The FREAK-est Links
Shame tactics used on johns. (Earlier) Radiohead asks fans for a new video.(HT: Daniel Lippman) Sick of Sudoku? Go to the Funny Farm. Business schools prefer familiar over revolutionary….
Richard Prum says there’s a lot that traditional evolutionary biology can’t explain. He thinks a neglected hypothesis from Charles Darwin — and insights from contemporary queer theory — hold the…
Researchers are trying to figure out who gets bored — and why — and what it means for ourselves and the economy. But maybe there’s an upside to boredom?
Shame tactics used on johns. (Earlier) Radiohead asks fans for a new video.(HT: Daniel Lippman) Sick of Sudoku? Go to the Funny Farm. Business schools prefer familiar over revolutionary….
Boys and men are trending downward in education, employment, and mental health. Richard Reeves, author of the book Of Boys and Men, has some solutions that don’t come at the…
Historian Tom Holland narrowly escaped a career writing vampire novels to become the co-host of the wildly popular podcast The Rest Is History. At Steve’s request, he compares President Trump…
…life satisfaction concept and a much larger sample, the differences are now recognised as vast, as shown in the chapter here by Ed Diener, Daniel Kahneman, and colleagues. As I…
He’s the C.E.O. of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which, under his charge, exposed the most celebrated American cyclist as a cheater. And Steve’s been studying cheaters for the…
Physicist Helen Czerski loves to explain how the world works. She talks with Steve about studying bubbles, setting off explosives, and how ocean waves have changed the course of history….
…than effective: the Dartmouth economist Eric Zitzewitz finds that anonymity actually results in a higher home-country bias, as it allows judges to hide from a “scrutinizing press.” (HT: Daniel Lippman)[%comments]…
Photo: Daniel Hamermesh In American restaurants, I have always seen a glass of wine (perhaps 6 to 7.5 ounces) sold for at least 1/3 of the price of a bottle…
We often select doctors based on their reputations or on misconceptions about what really matters. But research shows that doctors’ experience and where they trained can significantly impact patient care.
When a zoo needs an elephant, or finds itself with three surplus penguins, it doesn’t buy or sell the animals — it asks around. Zachary Crockett rattles the cages….
…fodder for controversial cocktail conversation, take a look also at an old book by James Q. Wilson and Richard Herrnstein on the biology of criminal behavior. (Hat tip: Daniel Lippman)…
…probably be hearing a lot more about how sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere — whether put there by nature or by scientists — cools the earth. (Hat tip: Daniel Lippman.)…
…blonde advantage will not surprise anyone who has read about beauty premiums or John List‘s research showing that blonde women are even better at soliciting charitable donations. (HT: Daniel Lippman)[%comments]…
Does anyone really know what they’re doing? How do we reward the competent and not the confident? And what’s wrong with using TikTok for research?…
Why do we get overwhelmed when we have too many choices? Should we make our own decisions or copy other people’s? And how can Angela manage her sock inventory?…
When you hit the slopes, you might not be thinking about water rights, controlled avalanches, and liability insurance — but someone has to. Zachary Crockett shreds the pow.
Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward?…
After the Supreme Court’s abortion decision, doctors in some states are concerned that delivering treatment could put them in legal jeopardy. Bapu Jena looks at how the practice of “defensive…
The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising.
Would you steal Halloween candy? Should people be required to identify themselves online? And why did Angela go trick-or-treating in a trash bag?
Before a guide dog can help a blind person navigate the world, it has to pass a series of tests, then go through $75,000 worth of training. Zachary Crockett sniffs…
Executives shell out millions of dollars for the privilege of flying private — but that convenience comes at a steep cost to the rest of us. Zachary Crockett prepares for…
Dubner and Levitt field your queries in this latest installment of our FREAK-quently Asked Questions….
A story on Yahoo news mentions that the Philadelphia newspapers are running advertisements for a fake airline, Derrie-Air (get it?). The airline advertises that it is carbon-neutral, and that it…
It’s a powerful biological response that has preserved our species for millennia. But now it may be keeping us from pursuing strategies that would improve the environment, the economy, even…
…Kasper M. Nielsen, Francisco Perez-Gonzalez, and Daniel Wolfenzon. “We find that family successions have a large negative causal impact on firm performance: operating profitability on assets falls by at least…
Daniel Hamermesh You shouldn’t buy the extended warranties on electronics and other goods that places like Best Buy are pushing when you purchase their products (unless you think you have…
