The Hardest Case for Mercy

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/09/17/school-shooting-death-penalty-parkland-nikolas-cruz

How to Kill Fruit Flies in Your Home, Instantly: DIY traps and homemade sprays to kill these kitchen and drain pests for good.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-kill-fruit-flies-in-your-home-instantly

Matti Friedman: When We Started to Lie: I watched as the goal of mainstream journalism shifted from describing reality to ushering readers to the correct political conclusion.

https://www.thefp.com/p/friedman-when-we-started-to-lie

The Canary: Michael Lewis on Chris Mark of the Department of Labor

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/michael-lewis-chris-marks-the-canary-who-is-government/

Jawbreakers: Young patients want beautifully imperfect veneers. They’re getting pain, debt, and regret.

https://www.thecut.com/article/veneers-cost-perfect-smile-teeth-regret.html

Should we think twice about fluoride?: Too much fluoride might lower IQ in kids, a new federal report says. The science (and debate), explained.

https://www.vox.com/today-explained-newsletter/369470/fluoride-iq-kids-brain-development-toothpaste-water-science-study

Having an Enemy at Work Might Help You Get Ahead: Turns out your toxic boss can teach you something.

https://slate.com/business/2024/09/workplace-mentorships-career-advancement-toxic-boss-coworker-feud-motivation.html

How to restore trust in American higher education: Governing boards must regain their control of America’s colleges and universities

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/09/04/trust-restored-higher-education/

Are You Being 'Spoofed'? This Specific Type Of Scam Is Hard To Catch.: This sneaky, insidious act tricks you into sharing personal information — and it's all too easy to fall for. Here's how to spot it.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/spoofing-scam-url-emails_l_66cc97e8e4b09c9ffeaf1006

Don’t Trust the Election Forecasts: The data doesn’t support the obsession with presidential prognostications.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/09/03/election-forecasts-data-00176905

The Cure for Disposable Plastic Crap Is Here—and It’s Loony: Stretchy seaweed, reverse vending machines, QR-coded take-out boxes: They’re how we can break society’s absurd addiction to single-use plastics.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-cure-for-disposable-plastic-crap-is-here-and-its-loony/

Getting a divorce? There’s a coach for that

https://thehustle.co/originals/getting-a-divorce-theres-a-coach-for-that

The Plot Against the Principality of Sealand: How the world’s quirkiest micro-nation got pulled into one of history’s most epic intercontinental frauds

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-plot-against-the-principality-of-sealand

Hackers may have stolen the Social Security numbers of every American. Here’s how to protect yourself

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-08-13/hacker-claims-theft-of-every-american-social-security-number

Why toilet paper keeps getting smaller and smaller

https://thehustle.co/news/why-toilet-paper-keeps-getting-smaller-and-smaller

When Is “Recyclable” Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means. Companies whose futures depend on plastic production are trying to persuade the federal government to allow them to put the label “recyclable” on plastic shopping bags and other items virtually guaranteed to end up in landfills and incinerators.

https://www.propublica.org/article/plastics-industry-redefine-recyclable-ftc-grocery-bags

Smashing Idea: How East Germany Invented ‘Unbreakable’ Drinking Glasses: In the 1980s, a company called Superfest pioneered extra strong glass – but it disappeared with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now it’s making a comeback.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/smashing-idea-how-east-germany-invented-unbreakable-drinking-glasses

How to Notice and Avoid Dark Patterns Online

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-notice-and-avoid-dark-patterns-online-1827734449

Menu Engineering

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/89/menu-psychology-the-science-behind-menu-engineering.html

We’re Entering an AI Price-Fixing Dystopia: Algorithmic collusion appears to be spreading to more and more industries. And existing laws may not be equipped to stop it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/ai-price-algorithms-realpage/679405/

Heat pumps are expensive. What if billionaires bought them for everyone?: It would cost more than $1 trillion, but the savings from lower bills and cleaner air would be just as high.

https://grist.org/energy/heat-pumps-expensive-bought/

Where are Utah’s ‘blue zones’ — places people are living the longest?

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/08/05/blue-zones-in-utah/

I'm a Doctor. This Is Why I Prescribe Walking to My Patients

https://www.gq.com/story/walking-prescription-health-longevity

How to Calculate the Value of an MBA

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-calculate-the-value-of-an-mba

10 reasons why AI may be overrated

https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2024/08/06/g-s1-15245/10-reasons-why-ai-may-be-overrated-artificial-intelligence

America’s Lab Rats?

https://amgreatness.com/2024/07/28/americas-lab-rats/

Why we might never know the truth about ultra-processed foods

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpe3pppw1z7o

When scientific citations go rogue: Uncovering ‘sneaked references’

https://www.llrx.com/2024/07/when-scientific-citations-go-rogue-uncovering-sneaked-references/

The Real Housewives Is TV’s Best Window Into White-Collar Crime: The Bravo franchise has become an unlikely document of all-American fraud.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-real-housewives-is-tv-s-best-window-into-white-collar-crime

How to manage people who are smarter than you (or think they are)

https://www.fastcompany.com/91149647/how-to-manage-people-who-are-smarter-than-you-or-think-they-are

The Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the plastics industry deceived the public for decades and caused the plastic waste crisis. February 2024

https://climateintegrity.org/uploads/media/Fraud-of-Plastic-Recycling-2024.pdf

35 Gaslighting Phrases That Experts Say Are Unfairly Belittling Your Emotions: Recognizing this behavior early can save you from having to overcome emotional trauma later, psychologists explain.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/35-gaslighting-phrases-that-experts-say-are-unfairly-belittling-your-emotions

Amazon Sold a Used Diaper. It Tanked a Mom-and-Pop Business.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/amazon-sold-a-used-diaper-it-tanked-a-mom-and-pop-business

Google Now Defaults to Not Indexing Your Content

https://www.vincentschmalbach.com/google-now-defaults-to-not-indexing-your-content/

Peer review is essential for science. Unfortunately, it’s broken. : There's no incentive to fix the system, which was never designed to catch fraud anyway.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/07/peer-review-is-essential-for-science-unfortunately-its-broken/

The rise of our ‘Juristocracy’ The danger of relying on the Supreme Court to solve our problems

https://www.deseret.com/magazine/2024/07/10/supreme-court-justices-impact-on-america/

Escape From the Box: New technology and old tactics have made buying a car a death march of deception. Jase Patrick, who spent 15 years in the business, reveals the dealer secrets.

https://prospect.org/power/2024-07-08-car-dealership-fee-financing-scams/

Revolution in the air: how laughing gas changed the world

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/04/revolution-in-the-air-how-laughing-gas-changed-the-world

We deserve a more nuanced conversation about working moms: The “motherhood penalty” is more complicated than you think.

https://www.vox.com/policy/358808/moms-motherhood-penalty-work-childcare

His Biggest Hit Sold More Copies Than Any of the Beatles’. So Why Haven’t You Heard of Him?

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/his-biggest-hit-sold-more-copies-than-any-of-the-beatles-so-why-haven-t-you-heard-of-him

The Ancient Fabric That No One Knows How to Make: Nearly 200 years ago, Dhaka muslin was the most valuable fabric on the planet. Then it was lost altogether. How did this happen? And can we bring it back?

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-ancient-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make

Pablo Escobar’s Abandoned Hippos Are Wreaking Havoc in the Colombian Jungle

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/pablo-escobar-abandoned-hippos-wreaking-havoc-colombian-jungle-180984494/

The company that has a monopoly on ice cream truck music: How a small, family-owned electronics company came to control 97% of the ice cream truck music market.

https://thehustle.co/the-company-that-has-a-monopoly-on-ice-cream-truck-music

SCOTUS Is Right. Your Understanding Of Administrative Law Is Wrong.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmcgowan/2024/07/04/scotus-is-right-your-understanding-of-administrative-law-is-wrong/

The Clever Folds That Kept Letters Secret

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-clever-folds-that-kept-letters-secret

The world’s cutest monopoly

https://thehustle.co/originals/the-worlds-cutest-monopoly

What Ancient Romans Used Instead of Toilet Paper

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-ancient-romans-used-instead-of-toilet-paper

Inside the US government’s brilliantly boring websites: You may not notice it, but your experience on any US government website is a carefully crafted experience.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/06/26/1093656/us-government-website-design-accessibility/

Pooping on the Moon Is a Messy Business: If humans are to return to the moon, space agencies and governments need to figure out the legal, ethical, and practical dimensions of extraterrestrial waste management.

https://www.wired.com/story/pooping-on-the-moon-is-a-messy-business/

The Savior Elite: Inside the Special Operations Force Tasked with Rescuing Navy SEALS: They are the military’s “guardian angels.” They are trained paramedics, paratroopers, and combat divers. This is the story of one such airman, and the mission of a lifetime.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-savior-elite-inside-the-special-operations-force-tasked-with-rescuing-navy-seals

How the Fridge Changed Flavor: From the tomato to the hamburger bun, the invention has transformed not just what we eat but taste itself.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/how-the-fridge-changed-flavor

THE PLASTICS WE BREATHE: Every time you take a breath, you could be inhaling microplastics. Scroll to see how tiny and dangerously invasive they can be.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/microplastics-air-human-body-organs-spread/

Meth-addict fish, aggro starlings, caffeinated minnows: animals radically changed by human drugs – study

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/06/drug-pollution-wildlife-threat-aoe

The Case for Japan’s Amazing Clothes-Drying Bathrooms: Why don’t we all have bathrooms that can dry laundry, too?

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-case-for-japan-s-amazing-clothes-drying-bathrooms

Does faith drive suicide in Utah? What the data says: It’s been surprisingly common to see this hypothetical correlation being promoted. But a closer examination of respected datasets simply doesn’t back up the religion-causes-suicide assertion.

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/06/04/suicide-and-faith-in-utah/

Science Says the Most Successful Kids Have Parents Who Do These 9 Things

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/science-says-the-most-successful-kids-have-parents-who-do-these-9-things

What can we do about ultraprocessed foods?: Researchers are figuring out the features of these foods that harm our health — and proposing ways ahead

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2023/what-can-we-do-about-ultraprocessed-foods

To pee or not to pee? That is a question for the bladder — and the brain: How do we sense the need to urinate? The basic urge is surprisingly complex and can go awry as we age.

https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/2024/how-do-we-sense-the-need-to-urinate

The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/magazine/israel-west-bank-settler-violence-impunity.html

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe

https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story

How ancient Amazonians transformed a toxic crop into a diet staple: Indigenous people devised a complex, multistep process of detoxification.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/05/05/indigenous-amazon-cassava-detoxification-crop/

How to delete the data Google has on you: You can get rid of your info manually or ask Google to clean up after you.

https://www.theverge.com/24141741/google-data-delete-how-to

The reckless policies that helped fill our streets with ridiculously large cars: Dangerous, polluting SUVs and pickups took over America. Lawmakers are partly to blame.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution

Be More Realistic About the Time You Have: Stop believing next time will be easier, and plan more time for your work, not less.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/be-more-realistic-about-the-time-you-have

The company that makes every other company’s vibe

https://thehustle.co/originals/the-company-that-makes-every-other-companys-vibe

Why your favourite colour is probably blue

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220601-what-your-favourite-colour-says-about-you

The Hidden Micro-Stresses Ruling Your Life—and How to Stop Them: Small annoyances happen to all of us every day and they may not garner much sympathy due to their trivial nature—but things soon add up.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-hidden-micro-stresses-ruling-your-life-and-how-to-stop-them

Credit card nation: Americans have always borrowed, but how exactly did their lives become so entangled with the power of plastic cards?

 https://aeon.co/essays/how-did-america-become-the-nation-of-credit-cards

The Ancient Math That Sets the Date of Easter and Passover: Why don’t the two holidays always coincide? It is, to some degree, the moon’s fault.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-ancient-math-that-sets-the-date-of-easter-and-passover

How to delete your search history

https://www.bespacific.com/how-to-delete-your-search-history/

The Valley of the Cheese of the Dead: In this remote Swiss town, residents spent a lifetime aging a wheel for their own funeral.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-valley-of-the-cheese-of-the-dead

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.: Uri Berliner, a veteran at the public radio institution, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners how to think.

https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-editor-how-npr-lost-americas-trust

The radical transformation of the avocado

https://thehustle.co/originals/the-radical-transformation-of-the-avocado

What Liberals Get Wrong About ‘White Rural Rage’ — Almost Everything: The ‘White Rural Rage’ narrative gets the research wrong. I know, because some of it is mine.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/05/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395

The air fryer is a hoax: The air fryer is just a little oven that blows, and the idea that air frying is a new cooking technique is a myth

https://qz.com/air-fryer-hoax-myth-origin-convection-oven-1851378365