“I know when I want to receive stellar work, I can call Alexander to deliver it.”
Allison Scola
Columbia University
Business | Science & Tech | Public Health | Justice & Equity | Arts | Travel | Memoir
BUSINESS
Solving for Z
Gen Z workers are in high demand—and they know it. Here’s how companies can recruit and retain the next generation. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Curb Appeal
Can Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch clean up New York City? (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
“We Have 30 Extra Years”: A New Way of Thinking About Aging
People around the world are living, working, and learning longer. Get ready to upgrade your old ideas about longevity. (Stanford Business)
Is AI Ok?
Massaging machine-learning algorithms to reduce—not perpetuate—human bias. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Clearing the Air
A Texas startup aims to decarbonize industrial chemical processing, and prevent a gigaton of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. (Rice Business)
The ESG Generation Gap: Millennials and Boomers Split on Their Investing Goals
Younger investors are more willing to put money behind environmental and social goals—even if it’s costlier. (Stanford Business)
Up on the Corner
Nadine Dlodlo’s community-centered approach to redeveloping a once-vibrant section of Baltimore offers a blueprint for reviving neighborhoods across the globe. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Eyes in the Skies
Harnessing the power of space-age intelligence for the commercial sector. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
The Promise and Pitfalls of Investing for Change
Navigating the line between opportunity and uncertainty in the ESG boom. (Stanford Business)
An Insider’s Perspective
A concerned father uses venture capital to drive advances in autism care. (Denison Magazine)
New Wave
Marine-energy startups tap the power of tides and waves to fuel a low-carbon future. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Why Divestment Doesn’t Hurt “Dirty” Companies
Bad news for impact investors: Selling off stocks in corporations that don’t meet your values doesn’t really change their behavior. (Stanford Business)
Keeping the Lights On
In the Congo, few people have access to reliable energy, and even fewer have access to formal financial services. Tony Ngumbu is trying to solve both problems with one startup. (Rice Business)
Green Giants
Forget about electric cars and meatless meat: If you really want to combat climate change, look to risk management and private equity. (Stanford Business)
This Is a Test
How the rise of online experimentation could spell the end of gut-instinct decision-making. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Going Up?
You’re riding a wage escalator. And your race and gender can make a big difference in the quality of your ride. (W.P. Carey Magazine)
How We Adapted
If you want to move a business school’s curriculum online in a single weekend, you better practice what you teach. (Stanford Business)
The Rise of the ‘Liberaltarian’
Tech industry millionaires are moving the Democratic Party to the left on almost every issue except government regulation. Unions beware. (Stanford Business)
The Crisis Leadership Playbook
Don’t just tell your constituents how you’re responding to the pandemic. Ask them what they want, listen to them, and engage. (Stanford Business)
City on a Hill
There’s no silver bullet for economic recovery in Appalachia. It’s going to take a whole new ecosystem—which is just what Geoff Marietta has built. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
The Blue-Green Revolution
Can algae deliver on the promise of a biofueled future? (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Up by the Roots
Inside New York City’s push to become a global fintech capital—and what its ascent can teach other cities. (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Ethical Threads
Behind the global apparel industry’s push for human rights. (Hue)
Boxed In
Fewer Americans are moving across state lines in search of higher wages. That’s a problem. (Think)
Supercharged
Is the electric car finally on the road to mass-market adoption? (HBS Alumni Bulletin)
Life in My ($135) Bargain Shorts
Test-riding a pair of fancy-fabric action pants. (Pomona College Magazine)
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Seeking the Origin Story of De Novo Genes
Scientist Li Zhao studies the intriguing genes that emerge from previously silent stretches of DNA. (Rockefeller News)
Warning! Sepsis Ahead
A leading killer of hospitalized patients just may have met its match. (Hopkins Medicine)
Obituary for a Motion Sickness Expert
Meet Victor Wilson, a WWII refugee who escaped Nazi-occupied Europe and helped figure out why astronauts get space-sick. (Rockefeller News)
Ready to Rumble
A geophysicist brings fault lines into sharper focus. (TECHER)
This Isn’t Drosophila
Scientists are on a mission to defang one of the world’s most dangerous mosquitos. Step one? Get her to cooperate. (Seek)
The Universe Might Just Be Curved
New research suggests that maybe, just maybe, the universe could be sphere-shaped. (Johns Hopkins Magazine)
Physics Is the New Biology
Scientists explore the mechanics of being alive. (Seek)
Taming the System
Keeping the peace in the rough-and-tumble world of online gaming. (TECHER)
Beyond Recognition
Face blindness leads neuroscientists into uncharted nooks of the brain. (Seek)
All the World’s Genes, at Our Fingertips
A bit of genetic trickery, borrowed from bacteria, has made gene editing easy. The question now is how to make good use of it. (Seek)
A Biologist’s Mission
Biologist Emmett Jolly beat the odds to become a scientist. Now he fights monsters. (art|sci)
Stalking the Zika Virus
A biotech startup tries to thwart an emerging health crisis and develop a new model for vaccines. (Penn Law Journal)
Dark Matters
Scientists discover a new law of nature—and throw into question much of what we thought we know about the universe. (Think)
Pieces of Me
Miniature plastic chips with cells embedded are a quick and effective way to test drugs. (Discover)
3-D Scanning: How to Put the Real World Into Your Computer
Here are 12 new scanning technologies that are bringing amazing 3-D images into Hollywood, medical care—and home PCs. (Discover)
Spinning a Good Tale
Quantum mechanics may hold the key to a hand-held biology laboratory. (The Economist.) [This one’s behind a paywall, so I’ve linked to the audio version, complete with a posh British accent.]
Startup Plans to Solve Online Identity Theft, But Does Anyone Care?
A Montreal startup has a plan to make online identity theft a thing of the past. The only problem? No one gives a rat’s ass. (Wired.com)
Rising Rents Give Rise to Shrinking Audio Studios
Rising rents and new technology are cramming recording studios into ever-smaller spaces. Welcome to the vest-pocket studio. (Wired.com)
PUBLIC HEALTH
Firearm Forensics on Trial
Defense attorneys appealing a murder conviction enlisted the expertise of statisticians to determine whether the field of firearm forensics is grounded in solid science. The answer? Not even close. (HBPH Magazine)
Physician, Heal Thy World
You probably don’t associate Google with public health. But physician and public health expert Vuong “Von” Nguyen is doing his best to change that. (Rice Magazine)
A Transformation of Mercy
A former West Philadelphia safety-net hospital is becoming something totally new: a resource hub for achieving health equity and sustaining public health. (Penn Medicine)
Taking Eye Care Into the Community
A community-based program aims to help older public-housing residents safeguard their vision. (Columbia Medicine)
Violence, Interrupted
Arrests and incarceration won’t stop urban gun violence. But community violence prevention might. (HBPH Magazine)
How to Convince Reluctant Republicans to Get COVID Vaccines
In a polarized nation, a dose of partisan public health messaging can be more effective. (Stanford Business)
A Fuller Picture
Rasika Mathias wants to level the playing field of genetic studies—and make the benefits of personalized medicine available to all. (Hopkins Medicine)
Invisible Pandemic
The initial coronavirus surge has passed, but the mental health fallout persists. (HBPH Magazine)
Mapping the Good and the Bad of Pandemic-Related Restrictions
A new computer model could help policymakers choose the right reopening strategy. (Stanford Business)
Public Health in Prison
The coronavirus pandemic is underscoring the importance of caring for prisoners and their communities. (Columbia Public Health)
In COVID-19 Research, the Need for Speed . . . and Accuracy
The pandemic has prompted a torrent of research. But can it be trusted? (Global Health NOW)
Why It’s So Hard to Solve the Ventilator Shortage
There aren’t enough of the vital devices to go around. And sharing them is risky. (Global Health NOW)
Save the World, Baker
Injury prevention expert Sue Baker has spent her career making the world a safer place. (HBPH Magazine)
The Good Behavior Game: The Game that Keeps on Giving
A simple classroom management strategy pays dividends for a lifetime. (HBPH Magazine)
Flood of Injustice
The latest health impact of a warming planet? Climate gentrification—the pricing of vulnerable populations out of their homes. (HBPH Magazine)
Food For Sight
A vitamin deficiency threatens the vision and lives of millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Biofortified staple crops could provide a nutritional safety net. (HBPH Magazine)
All That Buzz
The newest hope for disease control? Hack mosquitoes’ sense of smell. (HBPH Magazine)
JUSTICE & EQUITY
Democracy in Crisis
With democracy under siege around the globe, legal scholars seek to understand—and resist—authoritarianism. (Gargoyle)
An Independent Mind
Libertarian legal scholar Jonathan Adler pursues principle over politics. (Think)
Providing Access to Justice for Immigrants and Asylum Seekers
Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) at the University of Wisconsin Law School, has a knot in the pit of her stomach. (Gargoyle)
Bending Toward Justice
In the face of police brutality and mass protests, a business school asks: How can we answer the call to improve our world and address systemic racism and oppression? (Rice Business)
The Case of Inmate No. A246292
Dean Gillispie has spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and rape. Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro has made it his job to free him. (Denison Magazine)
The Organizer
Activist and organizer Dante Barry talks about the people and events that shaped him, and his ongoing fight for social justice. (Monmouth Magazine)
Open-Door Policy
How a small group of faculty and students helped bring gay life at Denison University out of the closet. (Denison Magazine)
No Más
After witnessing terrible wrongs as a medical student, Dr. Karen Benker devoted her career to the fight for medical justice. (Pomona College Magazine)
Restoring Justice
Confronting a man involved in the murder of her own parents turned Noreen Deiss into an advocate for restorative justice. (Gargoyle)
ARTS
A Dance in the Sky
With help from famed architect William Pedersen, a multibillion dollar project is transforming the New York City skyline. (Minnesota Alumni)
From Pixar to Beyoncé
Celebrating 30 years of pioneering computer art. (Visual Arts Journal)
Habitats for Humanities
Loosening up artists’ residencies. (Visual Arts Journal)
Real Enemies
A multimedia show uses an anxiety-inducing score and set to bring audience members face to face with some of America’s classic conspiracies. (The Guardian)
Plucky Move
A picture of his Polish grandfather’s mandolin orchestra inspired Avner Yonai to start his own. (Tablet)
Jazzed Up
Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky’s poetry gets a rhythm section. (Tablet)
The Sounds of Science
Computer music moves out of the lab. (The Walrus)
The Sound of Hacked Dolls’ Heads
Dan Farkas subjects kids’ toys to Borg-like modifications, then makes music with them. (Wired.com)
From Crypto to Jazz
A jazz saxophonist draws on cryptography and number theory for his riffs and rhythms. (Wired.com)
TRAVEL
Whale Watching from Land
If you want to see whales, you needn’t bother chasing after them in a boat. Just pitch a tent by the St. Lawrence River and wait for them to come to you. (The Montreal Gazette)
Barbadian Wonders Coax Kids Out of Their Shells
Calm waters, green monkeys, and giant caves: Barbados has something for everyone, no matter how young. (The Boston Globe)
Lost Music of Istanbul’s Sephardic Jews
Istanbul was once a center of Sephardic Jewish life and music. But that energy has moved elsewhere. (The Forward)
A Food Tour of Montreal’s Plateau
Bingeing on Jewish delicacies in my hometown. (The Forward)
Ocean Pew
Though only a tiny fraction of what it was in the 18th century, Barbados’s Jewish community—and its 1750 synagogue—still stand proud. (Tablet)
Visiting the Hamptons, but Not Paying the Price
For resort chic on a budget, pitch a tent and (sort of) rough it. (The New York Times)
MEMOIR & PERSONAL ESSAY
Sefarad No More
In which the author’s attempt to discover traces of Spain’s medieval Jewish community does not go as planned. (Kveller)
Drums, Lies, and Audiotape
When I was invited to drum in Ghana, I gladly accepted. Then something went wrong. (Nautilus)
Bending Traditions in Ghana
Though you’d never guess it by looking at me, I was once an African drummer. (The Forward)