The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "The proportion of murder victims who knew their assailants to victims killed by strangers is about 3-to-1."

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "In the U.S., the proportion of murder victims who knew their assailants to victims killed by strangers is about 3-to-1."

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

The Cost of Fearing Strangers - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com: "In the U.S., the proportion of murder victims who knew their assailants to victims killed by strangers is about 3-to-1."

Preach What You Plan To Practice - washingtonpost.com

Preach What You Plan To Practice - washingtonpost.com: "The most effective way to get people to change their behavior revolves around the clever use of . . . hypocrisy. When people feel not only that they are failing themselves but also that are failing to live up to what they tell other people to do, they change their behavior -- and stick to it."

Do we compete more against fewer competitors?

Marginal Revolution: Do we compete more against fewer competitors?: "The more people you're competing against, it turns out, the less motivated and competitive you are. ... Students taking standardized tests in more crowded venues got lower scores."

Medical myths -- Vreeman and Carroll 335 (7633): 1288 -- BMJ

Medical myths - Part 2

1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
2. We use only 10% of our brains
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
7. Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals

Festive medical myths -- Vreeman and Carroll 337: a2769 -- BMJ

Festive medical myths - Part 1

1. Sugar causes hyperactivity in children
2. Suicides increase over the holidays
3. Poinsettia toxicity
4. Excess heat loss in the hatless
5. Nocturnal feasting makes you fat
6. You can cure a hangover

Biases

I chapter one of Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein list the following biases:

1) Anchoring - our tendency to answer questions by finding an anchor and adjusting our answer.
2) Availability Bias
3) Representativeness
4) Optimism and Overconfidence
5) Loss aversion
6) Status Quo Bias
7) Framing

Scientists debunk myth that most heat is lost through head | Science | The Guardian

Scientists debunk myth that most heat is lost through head | Science | The Guardian

"The face, head and chest are more sensitive to changes in temperature than the rest of the body, making it feel as if covering them up does more to prevent heat loss. In fact, covering one part of the body has as much effect as covering any other."

"Another myth exposed by the study was that sugar makes children hyperactive. At least a dozen high-quality studies have investigated the possibility of a link between children's behaviour and sugar intake, but none has found any difference between children who consumed a lot and those who did not."

Raising the World’s I.Q.

Op-Ed Columnist - Raising the World’s I.Q. - NYTimes.com: apparently it requires iodized salt. Who knew?