Quote of the day
A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.
~RICHARD H. THALER, author of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
THE BRAIN
This doctor made a blind man see and an autistic boy speak, Bloomberg | Tweet
Parkinson’s, dyslexia, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy are some of the diseases responding well to natural, nonsurgical treatments. The risk of getting dementia is decreased by 60 percent using those therapies, according to Doidge.
PSYCHOLOGY
Hard feelings: Science’s struggle to define emotions, The Atlantic | Tweet
While it’s possible for researchers to study facial expressions, brain patterns, behavior, and more, each of these is only part of a more elusive whole.
→How Emotions Are Made: The New Science of the Mind and Brain
PHILOSOPHY
Since ancient times philosophy has tried to cure us of anxiety. But worry is an important part of being a moral person.
→Kant: The Metaphysics of Morals 
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
Q&A with Richard Thaler on what it really means to be a nudge, Forbes | Tweet
In the book, Thaler and Sunstein discuss how recent advances in behavioral science should inform our attitudes towards rational decision making. Specifically, these behavioral science findings show that people don’t always make rational decisions, raising questions about when or whether outsiders—like governments or employers–should step in to help people avoid making bad choices.
→Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
→Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics
Time-as-money mindset decreases green behaviors, Pacific Standard | Tweet
New research finds paying people an hourly wage, or otherwise getting them to think in time-as-money terms, makes them less likely to act in environmentally friendly ways.
PHYSICS
Why a latte is less likely to spill than a coffee, Phys | Tweet
Carrying a full cup of coffee from the kitchen to the dining room can be precarious for a sleepy-eyed caffeine addict who might accidentally send a wave of java sloshing over the rim. But add a bit of foam to the top and the trip becomes easier.
TECHNOLOGY
Handwriting isn’t dead–smart pens and styluses are saving it, WSJ | Tweet
Connected pens and improved styluses make your handwritten notes available on all of your devices.
Texting this phone number will get you ‘anything you want as long as it’s not illegal,’ Business Insider | Tweet
What if you could text a number and get anything you want? That’s the ambitious goal of a new startup called Magic, a text-messaging-based concierge service that promises to pull strings, place orders, and schedule deliveries all so you don’t have to.
WRITING
Seven lessons for writers, from Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie, Quartz | Tweet
Jamie read her own poetry and prose with confidence, but when it came to Q&A with chair Andrew Kelly she was nervous and reticent. Nevertheless, head down like one of the a hawks she so often writes about, Jamie’s lecture offered a reluctant poetry all its own. The writer herself would likely not prescribe anything; so these ‘lessons’ are more like white stones dropped in moonlight, to follow only if you want to.
→Findings: Essays on the Natural and Unnatural World
The philosophy of villains, The Write Practice | Tweet
Depending on the fictional work, villains have different philosophies on the relationship between good and evil. Some villains are aware of the fact that heroes are willing to go to great lengths to ensure that the forces of good and justice prevail. Others can’t comprehend the idea of a hero sacrificing themselves for the sake of the greater good.