Book review: The ideas in Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger are obvious only in retrospect. (Alpha Architect)
Quote of the Day
"Build your muscles by stressing them, but don’t forget to rest. Get your heart rate up at least a few times a week, for about 20 minutes at a time."
(Zeynep Tufecki)
Engineering
- Herbert Winner, "People accept that we all make mistakes, but robots are expected to be infallible." (ft.com)
- Why car makers are happy to make SUVs for their customers. (ft.com)
- "If we see tablets and phones as polished slabs performing veritable feats of magic, something is lost." (aeon.co)
- Why the Luddites are wrong and have been wrong for a long time. (ft.com)
Health
- Is this device a better, cheaper, safer solution than gastric bypass surgery? (buzzfeed.com)
- Why have we let the issue of antibiotic resistance go on so long? (vox.com)
- A pill that eliminates hangovers. (munchies.vice.com)
- Is most of our DNA garbage? (nytimes.com)
- On the power of touch. (newyorker.com)
The brain
- Can neuroscience increase neuroplasticity over our lifetimes? (aeon.co)
- Sleeping problems increase as we age. Mindfulness may help. (qz.com)
- Time is of the essence when it comes to treating a stroke. (wsj.com)
Fitness
- Better stairwells make for more climbers. (qz.com)
- Why are so many firefighters out of shape? (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Twin studies show the benefit of exercise. (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
Food
- The environmental problem of Keurig-style disposable coffee cups is only going to get worse. (theatlantic.com)
- McDonald's ($MCD) is going to phase out the use of chicken raised on antibiotics. (reuters.com)
- The pizza lobby in Washington is impressive. (bloomberg.com)
Sports
- Under Armor ($UA) wants to put sensors in its workout clothes. (wsj.com)
- Pro tennis has a match-fixing problem. (slate.com)
- What it is like to be traded? The perspective of a NHL player. (sportsworld.nbcsports.com)
- Spring training game statistics DO matter. (economist.com)
- The California ski industry is on the ropes. (bloomberg.com)
- The sports most loved by city. (wsj.com)
Entertainment
- Is Netflix ($NFLX) the last hope for the modern sitcom? (qz.com)
- A look at what the relaunched Beats music streaming service. (techcrunch.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you might have missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: fixing mistakes and eliminating bad ideas. (abnormalreturns.com)
