Table of Contents
Introduction Jerome Groopman vii
The Kindest Cut Larissa MacFarquhar 1
The Placebo Problem Steve Silberman 31
Surgery for Mental Ills Offers Both Hope and Risk Benedict Carey 45
The Truth About Grit Jonah Lehrer 52
How to Think, Say, or Do Precisely the Worst Thing for Any Occasion Daniel M. Wegner 59
Friendship as a Health Factor Jennifer Couzin-Frankel 71
A life of Its Own Michael Specter 80
The Orchid Children David Dobbs 102
My Genome, My Self Steven Pinker 124
Test Subjects Who Call the Scientist Mom or Dad Pam Belluck 147
The Famine Fighter's Last Battle Erik Stokstad 153
Pesticides Indicted in Bee Deaths Julia Scott 161
Disaster Aversion Rivka Galchen 167
The Sixth Extinction? Elizabeth Kolbert 190
Are We Still Evolving? Kathleen McAuliffe 218
A Most Private Evolution Susan Milius 232
Unpopular Science Chris Mooney Sheril Kirshenbaum 243
An Epidemic of Fear Amy Wallace 252
The Missions of Astronomy Steven Weinberg 272
Decoding an Ancient Computer Tony Freeth 282
The Deadly Choices at Memorial Sheri Fink 293
So Much to Learn About the Oceans from Sand Cornelia Dean 330
About the Contributors 335
