Maggie Penman

Scarcity can make it difficult for us to focus on anything other than the problem right in front of us. Gary Waters /Getty Images/Ikon Images hide caption

The belief that vaccines cause autism has persisted, even though the facts paint an entirely different story. Renee Klahr hide caption

The only surviving photo of Vivian Buck, here with her adoptive mother in 1924. This is the moment Vivian is determined by a eugenics researcher to be "feeble-minded" for not looking at a coin held in front of her face. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University at Albany, SUNY hide caption

Modern psychology shows that we all have a little bit of Narcissus in us. Most of us like people who remind us of ourselves — whether that is someone else with the same name or the same birthday. Renee Klahr/NPR hide caption

The myth that vaccines cause autism has persisted, even though the facts paint an entirely different story. Renee Klahr hide caption

Researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett says celebrity can be boiled down to a simple formula. Caiaimage/Sam Edwards/Getty Images/Caiaimage hide caption

A young Maya Shankar. Courtesy of Maya Shankar hide caption

A young Maya Shankar. Courtesy of Maya Shankar hide caption

"Compassion is contagious," Professor Scott Plous says. "We talk about paying it forward; the idea that if you do something good for another person [...] it sets off a kind of chain reaction." Hanna Barczyk for NPR hide caption

Alan Alda Jhon Ochoa, Photo-illustration: Renee Klahr/NPR hide caption

Jana Mestecky (left) poses for a cast photo during production of the play Des rats et des hommes, directed by Israel Horovitz (front, third from left). The photo appeared in the French magazine, L'Avant-Scène, Courtesy of Jana Mestecky hide caption