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Faces, Faces Everywhere
One of the mostly forgotten chestnuts of the newspaper racket was the photograph, always on the first snowy day of the year, of some frozen formation that resembled a human face. After seeing those pictures year after year, it was hard to shake the suspicion that news photographers were sculpting on the fly, and under deadline. But in this Covid-19 spring, with people confined in their homes and neighborhoods, the inanimate faces are back in irrepressible number. These visages peer outward with smiles or frowns, from standpipes and parking lots, rock piles and garbage — found art as a witness to history and, in this circumstance, a reflection of shared human instinct.
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Should You Immerse Yourself in Bad News These Days or Ignore It Completely?
APS Member/Author: Hal Hershfield How can we possibly grapple with the onslaught of information about virus spread, stock market nosedives, canceled plans and uncertainty about the future? Some people wallow in the fear, anxiety and sadness, checking news sites and social media constantly. Others try to suppress it all and ignore the outside world (I’m guessing that Instagram has never seen so much traffic). There’s a third option, though. Rather than fully immersing in the negative or ignoring it, we can do our best to experience joy alongside everything else that is sad in the world.
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Here’s Why Some People Are Not Wearing Masks During the Coronavirus Crisis
There is widespread agreement that one of easiest ways to control the spread of the coronavirus is to wear a face mask, but there are all kinds of reasons why people don't take this basic step, experts said Tuesday. "That's a simple question with a complex answer," said Jacqueline Gollan, a psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "One, they underestimate the threat. It’s not concrete, it’s abstract.
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Loss, Grief, Stress: How The Pandemic Is Affecting Kids
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro and education correspondent Cory Turner talk with child psychologist Abigail Gewirtz about the impact of the pandemic on kid's mental health and development. ... GARCIA-NAVARRO: Abigail, let's start with the research. What can you tell us about the studies that are looking at kids and mental health in this crisis? GEWIRTZ: Well, there are studies that are ongoing. Our world is really turned upside down. We are just beginning to think about how to understand what's happening to children's mental health and to children's well-being in general.
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Social Isolation’s High Physical and Psychological Toll
When Newton, Mass., closed its schools in mid-March to help stop the spread of coronavirus, Nataly Kogan was thrilled. No more rushing to get breakfast. Her 15-year-old daughter, Mia, could sleep in. The two did puzzles and made videos to post on TikTok. Ms. Kogan thought she would paint. “It was bliss,” she recalls. “Full-on denial. Those were two of the best weeks of my life.” The third week, reality hit. School closures would extend indefinitely. Mia’s summer program at Johns Hopkins University was canceled. So was time with friends. Ms. Kogan teaches emotional health, she says. It is the subject of her speeches, her books and her company, Happier Inc.
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How Humans Evolved to Care for Others
APS Member/Author: Alison Gopnik The last few weeks have seen extraordinary displays of altruism. Ordinary people have transformed their lives—partly to protect themselves and the people they love from the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to help other people they don’t even know. But where does altruism come from? How could evolution by natural selection produce creatures who sacrifice themselves for others? In her 2019 book “Conscience,” the philosopher Patricia Churchland argues that altruism has its roots in our mammalian ancestry. The primordial example of an altruistic emotion is the love that mothers feel toward their babies.
