If Japanese scientists can turn human waste into artificial steak — or even if the story is a complete hoax — surely we have the technology to tackle the environmental concerns piling up on us as we barrel through the 21st century. What we’re lacking isn’t technology, but solidarity of purpose and will.

When faced with a challenge or when deciding on a goal you want to achieve, do you tackle it with a sense of confidence and the anticipation of eventual success? Or do you feel a sense of dread and impending failure? If it’s the latter, then it may be that your personal sense of self-efficacy needs some attention.

Pain is pain, regardless of the type or source. Even on a neurological level, emotional heartache can be every bit as painful as touching a hot stove.

Humans are social, relational animals. We need each other. But do we perform tasks better when we are alone? Does thinking about how other people perform them raise our anxiety levels and take our energy away? And is it possible to act just as effectively as if we were alone, even with others around?

Ever tried to define psychology? You might find that such a task is not as simple or as easy as it might seem at first. And that might just be because the field of psychology is an ever-evolving discipline.

It’s wrong to lump drug use and drug abuse together, say the authors of a forthcoming paper. On the contrary, most people who take psychoactive drugs will never be addicts, and for them, drug taking may be an adaptive and rational decision.

Two biologists propose that the presence or absence of parasites in our environment exerts a strong top-down influence on the extent to which we have historically developed family ties and even religion. Surely it’s not the whole picture — I sure hope we’re more complicated than that — but could it be part of the picture?