ARTICLES
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New research suggests that poker players who think they are picking up subtle hints of emotion on their opponents’ faces might want to think about how much they’re revealing on their own.
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Tickets to concerts and sporting events may not seem cheap. But given the existence of a multi-billion dollar industry that exists solely to buy and resell tickets at a higher price, why don't vendors raise their prices?
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Our physical environments can shape our behavior to a surprising extent - something to think about when furnishing your home. Or the Wall Street office where you trade credit-default swaps.
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Healthcare prices are high and about as predictable as a lottery, which is a problem for the 50% of Americans who report being unable to meet an unexpected expense of $2,000.
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Johnny Appleseed is not the stuffy figure elementary school teachers led us to believe. He was a sojourning entrepreneur who sold apple trees to establish land claims and give frontiersmen the gift of alcoholic cider.
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It's controlling the supply of available domain names.
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The problem with Amazon.com selling fine art is not that art cannot be commodified. It's that in cache markets, the layers of exclusivity and middlemen are what allow product to be priced and commodified in the first place.
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Animals experience hormonal variation across seasons that prompt them to mate, migrate, or hibernate, yet humans mostly stick to the same routines year round. Is that a mistake?
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On Christmas day in the late fifties, Nelle Harper Lee received the gift of a year's wages with a note encouraging her to spend her time writing. She wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird." What if everyone received the same gift?
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A study out of Stanford on multitasking doesn't validate people who say the Internet is making us dumb. But it isn't good news for people whose desk looks like mission control.
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Sixty percent of American businesses are incorporated in the tiny state of Delaware. Whether that's thanks to its friendly business culture or helpful tax loopholes depends on who you ask.
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Investing in startups is such a risky endeavor that only 1 in 10 pan out. Hollywood is so risk-averse that only 1 in 10 movies get made.
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It is frighteningly easy for speaking with a police officer to land an innocent person in prison. Especially when you'll confess in exchange for a soda.
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Creativity is such a mysterious force that ancient romans and greeks attributed brilliance to the whispering of spirits called daemons or geniuses. But geniuses can take a long time to whisper creative ideas in your ear, and are more amenable to deliver when you're playfully idle. That's a problem for the millions of American professionals claiming to be perpetually busy.
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In 2005, PC Pitstop decided to prove that no one reads fine print online by burying a monetary reward inside their user agreement. Five months and three thousand sales later, someone claimed their $1,000 reward.
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The despised commercial break may actually be what keeps television interesting and novel to our hard-to-impress brains. But its extinction could still be a good thing for television.
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An academic study that compared companies' lobbying costs to the benefits they received from the American Jobs Creation Act concluded that the returns to lobbying were 22,000% - $220 of tax breaks or subsidies for every dollar spent lobbying. John McCain called the bill “No lobbyist left behind.”
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How do you market a product that eliminates odors when everyone adjusts to bad smells? Two products offer two different answers.
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We don't expect honesty from sports fans arguing over whose team is better. So why would we expect any better from political polls?
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In 1959, Volvo invented the 3 point seat belt we use today. Then they gave the design away for all other car manufacturers to use for free.
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There are many reasons to oppose tipping. Most recently, a natural experiment in two San Diego restaurants suggests that tipping actually detracts from restaurant quality.
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Like other sharing economy startups, FlightCar is facing a legal challenge: a lawsuit demanding an incredible 10% of its revenues. But despite the seemingly extortionary demand, there doesn't seem to be an anti-innovation villain behind it.
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Praise and narcissism do not mix well, which can be a problem when it comes to political leaders.
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The actor who played Darth Vader receives regular letters from Lucasfilm regretfully informing him that there are no profits to share because, at least on paper, 80% of all Hollywood movies lose money.
