Doping has been a hot topic at all the Olympics – and the recently concluded games in Brazil were no exception. A brilliant piece by Sarah Zielinski in Science News for Students takes a comprehensive look at doping in sports from a scientific lens. It’s a must read.

For a crash course on doping, head over to the Wall Street Journal for this multimedia story on the types of drugs sportsmen use to enhance performance. This Discover magazine slide show is a quick walk down the doping history lane.

If you somehow missed out on Last Week Tonight’s segment on doping, you need to watch it now. Trust John Oliver to lend a humorous bent to a serious topic like cheating in sport. Laugh and learn!

Why do people cheat on their significant others? That question has intrigued a generation of psychologists. Over the last few years, their investigations have led to interesting insights. This commentary piece in The Conversation explains, through analysis of a study, how cheaters use “cognitive tricks” to forgive themselves for the act of cheating, though they know it was the wrong thing to do. 

In a long-form feature published in Psychology Today in 2012, the writer pours over decades of research and distills several reasons why people might cheat. If you pay attention to the section called “Context,  Context, Context,” it’s clear that there’s ample data to suggest some people will commit adultery just because they can. 

Want a more fun read? Go to this TED listicle by Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist who has published extensively on love and sex. My main takeaway from this piece: we may be hardwired for infidelity, despite our love for monogamy.

Most people think they will never cheat on a partner. But, of course, some of them end up doing so anyway. Last year, The Wall Street Journal delved into the personality traits of potential cheaters. 

Sorry for the delay in this issue. I was in Chicago attending the HIVR4P, a big conference on HIV prevention methods. Boy, was it windy? Fun fact: Despite Chicago’s nickname “the windy city”, it actually is not significantly windier than any other city in the States.

Consequently, I’ll spend most of this lovely Indian autumn pitching new developments in the field of HIV to editors at science magazines. I had also attended this HIVR4P conference in 2014, and it was quite the game changer for my career.

Have you been to any career-changing conferences? Are there any conferences you’d really like to attend? I’d love to hear about your ambitions!

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Until next week,

Dinsa Sachan
Freelance Science and Culture Journalist
http://dinsasachan.com/more