Social Trends

cage fighter

Jonathan Gottschall is an English professor who trained for MMA – mixed martial arts – out of curiosity and wound up in the ring. Steve Paulson talked with him about why, and what it taught him about our relationship with violence.

Coney Island

Writer Leslie Parry describes what Coney Island would have sounded like during its heyday 100 years ago.

shame statue

Social media has brought us all closer together. Sometimes that's a good thing. But when it comes to online shaming, it's a bad thing. 

Vaccine tubes

In her book "On Immunity: An Inoculation," social critic Eula Biss explores the metaphors and myths hidden behind vaccine hesitancy.

child getting vaccinated

Producer Charles Monroe-Kane's son goes to a school with a 13.8% non-vaccination rate. So why aren't his neighbors vaccinating their kids? Charles went out searching for the answer.

Claudia Rankine

In her book "Citizen: An American Lyric," poet Claudia Rankine challenges readers to explore their underlying assumptions about race. She tells Charles Monroe-Kane what compelled her to write the book, and about visiting Ferguson, Missouri.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Walk long enough and far enough, and you will never be the same.  This week, stories of people who transformed their lives by picking up their feet, blazing trails, enduring blisters and frostbite and bad trail food. 

cemetary

We live much longer than we used to, thanks to medical advances, but what are the emotional and financial costs of extending life? 

Pages

Subscribe to Social Trends