Why science wouldn’t exist without alchemy, curiosity and great writing: Books in brief - Nature

Psychopathy is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and it's not an official diagnosis any psychiatrist or psychologist will give. But the term is still widely used, especially in criminology, to describe a problematic cluster of personality traits. The triarchic model says psychopathic personalities have three key features: boldness, disinhibition, and meanness. A new study from clinical psychology researchers Ky Bray and Laura Drislane, both of the University of Mississippi, shows these traits can show up in people's writing, in ways that don't always fit with our stereotype of a 'psychopath'. Their results are published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. "People tend to think of psychopathy as one thing, but it's actually multidimensional," Bray says. Everyone exhibits these traits to some degree. It's when they appear together, at high levels across the board, that things can get dark. "That's in part why there's a movement away from calling people 'psychopaths,' because we don't view psychopathy as a category," says Drislane.

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the University’s Master of Arts in Science Writing Program hosted an online Author Talks event featuring science journalist Siri Carpenter and Ferris Jabr. The event was moderated by one of the program’s lecturers, Marianne Amoss. The discussion centered on Carpenter’s new anthology, The Best Science Stories and How They Work: A Collection with Commentary, published by the University of Chicago Press in July. The collection curated 11 previously published science stories alongside annotations and interviews examining the author’s reporting and writing decisions.