Personality types are the sort of subject you might glance at while flicking through a magazine in the GP's waiting room. Pretty frivolous stuff, you perhaps think. However, new research suggests our personality traits are more significant than previously thought, and can play a key role in future health. It's long been reported that people with socalled Type A personalities - hostile, highly competitive and impatient - are more prone to heart problems. But now researchers are increasingly finding that a wider range of personalities and traits are linked to a host of medical problems, from stomach ulcers and viral infections to Parkinson's disease.

Your personality type could decide what makes you ill By Roger Dobson

Ten days ago, on Friday, June 13th, 2008, I had the extraordinary privilege of talking to George Carlin. As far as I know it was the last in-depth interview he gave before he passed away yesterday at age 71. Originally it was slated to run as a 350-word Q&A on the back page of Psychology Today. But I was so excited to talk to him—and he was so generous with his time—that I just kept on going. By the end I had over 14,000 words.

On stage, George Carlin came across as a grouch, often vulgar and sometimes misanthropic. But with me he was patient and warm, happy to talk through the minutiae of his creative process and eager to share stories about his childhood, his evolution as a comic, and his influence. What struck me most was the joy in his voice as he talked about the wonderful feeling he got in his gut while writing. I was also moved by the gratitude he expressed for his mother, who he said “saved” him and his brother—leaving her bullying, alcoholic husband when George was just two months old, getting a job during the worst years of the Depression, and raising two boys on her own.Carlin's last indepth interview June 13, 2008

News & Views

Two Caliphates in Baghdad: U.S. Paying High Cost for Ignoring History's Lessons

David Andelman: Iraq According To Its Sheikhs

US May Open Iranian Diplomatic Outpost

Russia joins the war in Afghanistan

India takes glacier politics to new high

Is Your City Going to Be Bottled Water-Free?

7 Innocent Gestures That Can Get You Killed Overseas

The End of Oil: Interview with Paul Roberts

Columbia Noose Professor Likely to Be Fired for Plagiarism

Beth Weinstock: SelfMatters: The Greatest Regret is Love Unexpressed

Save Gas, Save Money: 66 Ways To Spend Less On Gasoline