BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK Boeing: Are Businesses Too Big To Fail? Key Takeaway: Alaska Airlines flight 1282 nearly fell out of the sky after losing a door plug, following two similar 737 Max plane crashes in 2018 and 2019. Boeing was charged with conspiracy to defraud regulators in 2021, but the US government agreed not to prosecute the company if it promised to pay a criminal […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK The Hidden Economics Of Avocado Key Takeaway: The consumption of avocados has tripled from 2001 to 2020, with 90% grown in the southwest Mexican state of Michoacán. However, this intensive avocado production is causing significant environmental damage. Monoculture, which introduces homogeneous, high-yielding plant varieties, leads growers to abandon native crops, making the local ecosystem more vulnerable to threats such as […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY What Is Meaningful Work? Key Takeaway: Work is a crucial aspect of modern life, with 82% of employees stating that creating meaningful work is a top priority. Meaningful work requires an objective feature that connects the worker with a larger framework that extends beyond themselves. This feature is social contribution, which is the positive difference made by the work […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK SOCIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY Being Thoughtful In The Age Of A.I. Key Takeaway: Concerns about AI’s potential roguehood and potential harm to privacy and dignity are a significant concern. AI’s algorithms, programmed by humans, are also biased and discriminatory. However, a psychologist’s research suggests that AI is a threat to making people less disciplined and skilled in making thoughtful decisions. Making thoughtful decisions involves understanding the […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS EDITOR'S PICK The Economics Of Betrayal Key Takeaway: Judas Iscariot, a disciple of Jesus, is often associated with treachery and betrayal due to his loyalty. However, research suggests that acts of betrayal are rare, as most humans can be trusted due to their interests. In a trust game, the sender can keep the money or send it to the receiver, who […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK FINANCE Why We Will Never Master The Financial Markets Key Takeaways: Stock market enthusiasts often claim to predict financial market trends with great accuracy, but this is not possible due to the uncertainty and unpredictable nature of the environments in which we make daily decisions. Human cognition tends to favor a reductionist approach to information processing, sometimes called “tunneling,” which can lead to biased […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY SCIENCE The Halo Effect Key Takeaway: A recent study suggests that the “halo effect” is more complicated than previously thought, as attractive people may receive more help from strangers, higher wages, and more job opportunities. This can lead to more favorable treatment in life, such as lighter prison sentences. However, in court, jurors show biases, and more attractive defendants […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY SOCIOLOGY How A.I. Might Shape Religion Key Takeaway: AI is transforming our engagement with faith and spirituality by making access to ancient texts easier and enabling AI-tutors to guide people through them. However, AI also poses challenges, such as misinformation and misrepresentation, which could lead to hate crimes and community tensions. In the future, AI will become a co-pilot for all […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PSYCHOLOGY The Secret Science Behind Dating Apps Key Takeaway: Research shows that viewing dating profiles can influence our judgments, particularly in terms of facial attractiveness. Sequential effects, or “serial dependence,” are a type of bias in psychology that affects how we judge the current item. High similarity between faces leads to more assimilation, while low similarity produces less or even contrast. These […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
EDITOR'S PICK PHILOSOPHY SCIENCE Does Science Show Free Will Doesn’t Exist? Key Takeaway: Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky’s book, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, has been criticized for arguing that free will is an illusion. Determinism, the idea that we are causally determined to act as we do due to our histories, is a radical position that only 11% of philosophers agree with. However, […] Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Real Art Of War Key Takeaway: The Art of War, an ancient Chinese war manual from the 5th century BCE, is often cited as a cliché by teen edgelords and management gurus. However, the book is actually a work of clear-sighted and sometimes ruthless realism, influenced by philosophy and strategy. The book, which is attributed to Chinese general and […] Written by Jamie Roberts July 18, 2024July 18, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Democracy Of Bees Key Takeaway: Honey bees, originally tropical insects, evolved complex nest-choosing patterns 600,000 years ago to survive cold climates. However, research into honey bee pressures and behavior rarely takes into account these nest preferences. Researchers have found that tree nests lose less heat than conventional hives and that features of man-made hives inserted for convenience increase […] Written by Derek Mitchell July 17, 2024July 17, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Is Fusion Power Our Future? Key Takeaway: Nuclear fusion could be a promising solution to climate change and energy security issues, as it offers a clean, abundant, and safe energy source. However, the technology’s realisation may come into tension with the issues it aims to solve. The technology’s appeal may mask deeper ethical questions, such as environmental sustainability and the […] Written by Sophie Cogan July 11, 2024July 11, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How People Can Influence Our Memories Key Takeaway: A study has found that our memory helps us learn from experiences and develop new knowledge by integrating and updating information. Memory can forge inferred connections beyond direct experiences, which can sometimes lead to false inferences. The study found that people may prioritize information from liked sources more than those from disliked ones, […] Written by Ines Bramao July 10, 2024July 10, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How Does Space Change Astronaut Biology? Key Takeaway: Astronauts are experiencing a new era of human spaceflight, with longer missions ranging from minutes to months. As humanity looks to return to the Moon over the coming decade, space exploration missions will be longer, with more space travelers and tourists. Researchers in space health are seeking to better understand the human health […] Written by Susan Bailey July 9, 2024July 12, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Who Really Was Mona Lisa? Key Takeaway: The Mona Lisa, a Renaissance icon, has been a subject of debate for over half a millennium. The painting has been traditionally associated with Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. However, another theory suggests Isabella of Aragon, a princess deeply entwined in the political and cultural fabric of […] Written by Darius von Guttner Sporzynski July 5, 2024July 5, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Science Fiction Feedback Loop Key Takeaway: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sparked controversy by referencing the 2013 movie “Her” to highlight the novelty of ChatGPT’s latest iteration. Actor Scarlett Johansson accused the company of improperly using her voice after she spurned their offer to make her the voice of ChatGPT’s new virtual assistant. This highlights the “sci-fi feedback loop,” which […] Written by Rizwan Virk July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Rethinking Education Key Takeaways: The Industrial model of education that fueled the modern era and its dizzying reach did its job incredibly well. In his writing, Flynn illustrates study after study, spanning nations and decades, in which modern educational gift of abstraction — a transcendent sign of intelligence, as we saw in Raven’s Matrices — has been […] Written by Anthony Fieldman March 2, 2022October 19, 2022 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
How China Is Transforming Its Economy Through Learning I highly recommend reading the McKinsey Global Institute’s new report, “Reskilling China: Transforming The World’s Largest Workforce Into Lifelong Learners”, which focuses on the country’s biggest employment challenge, re-training its workforce and the adoption of practices such as lifelong learning to address the growing digital transformation of its productive fabric. How to transform the country […] Written by Enrique Dans February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Why You’re Not Seeing Success With Influencer Marketing With the new year around the corner, now is a good time to re-evaluate your past marketing strategies and gear up for the year ahead. For some businesses, influencer marketing has simply not seemed to live up to its lofty promises of genuine engagement, credibility, and transparency. Some have claimed that it has been failing […] Written by Michael Tan January 14, 2021January 15, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A New Philosophy of Business I’m about to ask you to take a mental leap. For the next 8 minutes, suspend your notions of what a business is, and I’ll propose a new lens for you to look through. There are a lot of questions asked around what “community” means for business. “Where should community fit in my organization?” and […] Written by Empirics Asia September 5, 2018September 5, 2018 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked