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A SUPERORGANISM IS A single life-form made up of other living organisms. It would be easy to gloss over that short sentence of a dozen words, but it’s a big idea—as big as they come. Why? Just think about yourself for a moment. You are made up of cells, that is, living creatures. But you […]

THIS BOOK has been three years in the writing, although the authors have collaborated on research in this exciting new field, which brings quantum physics, biochemistry and biology together, for almost two decades. But when it comes to such a cross-disciplinary area of science as quantum biology, it is impossible ever to become expert enough […]

The Promise of the Art I remember how it was before penicillin. I was a medical student at the end of World War II, before the drug became widely available for civilian use, and I watched the wards at New York’s Bellevue Hospital fill to overflowing each winter. A veritable Byzantine city unto itself, Bellevue […]

hen I was in college, my friends and I had an anecdote that we retold frequently; it went like this (and our retelling was so ritualistic that I suspect this is close to verbatim, forty-five years later): So, it seems that William James was giving a lecture about the nature of life and the universe. […]

In November 2017, I watched my friend Sam P. die because his cells had rebelled against his body. Sam had been diagnosed with a malignant melanoma in the spring of 2016. The cancer had first appeared as a coin-shaped mole, purple-black with a halolike aureole, near his cheek. His mother, Clara, a painter, had first […]

It’s Safe, Easy and Fun Follow this guide and you can enjoy picking and eating delicious mushrooms uninhibited by fear and doubt. In order to enjoy a homemade gourmet mushroom dinner you do not really need to know what basidia or hyphae are. Nor do you need to know how to identify dozens of tasteless […]

TEN YEARS AGO I WAS WALKING along a beach in Brittany, relaxing after a tiring journey. A young couple emerged from what appeared to be an upmarket hotel and crossed in front of me. From their choice of swimwear, their hairstyles and their body language, they gave the impression of being Continental Europeans. The few […]

Chrysanthemums are for condolences, rue is for regret, and rosemary is for remembrance. The Victorian language of flowers—also called floriography—emerged as a clandestine method of communication at a time when proper etiquette discouraged open and flagrant displays of emotion. First emerging in 1819 with Charlotte de la Tour’s Le langage des fleurs, this coded “language” […]

In the summer before my son started kindergarten, my mother, suspicious of the Montessori approach I had taken to his preschool education, offered to help him get ready for what she calls “real” school (the kind with desks). I was fairly confident that his transition to kindergarten would go fine, but I nevertheless seized my […]

Back in May of 2015 I spent a week in Canada reporting from the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting. While strolling the halls of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at what I recall being one of those inhumanely early hours during which only doctors and shift workers exist, I came across a mob scene that […]

IT TURNS OUT THAT SENDING YOUR CORPSE TO A COMPOSTING facility may not be for everyone. After death, we still routinely bury or burn our dearly departed. But from a biological standpoint, we’re a fairly complete plant food once we fully decompose into rich soil: cadavers offer all of the minerals and nutrients generally deemed […]

Contents Get More (Free) Content Part I: Using This Book to Improve Your AP Score Preview: Your Knowledge, Your Expectations Your Guide to Using This Book How to Begin Part II: Practice Test 1 Practice Test 1 Practice Test 1: Diagnostic Answer Key and Explanations How to Score Practice Test 1 Part III: About the […]