Pam is an editor and writer specialising in psychology, neuroscience and the sciences. She has previously worked as executive and features editor at Discover, where her acquisitions were widely anthologised and received numerous national awards; a consulting editor at Psychology Today; and in a range of roles at Omni magazine, from senior editor and editor-at-large to founding editor of Omni online. She is author of 16 books on medicine, psychology and lifestyle, including Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic, which won the American Medical Writers Association book award in 2009. She can be found on Twitter @pam3001.
Neurodiversity
idea
Living without mental imagery may shield against trauma’s impact
Discovering I have aphantasia helped me understand my response to being assaulted and why I wasn’t debilitated by PTSD
by J B Smith
Communication and language
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The tentacles of language are always on the move
An evolutionary biologist explains how human language can shift as slowly or rapidly as organisms adapting to life on Earth
by Klaus M Stiefel
Emerging therapies
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Could dreams during anaesthesia help to heal life’s trauma?
Scientists are studying the dreamlike states produced by anaesthesia – and their potential benefits for people with PTSD
by Shayla Love
Parenting and families
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I’m childfree by choice. Should I feel guilty about ending my line?
My uterus is not my ancestors’ vessel for future progeny. What’s the impact of my choice on my family’s genetic lineage?
by Starre Vartan
Pleasures and pastimes
guide
How to wander
Whether in a city or the wilderness, near or far, there’s joy to be had in a journey where the destination doesn’t matter
by Jordan Fisher Smith
Body dysmorphic disorder
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Body neutrality gives me the freedom not to love my body
How body neutrality, not body positivity, allowed me to acknowledge the fraught relationship between myself and my body
by Payal Dhar
Home
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How war destroys the childhood sense-scape we call ‘home’
What we grow up with determines the gestures, textures, spaces, sights, smells, sounds and thoughts we call ‘home’
by Julia F Christensen
Memoir
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Learn the art of journaling and archive your life
Journaling is an art and a daily practice that allows you to write your life and find your way, one sentence at a time
by Sarah Boon
Food and drink
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La cucina povera delivers the fare we need to sustain us now
La cucina povera made do with whatever was available in nonna’s kitchen garden, and remains the perfect fare for our times
by Louise Fabiani
Animals
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Human exceptionalism imposes horrible costs on other animals
We owe it to other animals and to ourselves to resist human exceptionalism. Accepting their inner lives is the first step
by Barbara J King
Wonder and the sublime
idea
Bronze Age people looked to the skyscape to navigate their lives
Long before stargazing helped humans navigate the Earth, the skyscape gave Bronze Age people mystery and wonder
by Kata Karáth
Disability
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A few simple steps could empower the world’s largest minority
What makes people like me disabled is not our bodies but the societies we live in. Let me inspire a rethink in your attitudes
by Paras Shah