The Most Surprising Thing I Learned Today
…they really are; being tall in high school gives you the confidence to succeed in the work force; etc. Case and Paxson suggest a completely new explanation for the link…
Steve Levitt has so far occupied the interviewer chair on his new show, but in a special live event — recorded over Zoom and presented by WNYC and the Greene…
…they really are; being tall in high school gives you the confidence to succeed in the work force; etc. Case and Paxson suggest a completely new explanation for the link…
…from heavy drinkers to others. Thus, if public health programs were to succeed in reducing the rate of heavy drinking, [Social Security’s] future financial status would be even worse than…
…and largely guaranteed to succeed. In the space of a year or two we could have you zipping along the 405 or the LIE at the height of rush hour…
Caroline Paul is a thrill-seeker and writer who is on a quest to encourage women to get outside and embrace adventure as they age. She and Steve talk about fighting…
What makes a con succeed? Does snake oil actually work? And just how gullible is Angela?…
Human beings love to predict the future, but we’re quite terrible at it. So how about punishing all those bad predictions?
It’s awkward, random, confusing — and probably discriminatory too.
We worship the tradition of handing off a family business to the next generation. But is that really such a good idea?
…of survival and renewal that will save the suburb from itself. Success will breed success and courage. As more of these new suburban spaces succeed, without substantially changing the single-family…
According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; we’re also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on “uncertainty…
Human beings love to predict the future, but we’re quite terrible at it. So how about punishing all those bad predictions?
…vertebrate species, take more than one mate if they can. If some succeed, others are left with none, so males naturally fight bitterly for mates. Antlers were the weaponry that…
No, it’s not your fault the economy crashed. Or that consumer preferences changed. Or that new technologies have blown apart your business model. But if you’re the C.E.O., it is…
He’s an economist who studies even weirder things than Steve. They discuss whether economics is the best of the social sciences, and why it’s a good idea to get a…
We worship the tradition of handing off a family business to the next generation. But is that really such a good idea?
…to place anonymous bets, using virtual money, on the likelihood that certain breast cancer drugs, currently in clinical trials, will succeed or fail. After the clinical trials conclude, researchers can…
…ones, which allowed Mollick to decompose the relative contributions of the designer versus the producer in making a game succeed or fail. For example, if a designer always generates blockbusters,…
…many years in a row, your ad has succeeded. If your product is selling successfully and winning design awards, your design has succeeded. And if you find new partners that…
Jane McGonigal designed a game to help herself recover from a traumatic brain injury — and she thinks playing games can help us all lead our best lives….
…Marginal Revolution thinks it’s so hard to get people to change that he has predicted that the site will not succeed: I’ve long predicted this won’t work; one group of…
In our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens — at home.
Kenji Lopez-Alt became a rock star of the food world by bringing science into the kitchen in a way that everyday cooks can appreciate. Then he dared to start his…
The U.S. is home to seven of the world’s 10 biggest companies. How did that happen? The answer may come down to two little letters: V.C. Is venture capital good…
Khan Academy grew out of Sal Khan’s online math tutorials for his extended family. It’s now a platform used by more than 115 million people in 190 countries. So what…
It isn’t easy to separate the guilty from the innocent, but a clever bit of game theory can help.
The National Institutes of Health is the backbone of health research in the U.S., and Collins has been in charge for more than a decade. Now that he’s stepping down,…
…the Starbucks logo nowhere in sight. If these prototype “stealth Starbucks” succeed in Seattle, you may well see (or rather, not see) one soon in your city as well. [%comments]…
