Being overqualified for a job only protects you from discrimination if the work is mind-numbingly simple.
Paradigm Challenge arxiv | Apr 3
The internet was supposed to make distance irrelevant, but it actually made being physically close to other scientists more important than ever.
Paradigm Challenge arxiv | Apr 3
Nothing is actually "politically impossible"—it’s just stuff we haven't written a check for yet.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
Engineers just cut energy loss in magnets by 98%, which could make wireless chargers and the power grid nearly perfect.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 3
College doesn't protect your brain from aging because it made you smarter—it works because it made you rich.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
The "green" machines we built to save the planet are actually being destroyed by the renewable energy they’re trying to use.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
A whole decade of research on a "miracle" anti-germ material might have actually just been studying a total accident.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
A light as dim as a streetlamp is enough to trick fish into ignoring their survival instincts and getting eaten.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 3
Each generation has been aging better than the last, but it looks like we’ve finally hit a wall.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
Putting migrant shelters in local hotels has absolutely zero effect on what the houses nearby are worth.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
It’s actually cheaper to just force airlines to use green fuel than it is to tax them for their pollution.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
The pressure to "publish or die" in universities is actually making researchers get way less work done.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
Giving premature babies a common painkiller too early can actually double their risk of dying.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
One of the world’s biggest rivers is about to get way more water, but it’s actually going to be harder for people to use it.
Cosmic Scale ssrn | Apr 3
Economists think you'll just swap steak for chicken when prices go up, but our shopping habits are actually way more stubborn than that.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
A "less invasive" heart surgery might actually make your main artery swell up way faster than if they just did open surgery.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
We can now make sustainable jet fuel at the same temperature as a hot cup of tea.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 3
That long, trusting relationship with your bank might actually be the thing stopping your company from going green.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
The electricity in the air can tell you a massive dust storm is coming an hour before the first grain of sand even hits you.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 3
A protein we know for building brain connections has a secret second job as a cellular sculptor.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 3
Stone Age people still preferred hunting wild deer to make tools, even when they had plenty of farm animals sitting right at home.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 3
A new system can make pure green fuel using ten times less pressure than current technology.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 3
It turns out that living right next to a train station can actually make you feel worse about your life.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
Good news: putting in bike lanes doesn't actually make the rent go up or push people out of the neighborhood.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 3
Industrial aluminum waste can now be reused to scrub toxic pollution out of mine water.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 3
Giving communities government cash for green energy projects actually makes them more likely to hate climate change policies.
Paradigm Challenge arxiv | Apr 2
Shoppers will pay 80% more for 'organic' fish, but they won't spend a single extra penny if it's labeled 'sustainable.'
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Generous welfare programs can actually make the public more okay with the government being corrupt.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Because they can't get paid for ads, influencers in the Global South are being recruited as cheap tools for government propaganda.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Just selling your product can legally kill your trade secret, even if nobody actually figured out how your secret works.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
The stock market is driven by 'broke' people with high salaries, while the spending of the truly wealthy is actually a sign of bad returns.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Being good-looking doesn't actually help you make money as a creator unless you're also working insane hours.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
AI researchers are way less creative than the rest of us—they keep ignoring valid ways to look at data in favor of the same few methods.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 2
Products that stay in production for decades usually survive because of government lobbying, not because they're actually well-designed.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
Companies start hoarding massive amounts of cash the second a local mayor narrowly loses an election.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
When you legally let corporate bosses care about the environment, it actually makes it easier for them to get away with corruption.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
AI is untrustworthy by design because it’s literally not allowed to just say 'I don't know.'
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
The most socially responsible banks aren't in free-market countries; they’re in places with really strict 'civil law' systems.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Going digital can actually shrink a region's economy in the short term, and better schools do nothing to stop the slump.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Extreme droughts do more than just precede floods—they actually ruin the soil so the next flood is way more dangerous.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 2
Sending family members to work in the city is actually one of the best ways to stop farmers from overgrazing their land.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
Banks in developing countries charge small farmers way more interest than big companies, even though the big guys are more likely to stiff them.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
All those hundreds of 'factors' investors use to predict the stock market are really just the same few economic signals in disguise.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Making free speech protections stronger actually leads to fewer new businesses being started.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
A trade war between the U.S. and China is actually great for the European economy, as long as Europe stays out of it.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Monopoly banks intentionally stop lending to rival companies just so they don't waste money on 'innovation arms races.'
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
If your team is losing a big golf tournament, the best math strategy is to pair your best players directly against their best players.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
Intentionally slowing down trading apps with a bit of 'friction' can actually stop people from making dumb, biased mistakes.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
Even though 'Green Bonds' are huge now, companies aren't actually saving any money on borrowing by using them.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
AI might actually make companies smaller because humans can't process the mountain of machine data fast enough to run big teams.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
We keep picking negotiators who fail because we instinctively want someone who is just as biased as we are.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Companies are hiding the fact that they're hiring new people because the stock market thinks more workers means they're failing at AI.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Protecting people from being 'canceled' or kicked out of professional groups actually ruins the benefits those groups provide to everyone else.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
A shrinking population might make it harder to save the climate because you need a massive economy just to maintain green tech.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Opening violence prevention centers stops women from being killed, but it also causes women to stop reporting crimes to the police.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
College diversity programs can actually end up shutting people out because they don't have the same accountability rules as real companies.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Forcing banks to wait just four more months before taking a home actually helps people land higher-paying jobs.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 2
Bad weather has almost no impact on the U.S. economy—unless the banks are already in the middle of a crisis.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Winning a lawsuit over a contract can actually backfire by blowing up the private business network you rely on.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
It is four times harder for a government to shrink its services for fewer people than it is to grow them for more people.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Paying people off for police misconduct doesn't really work because the real damage is the state trashing the victim's reputation.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Old-school banks failing is a much bigger threat to the crypto market than crypto is to the regular banking system.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
Huge construction projects fail because governments treat 'guesses' about the budget like they're carved in stone.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 2
AI will likely never fully automate most jobs because the cost of making AI near-perfect is exponentially higher than just keeping humans to fix its mistakes.
Practical Magic arxiv | Apr 1
AI is better at figuring out what you want by watching your choices than by reading the instructions you actually write for it.
Nature Is Weird arxiv | Apr 1
Policies designed to make Europe 'green' are inadvertently enriching the oil and gas industry and accelerating the collapse of European manufacturing.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
The reason Egypt speaks Arabic but North Africans still speak Berber has more to do with geography than religion or conquest.
Cosmic Scale ssrn | Apr 1
When towns team up to manage their water systems to save money, they actually end up with more leaky pipes over time.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 1
Disclosing your company's use of AI actually makes it significantly less likely to be acquired by international buyers.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Offering higher rewards for customer referrals can actually make the people being referred worse off.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Having exactly one stock analyst follow a company is more important for its price stability than having ten more join later.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 1
Higher union density in a state is a more powerful deterrent for unauthorized immigration than almost any other economic factor.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Despite the rise of affordable home-recording tech, only 1% of top-charting music is actually produced by DIY artists.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
When given a range of possible truths, people don't lie more; they simply feel 'honest' reporting whichever possible number pays them the most.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Doing nothing and allowing 'bad' invasive species to reclaim land can store more carbon in the soil than active, human-led tree planting projects.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 1
The primary bottleneck for European community-scale green energy isn't a lack of funding or tech, but the legal absence of a specific 'aggregator' license.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 1
When a state's governor's party changes in a close election, local companies suddenly stop updating their boards of directors.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Companies that perceive high climate change risks are significantly less likely to steal wages from their employees.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Opening a new casino in a county causes a significant drop in birth rates and prompts families with school-age children to move away.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Expanding remote work and flexible job perks may actually make the gender pay gap wider rather than smaller.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
When a city experiences a housing bubble, local companies in completely unrelated industries start manipulating their financial records.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Legalizing online sports betting actually lowers the interest rates that state governments pay on their debt.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 1
Laws protecting free speech from 'bully' lawsuits actually cause companies to become significantly more innovative.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Patients are more likely to die when a human doctor overrides an AI's 'all-clear' signal to diagnose a blood clot.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Stock prices are now largely 'designed' by a handful of asset managers rather than reflecting a company's actual value.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
The Soviet Union banned the science of child development because the data proved the government was failing.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
Being more transparent about AI use actually discourages international companies from acquiring a firm.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1
People will pay more for information just because it comes from a larger list of possibilities, even if the information isn't any more useful.
Nature Is Weird ssrn | Apr 1
TikTok videos that focus on community and lifestyle drive five times more retail sales than videos that actually try to sell products.
Practical Magic ssrn | Apr 1
The 19th-century Populist movement disappeared because mainstream parties were wealthy enough to 'buy' their way out of the crisis, a solution that no longer works.
Paradigm Challenge ssrn | Apr 1