AP Psychology Collection

Should doctors be allowed to help suffering patients die? In 1990, with his homemade suicide machine, Dr. Jack Kevorkian raised that question. It’s an issue Americans still struggle with today. 

How a pill that led to drug safety guidelines became a case study for rising drug prices. 

The early science of hallucinogens in the 1950s and ’60s was “kind of a Wild West free-for-all.” For more info on the science of spiders and drugs, visit www.drpeterwitt.com. 

Like cigarette manufacturers decades ago, e-cigarette makers have pitched their products as fun and safe. But nobody knows what the risks are. 

One of biology’s most spectacular achievements – the race to sequence the human genome – was billed as a way to end disease. Here’s where it led. 

For the past 20 years, scientists have been trying to cure disease by altering DNA. We examine how with CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing and the revival of gene therapy, they’re closer than ever. 

Today, companies market genetic tests for everything from cancer to diet and exercise. But how much can tests like 23andme really predict? 

With every new advance in prenatal genetic screening, the ability to prevent suffering has also sparked difficult questions about what should count as “a disease” versus “a difference,” and whether we’re in danger of wiping out certain segments of the population. This story was produced in collaboration with PBS, American Experience. 

He’s been called the most dangerous man in football. Not for what he’s doing on the field – but what he’s saying off of it. A new series of original Retro Report short docs produced for Facebook. 

After surviving four heroin overdoses, Heather Wetzel hopes she can stay clean for her daughter. 

For many boxers, once the punches stop, the real fight starts. 

Stella Liebeck was vilified when she was awarded millions after spilling McDonald’s coffee in her lap. Her complaint sounded frivolous. But the facts told another story. 

Diseases once near eradication are re-emerging. Here’s how science and federal policy are squaring off. 

A skepticism of science has seeped into the classroom, and it’s revived attacks on one of the most established principles of biology – evolution. 

Retro Report explores decades of conspiracy theories – from the John F. Kennedy assassination to Pizzagate – and what they can tell us about how we view the world today. 

The nightmare began in 1983 when a 39-year-old mother called the police department in Manhattan Beach, California and accused a teacher at the McMartin Preschool, Raymond Buckey, of molesting her two and a half-year old son. 

A decades-old battle is re-emerging over abstinence-only sex education. 

The mommy wars were billed as the nastiest fight in American parenting, and actually fueled by a decades-old blunder. 

In the 1980s, many government officials, scientists, and journalists warned that the country would be plagued by a generation of “crack babies.” They were wrong. More than 25 years later, the media is sounding a similar alarm. 

Our social media addiction is explained by theories pioneered by B.F. Skinner decades ago. 

How did food companies get us to crave their products? They discovered the “bliss point.” 

Why don’t people intervene when they encounter violence streaming live online? 

In the digital age, where everyday people can suddenly become public enemy number one, how do we strike the balance between keeping free speech alive online and preventing a cyber mob from taking over? 

Normalization of deviance, the process of becoming inured to risky actions, is a useful concept that was developed to explain how the Challenger disaster happened. 

A “purity” movement in the 90s led by evangelical Christians promoted a strict view of abstinence before marriage. Today, followers are grappling with unforeseen aftershocks. 

Even in the #MeToo era, many people don’t know that the Equal Rights Amendment never passed…because of one woman. Her name is Phyllis Schlafly. 

When N.F.L. players, starting with Colin Kaepernick, took a knee during the National Anthem to protest they ignited an uproar over injecting politics onto the playing field. 

Donald Trump has used populist politics to appeal to voters who are fed up with the status quo. We look at another politician who tapped into America’s divisions decades ago: George Wallace. 

Over the last 30 years, schools across the country have enacted tough new discipline policies. Some of those schools say they went too far. 

Thirty years after “Live Aid” changed the face of charity fundraising, clicktivism has taken center stage. If you share, re-tweet and like, are you making the world a better place? 

More than 50 years after Kitty Genovese’s murder became a symbol of urban apathy, her partner, Mary Ann Zielonko remembers Kitty’s life and impact. 

Today, drowning rates are disproportionately high among Black children. What’s being done? 

Every so often, Congress holds a hearing on the perils of pop culture. The “peril” has evolved from comic books, to rock and hip hop music, to violence in video games, but the proceedings follow a script. 

Scapegoating immigrant groups in times of disease outbreak has a long history. 

New York City’s renewed efforts to tackle homelessness and untreated mental illness is raising complex questions about civil liberties, public safety and effective care. 

Loneliness is on the rise, and it may be as harmful to health as cigarette smoking, medical experts say. Now some Americans are embracing a collaborative living arrangement called cohousing as a solution. 

LSD has long been associated with 1960s counterculture. Today, psychedelic drugs are back in the lab, providing hope for people who suffer from anxiety, depression and addiction. 

From the 1930s to the 1950s, a radical surgery – lobotomy – changed the understanding and treatment of people with mental illness. 

Newborns today are tested for genetic and immune disorders that might not be apparent at birth. The tests evolved from the treatment of a patient with a rare diagnosis who became known as “the Boy in the Bubble.” 

A hit 1970s movie shaped public opinion and popularized a rare diagnosis. 

Thirty million people will suffer from eating disorders in their lifetime, yet decades after Karen Carpenter died from anorexia, myths about eating disorders continue. 

Kitty Westin shares the story of her daughter, Anna, who killed herself after struggling with anorexia for years. 

When Prozac was introduced in 1988, the green-and-cream pill to treat depression launched a cultural revolution that continues to echo. 

A look at how a bias on body size affects care of heavier patients, something the medical community is beginning to recognize, and do something about. 

The “Burning Bed” killing put domestic violence in the headlines. 

A simple intervention to reduce suicide deaths – written messages of compassion and empathy – showed promise in the 1960s, but has been overlooked until now.