Stories by Sara Novak

Using teeth-whitening treatments to achieve a brighter smile may be appealing, but experts say overdoing it could cause lasting damage

Phone apps can tell whether your kid is playing hooky. But remotely surveilling your child might not be great for navigating the trials of the teen years

Dogs can smell when people are stressed, and it seems to make them feel downhearted

A number of whole-body deodorants are coming to market. But are they safe and effective?

The lack of a safety net in the U.S. is a big factor that explains why Americans feel lonelier than Danes or Swedes

The crime issue, a focus of the 2024 presidential election, is sometimes rooted in the misplaced fears of people who live in some of the safest places

Ancient Egyptian mummies reveal what diseases afflicted people in the great civilization, as well as the protective role the Nile could play

A newly discovered genetic mechanism helped eliminate the tails of human ancestors

Most primate societies have long been assumed to be male-dominated, but a new study shows many have females in charge or feature power sharing

Some of the tens of thousands of suicide deaths in the U.S. each year would not have happened if people in the community had been schooled to provide advice about gun safety

Some states have begun to buy into the need for off-site firearm storage to protect those at risk of suicide

Many young adults, facing the largest student loan burden in history, report depression, anxiety and an overhanging sense of dread

Recovery-oriented cognitive therapy helps people getting out of prison to reengage with society and build a new life

In some states, punitive drug laws require physicians to report a pregnant person with a substance use disorder, leading to the removal of their child after birth

A way of life nurtured for hundreds of years in the U.S. Southeast guards coastlines from climate change

The firearm as a totemlike symbol of personal identity emerged from the psychological insecurities of former enslavers after the Civil War

Racism and overstressed teachers help explain high expulsion rates for Black preschool boys

Befriending someone in the opposite party does not lessen antidemocratic attitudes, a study finds

Researchers are perplexed as to why inner feelings about life and love predict our actions better than the best social science

Older prisoners will make up a third of the prison population in a decade, and many of them will develop dementia

Lack of data explains why