Wray Herbert is a science and psychology writer known for exploring the intersection of behavioral science and everyday life. He is the author of *On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits* and served as a longtime science editor and correspondent for major publications. He contributed book reviews and essays on psychology, science, and human behavior to The Weekly Standard between 2014 and 2018.
Before sunrise on Saturday, December 14, 1799, George Washington woke up so sick he could barely breathe. His wife Martha summoned George Rawlins, a Mount Vernon overseer, who knew just what to do. He opened a vein in the former president’s arm and drained about 12 ounces of blood. Three physicians…
In June 2001, physicist and self-styled "eclipse chaser" Frank Close found himself at an isolated roadside stop deep in the Zambian bush, chatting with a small local boy. Close was trying to explain his purpose in being at this remote outpost, why he had traveled all the way from England—some 5,000…
In June 2001, physicist and self-styled "eclipse chaser" Frank Close found himself at an isolated roadside stop deep in the Zambian bush, chatting with a small local boy. Close was trying to explain his purpose in being at this remote outpost, why he had traveled all the way from England—some 5,000…
Tucked away somewhere in my dusty science writer’s memorabilia is a postcard I received in the early 1980s. On the front side is a picture of "Lucy"—hundreds of fossilized bones arrayed as the skeleton of a small primitive human ancestor. Lucy's remains were unearthed in Ethiopia's Afar region in…
In 1976, the science historian Loren Graham visited a fox farm in the countryside outside Novosibirsk, in Siberia. He was there to observe the experiments of Russian biologist Dmitri Belyaev, who, since the 1940s, had been selectively breeding Siberian foxes for domestication. Belyaev had reported…
By the late 19th century, the majority of working scientists, including geologists, had come to accept that the Earth was a very, very old place, as evidenced by an extensive fossil record. This acceptance had not come easily, but the unearthing of strange Triassic mammals and marine creatures and…
This is a meticulous account of the 90-year debate over the teaching of evolution in Florida’s public schools, and it is full of high drama and raw emotion. It is populated by dozens upon dozens of passionate culture warriors on both sides of the divisive issue. But unless you are a dedicated…
Hyrum Neizer was a successful Salt Lake City truck driver and a happily married man until the headaches began. Then, suddenly, for no apparent reason, he was disabled by pain—pain so punishing that he often ended up in the emergency room. He sought help from physician after physician, but the…
I could, if I chose to, make this sentence go on and on and on—forever, really. Don’t worry: I’m not going to do that, but it’s noteworthy that I could. In fact, I have the ability to write a sentence that’s longer than the longest sentence previously written, just by adding another relative…