push back.

By Ryan Prior

Controversies

The Serotonin Signal

The media exploded when a paper declared that low serotonin doesn’t cause depression— something many scientists had been saying for years. Confusion over the neurotransmitter caused some patients to question effective treatment, exposing an information gap it’s been hard to bridge. We can do better, and here’s how.

By Ben Rein

Solutions

Saving the Tiny Empires

Extinction threatens 40 percent of insect species—not just honeybees—putting global ecosystems and food supplies at risk. We can intervene.

By Oliver Milman

Conspiracies

The Murky History of Lab Leaks

They are almost never fully covered by media and usually shrouded by a fog of disinformation and denial. Could this explain the culture of conspiracy surrounding COVID-19?

By Wendy Orent

Culture

The Emotion Bomb Inside Video Games

Players often develop intense relationships with virtual characters. If those relationships go awry, the results can lead to real-world trauma.

By Jazmin Murphy

Deceptions

Algorithms, Lies, and Social Media

Achieving a more transparent and less manipulative online media may well be the defining political battle of the 21st century.

By Stephan Lewandowsky and Anastasia Kozyreva

Culture

Buying the Final Frontier

Outer space was supposed to belong to all humankind. Should we surrender it to anyone who can pay up?

By Philip Ball