Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover
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    Why Are You So Smart, Aaron Shapiro?

    Noah Davis talks to Aaron Shapiro, the CEO of Huge, about what it’s like to be really intelligent.


    By Noah Davis

    Why Are You So Smart, Aaron Shapiro?

  • Teens Care About Online Privacy—Just Not the Same Way You Do

    Why do teenagers behave the way that they do online, sharing personal information with just about anybody who wants it? Look to the privacy paradox.


    By Jared Keller

    Teens Care About Online Privacy—Just Not the Same Way You Do

  • You Can Help Net a Fluttering of Data Points

    Making science fun: There’s a network of butterfly researchers who eagerly want to know what species you’ve seen flitting about.


    By Michael Todd

    You Can Help Net a Fluttering of Data Points

MICHAEL TODD

You Can Help Net a Fluttering of Data Points

Making science fun: There's a network of butterfly researchers who eagerly want to know what species you've seen flitting about.

Major Lessons From the Minor Leagues

There is a measurable economic boost from hosting a minor league baseball team, a newish study finds. What might happen if we mixed in some DNA from English football?

Study: Consensus on Climate Still Means Consensus

Next time someone tells you there isn't a scientific consensus on man's role in climate change, trot out this new study. But acknowledge its source....

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TOM JACOBS

How to Entice People to Buy Symphony Tickets

New research suggests that, contrary to common belief, ticket buyers are not particularly hostile toward contemporary compositions.

Female Professionals of 1970s Face Higher Risk of Breast Cancer

New research finds a surprising link between high-status occupations among American women in the 1970s and later episodes of breast cancer.

Marijuana Buffers Pain of Social Exclusion

New research suggests one reason for the popularity of pot may be that it helps people cope with the pain of loneliness.

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RYAN O’HANLON

What Are the Teens Up to Nowadays?

Do you have a "teen" study? It's probably stupid.

Why Is China Stealing Cities, Towns, and Buildings?

We don't really know, but if anybody does, it's Phil Thompson.

What’s That Thing Where You Feel That Thing and It Makes That Other Thing Happen?

The Emotionary is trying to answer that question.

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MICHAEL FITZGERALD

Are Babies Healthier in North Korea or Northeast Ohio?

Depending on the neighborhood, maybe North Korea.

The Deluge Continues

Innovative drilling techniques, as explored in our March/April print issue, are remaking the geopolitical map in unpredictable ways.

How Etsy Got Over Middle-School-Cafeteria Syndrome

In the year after declaring diversity one of their core values, Etsy watched their female engineers drop to four out of 85.

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SETH MASKET

Why Haven’t Obama’s Scandals Hurt His Approval Ratings?

More Americans approve of his performance now than did so a week ago.

Our Political Parties Have Polarized, But They Have a Lot Further to Go

There are still plenty of moderate congressional districts represented by officials who vote with their constituents in mind—but that could soon change.

Members of Congress Are Elected to Represent, Not to Get Along

Why attempts to characterize President Obama as a leader unable to cajole and intimidate our other elected officials are profoundly misguided.

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JIM RUSSELL

Era of Dying Places

For many, population is the only metric that matters. But what does it mean when a city's population is declining while its workforce is growing—in both size and smarts?

Stuck in Canada

You want to encourage talent to follow the jobs, but Canadians resist migration. Why?

Rural Talent Migration

One option for addressing talent shortages in rural America, which makes up about 90 percent of the country.

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MARC HERMAN

A Survivor of the Deadliest Tornado in U.S. History Tells Her Tale

At 70, Lela Hartman believed we would one day use technology to prevent disasters like the Tri-State Tornado she witnessed as a small child. Are we getting any closer?

What Can’t It Do? European Austerity Policies Now Giving the World Anti-Matter, Clones

Talented natives of southern Europe that have fled their homes for opportunities elsewhere are starting to produce major breakthroughs.

Who Was Benoit Gysemburgh?

If you said "a famous photographer," you'd be half right.

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MATT NOVAK

How to Conjure a Ghost to Get a Murderer to Confess

All you need is a projector and a willing prisoner.

The Google Maps of 1917

Before Mapquest and Google, there was the "electric directory."

Were There Robot Librarians in the 1950s?

No, there were not. Here's how we know.

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LISA MARGONELLI

Nikola Tesla Would Not Approve of Your Online Viewing Habits

Collectively, we've spent more than 50 years watching the Tesla vs. Thomas Edison rap smackdown that went viral on YouTube.

How the Trailer Park Could Save Us All

A healthy, inexpensive, environmentally friendly solution for housing millions of retiring baby boomers is staring us in the face. We just know it by a dirty name.

Guide to a Sizzling Planet

Not everyone is a pessimist when it comes to predicting the impact of climate change. Too bad the optimists aren’t nearly as convincing.

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MARIA STRESHINSKY

The Last Mile

Introducing the May/June 2013 issue of Pacific Standard.

My Vote for Most Inventive Way To Manage Stress

In the multi-tasking world we live in, it's safe to say many of us are looking for either more hours, or better ways to manage our stress and workload.

A Private Bear

This, from the animal behavior files, tickles me all over again, and it seems like a mental health break is in order.

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Most Recent Stories

pittsburgh

Era of Dying Places

May 21, 2013 • By

From the lofty peak of the Industrial Era, around 1910, a community with a declining population was dying. A city's prowess was defined by the number of residents. Recent Pittsburgh labor force ... Read More

teens

What Are the Teens Up to Nowadays?

May 21, 2013 • By

Teens! We never know what they're doing, do we? (Oh, jeez. Do you #FollowATeen?) Teens are just so mysterious—like those weird deep-sea fish that have flashlights growing from their faces. We know ... Read More

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Waiting for a Miracle

May 21, 2013 • By

People with advanced cancer tend to get more aggressive care at the end of life and spend more time in the intensive care unit if they receive spiritual support from their religious communities, ... Read More

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Alone With Everyone Else

May 21, 2013 • By

Ever pretended to be entranced by a Portuguese art film that everyone else in the theater seemed to find fascinating? Ever agreed with your dinner companions that a pricey bottle of wine was ... Read More

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How to Entice People to Buy Symphony Tickets

May 21, 2013 • By

These are very tough times for America’s orchestras. Symphonies in some cities are facing bankruptcy, while others are contending with nasty labor disputes. Subscriptions—which once provided a ... Read More

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Stuck in Canada

May 20, 2013 • By

Ideally, the unemployed move where the jobs are. U.S. workers are among the most geographically mobile in the world. Canada is in the tier below.  Less moving is a drag on economic ... Read More

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The ‘DSM-5′: Introducing the Latest Edition of Psychiatry’s Diagnostic Bible

May 20, 2013 • By

The long-awaited, controversial new edition of the bible of psychiatry can be characterized by many numbers: its 947 pages, its $199 price tag, its more than 300 maladies (from "dependent personality ... Read More

Dayton Dragons

Major Lessons From the Minor Leagues

May 20, 2013 • By

We know—especially after viewing this graphic in Pacific Standard—what a lousy deal capturing a sports team can be for the municipal purse, especially if building a new stadium is part of the ... Read More

obama-shot

Why Haven’t Obama’s Scandals Hurt His Approval Ratings?

May 20, 2013 • By

Last week, Obama's presidency, long noted for its dearth of major scandals compared to previous administrations, somehow pulled a hat trick. Benghazi, the IRS, and the Associated Press leak stories ... Read More

tri-state-tornado

A Survivor of the Deadliest Tornado in U.S. History Tells Her Tale

May 20, 2013 • By

The ghoulish, ongoing tornado storm in the midwest comes a few days before the anniversary of the Joplin, Missouri, tornado disaster, which leveled 25 percent of the city and killed nearly 200 people ... Read More

sleeping-student

You Only Hate Grad School Because You Think You’re Supposed To

May 20, 2013 • By

It’s almost impossible to miss. So much gloom has been cast upon graduate school lately—and much of it is rooted in very real, very rational concerns about the bleak state of the academic job ... Read More

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The Science of Psychics

May 20, 2013 • By

There is this deeply affecting part in the movie version of A Christmas Carol—OK fine, A Muppet Christmas Carol—where Ebenezer Scrooge is carried forward some unspecified number of years through ... Read More

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The Harry Factor

May 20, 2013 • By

Now that Prince Harry has returned to Great Britain it’s maybe time to look critically on the significance of his visit for Americans. What are royal visits for? Why do Americans react to them so ... Read More