The Best of The Atlantic

Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don’t want to talk about it.

Owning a home won’t make you happy. Filling it with love will.

After a rough start, the generation is thriving. Why doesn’t it feel that way?

Thousands of people with severe mental illness have been failed by a dysfunctional system. My friend Michael was one of them. Twenty-five years ago, he killed the person he loved most.

How a small-town auto mechanic peddling a green-energy breakthrough pulled off a massive scam

Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus. We must start immediately.

Writing in The Atlantic, Helen Lewis details the ways that women face outsized consequences in a pandemic and what governments could do about it. As she notes, William Shakespeare wrote King Lear and Isaac Newton’s work flourished during the Great Plague of London, but they weren’t sheltering in place with children. Lewis offers telling anecdotal and statistical evidence that during the coronavirus pandemic women are likely to shoulder the lion’s share of child care and domestic work and are more likely to lose or give up their jobs, all while governments pay scant attention to their thoughts or needs.

«“As a collective academic group, we knew there would be an outbreak that came out of China, that shows you how globalization spreads disease, that’s going to paralyze financial systems, and there was no pot of money ready to go, no governance plan … We knew all this, and they didn't listen. So why would they listen to something about women?”»

The Musk era of Twitter has so far been defined by unhinged tweets, fleeing advertisers, and botched layoffs.

The new owner says he hates advertising. That’s a problem because it provides 90 percent of his social-media platform’s revenue.

“We need to catch up soon!”

Many people chase achievement, assuming it will lead to well-being. They should reverse that order of operations.

«The first thing to remember is that happiness requires balance. No matter how much you enjoy your work, overwork will become an obstruction to well-being.»

Your well-being is like a retirement account: The sooner you invest, the greater your returns will be.

«“How to Build a Life” is a weekly column by Arthur Brooks, tackling questions of meaning and happiness.»

A course at Northwestern University teaches students about what makes a healthy relationship.

What if marriage is not the social good that so many believe and want it to be?

My pregnancies could have killed me, but at least I chose them.

Affluence—not willpower—seems to be what’s behind some kids' capacity to delay gratification.

I’ve spent more than three years interviewing friends for “The Friendship Files.” Here’s what I’ve learned.

«I’ve come to believe that friendship doesn’t always have to be about presence; it can also be about love that can weather absence.»

The Harvard Study of Adult Development has established a strong correlation between deep relationships and well-being. The question is, how does a person nurture those deep relationships?

«Loneliness has a physical effect on the body. It can render people more sensitive to pain, suppress their immune system, diminish brain function, and disrupt sleep»

The ancient Eastern religion is helping Westerners with very modern mental-health problems.

Africa will be the most populous continent. Islam will be the most popular religion. And there are going to be a lot more old people.

The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken.

Our unpredictable and overburdened schedules are taking a dire toll on American society.

The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. Here’s the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism.

The foundation of Donald Trump’s presidency is the negation of Barack Obama’s legacy.

It’s not just a phase.

More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis.

Romance novels have radical ambitions.

Five pieces of career advice, shaped by economics, psychology, and a little bit of existential math

«By the way, beware this inverse relationship, as sometimes the most attractive titles are reserved for the most soul-destroying labor.»

Emotional and physical pain share neurological roots, and the same substances can blunt them.