Five Keys to Understanding ISIS
Despite the media floodlight and intense scrutiny by governments around the world, the organization is still poorly understood.
Jan/Feb 2015
The Grapes of Contentment: Eat More Fruits
Want to feel more confident and engaged in life? Take your mother’s advice: Eat more fruits and vegetables.
Why We Assume Malevolence in the Intentions of Others
And it's called hostile attribution bias.
Of Bugs and Men: Cricket Ranching in America
If Westerners can overcome their disgust of crickets—or any bug—as food, the environmental benefits could be significant.
Gender Equality Wins the Gold
A new study finds equal rights for women may also boost the competitive prospects of men.
Our Obsession in American Education With Ranking People
For 150 years, the American education system has been: A) teaching kids what they don't know or B) dividing kids and teachers into meaningless categories. Answer: B.
If You Happen to Find Buried Treasure, Here's the Guy to Call
Donald Kagin holds the only doctorate degree in the study of the so-called hobby of kings.
My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward
We met at 18. We wed at 24. At 27, I checked my wife into a psych ward—for the first time. How mental illness re-shapes a marriage.
A New Stigma for Smokers
People who light up on a daily basis "make poor decisions and experience worse outcomes with personal finances," according to a new study.
Research Gone Wild: Do Men Forgo Sex for Food?
Do men forgo food for sex? So says one newspaper.
In the Picture: The Shifting Gray Line
In every issue, we fix our gaze on an everyday photograph and chase down facts about details in the frame.
The Explanation for America's Vast Prison Population
If the problem isn’t straightforward racism or benighted drug laws, what is it?
All of Us Worried, None of Us Angry About Inequality
Three new books explain why inequality isn't sending us to the barricades.
Bees, Inc.: Save the Honeybee, Sterilize the Earth
A decade ago, people started panicking about the collapse of the honeybee population and the crash of our food supply. But today there are more honeybees than there were then. We have engineered our way to a frenzied and precarious new normal.
Emotional Investment: My Father's Schemes
Trying to understand my father's get-rich-quick schemes.
This Is What a Men's Rights Activist Looks Like
The latest entry in a series of interviews about subculture in America.
Brother, Can You Spare a Shiv?
How to run for your life and make new friends at the same time.
Google's Philosopher: Tech and the Nature of Identity
How an Oxford don is helping the tech giant understand the nature of modern identity—and stay out of court.
The Names and Numbers Behind the Research
This list includes studies cited in our pages that received funding from a source other than the researchers’ home institutions. Only principal or corresponding authors are listed.
The End of Gangs: Cleaning Up Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles gave America the modern street gang. Groups like the Crips and MS-13 have spread from coast to coast, and even abroad. But on Southern California's streets they have been vanishing. Has L.A. figured out how to stop the epidemic it set loose on the world?
Introducing the New Issue of 'Pacific Standard'
The end of gangs, the women who fight for men's rights, five ways to better understand ISIS, and more in our January/February 2015 print issue.