Today in Aptonyms
A well-named plant scientist recently weighed in on the European Commission’s decision to “to allow genetically modified potato varieties to be grown in some European Union countries.”
A well-named plant scientist recently weighed in on the European Commission’s decision to “to allow genetically modified potato varieties to be grown in some European Union countries.”
Last week, Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman took us behind the scenes of fashion copycatting, and explained why the practice is actually good for the fashion industry. This week, they explore historical and current efforts to protect fashion from copycatters.
Foreign Policy’s recent photoessay offers readers a look at life on real Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams.
The overutilization of emergency rooms is often cited as a dangerous symptom of America’s broken healthcare system. But a new Slate article from Zachary Meisel and Jesse Pines offers a rosier picture of emergency room usage, and dispels several pervasive myths.
Each week, I’ve been inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations, and my more recent research. Here is the latest round.
Transactions costs are involved in most small-scale activities we engage in. Living in a country, and coping with its institutions, also involves transaction costs.
In at least one Asian country, however, there’s reason to believe the missing women phenomenon may someday disappear. South Korean parents, who have historically preferred sons, are now more likely to express a preference for daughters.
We’ve established that men are more likely to take the wheel when a couple rides together, but should we care? I say we should. Aside from the cultural, sociological and psychological implications, the gender driving disparity might be costing us lives and treasure. If women are more skilled drivers than men, perhaps we’d all be better off if they were behind the wheel and men were in the passenger seat knitting.
A splendid graph, showing high-frequency data on water consumption in Edmonton during the men’s Olympic hockey final (on February 28), and comparing it with the rather smoother pattern seen the day before.
For most products, an “organic” label results in a significant price premium. However, a new study finds that the opposite is true for California wines labeled as “made from organically grown grapes.”
Much economic research stresses the role of pensions and Social Security in inducing retirement-altering the labor supply of older workers. Yet there are also demand-side effects that make firms unwilling to allow most workers to ease out.
Americans are currently embracing a strange sort of primitivism. Bicycles are losing gears, runners are afoot in shoes designed to create a barefoot sensation (some are even running barefoot), and men are growing bushy Will Oldham-like beards. It’s all very curious and entertaining.
Using the prediction markets to become an insta-expert in just about anything.
Wondering whether aspirin will protect your heart or cause internal bleeding? Or whether you should kick your coffee habit or embrace it? It’s often hard to make sense of the conflicting advice that comes out of medical research studies.
Small technical changes often shift our production possibility frontier outward, and make a big difference in our well-being, even if they don’t increase measured GDP.
History’s greatest composers wrote for their pianos, and a new Slate article by Jan Swafford argues that only an old piano can play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata as Beethoven intended it.
We’re coming to the end of a series on whether the man or the woman is more likely to take the wheel when a couple is in the car. Eric Morris argues that whether the man or woman is more likely to drive is literally a question of life and death.
Each week, I’ve been inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations, and my more recent research. Here is the latest round.
Sunday’s Oscar night will be different. First, there are now ten nominees for best picture. But perhaps more importantly, the voting system has changed.
Cybermetrics calculated this year’s Olympics champion, by market value of the medals – Canada takes first place with a total haul of $9,635.
A fascinating but depressing analysis of messaging at OkCupid.com suggests that discriminatory male preferences are a wider phenomenon.
Foreign Policy publishes “an exclusive collection of work by the world’s most acclaimed conflict photographers.”
Ushahidi, the online mapping tool we’ve blogged about before, is now being used by rescue workers in Haiti and Chile.
What are you actually accomplishing when you’re doing five things at once? Maybe not as much as you think.