Steve Paulson

Oct 17, 2024 | wpr.org | Steve Paulson

If you think about elves, what comes to mind? Those cute guys wearing Santa hats around Christmastime? Or maybe Legolas unleashing a barrage of arrows at the Orcs in "The Lord of the Rings." You'll get a very different sense of elves in Nancy Marie Brown's book " Looking for the Hidden Folk." It's her account of why most Icelanders - 54 percent in one survey - believe in the existence of elves.

Sep 26, 2024 | wpr.org | Steve Paulson

Not only can people survive much longer after catastrophic injuries, it's now possible to revive patients hours after they've been pronounced clinically dead. Sam Parnia, an intensive care physician at the New York University School of Medicine, believes we're on the cusp of major scientific advances that will transform end-of-life medical care.

May 3, 2024 | wpr.org | Steve Paulson

Adam Phillips has made a career out of dissecting the most intimate details of our lives. The British psychoanalyst has written books on monogamy and kindness, even flirtationand kissing. His latest is titled “On Giving Up.” It’s not what you might expect — a manual for how to push through difficulties and overcome obstacles. Instead, it’s an extended essay on the virtues of letting go of the routines and fixed ideas that shape how we live.

Dec 27, 2023 | wpr.org | Steve Paulson

Could you get the therapeutic benefits of a psychedelic drug without the mind-bending trip that shakes your world inside out? Would you even want a psychedelic without the hallucinations? Clinical trials show that psychedelics have tremendous potential for treating depression and other mental illnesses, but there’s still a mystery at the heart of this therapy: Is it the dramatic experience that fundamentally changes a person’s outlook on life? Or the powerful molecules that rewire the brain?

Nov 21, 2023 | wpr.org | Steve Paulson

A few years ago, the Dutch writer Marjolijn van Heemstra became so anxious and panicky about the world’s problems that she couldn’t sleep. She realized that she needed a fresh perspective, and then she learned about the "overview effect" – a cognitive shift that many astronauts have experienced when they looked back at Earth.