Is this the greatest triumph of 21st century neuroscience? A new study sings of the persuasive power of fMRI studies, and of the emerging consensus that, one way or another, they are good for business [also see 1st bonus item below, about a related book]. Futurity.org reports the news: Teen brains predict song popularity “We […]
Tag: economics
Effect Of Prayer on God’s Attitude Toward Mankind
“The Effect Of Prayer on God’s Attitude Toward Mankind,” James Heckman, Economic Inquiry, vol. 48, no. 1, January 2009, pp. 234-5. (Thanks to investigator Hiroshi Gunji for bringing this to our attention.) The author, at the Department of Economics, University of Chicago, who has received some notice in the field of economics for his previous […]
Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies
Evolutionary biologist Michael Eisen tries to solve the mystery of the $23,698,655.93 book about flies: A few weeks ago a postdoc in my lab logged on to Amazon to buy the lab an extra copy of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly – a classic work in developmental biology that we – and most […]
Politicians’ Christmas Lottery Windfall
Christmas randomness can pay off for politicians, implies this new study: “Politicians’ Luck of the Draw: Evidence from the Spanish Christmas Lottery,” Manuel Bagues and Berta Esteve-Volart, FEDEA Working Paper #2011/01, January 2011. The authors, at Universidad Carlos III and FEDEA, Madrid, Spain and at York University, Toronto, Canada, explain: “It is well known that […]