Weekend Reads 9/1/18

Online Bettors Can Sniff Out Weak Psychology Studies

Dreber also cautions that the SSRP only looked at 21 studies, and can’t say much about whether prediction markets can more broadly gauge the reliability of social-science studies. But this is the third time that such markets have been successfully used in this way—once for psychology and a second time for economics—and several more attempts are coming up. Evidence is mounting, and confidence in the markets is growing.

Gender bias is all too real – and dangerous – in the doctor’s office

It is not just rare diseases, like auto-immune encephalitis, that get misdiagnosed in women. The writer and artist Aubrey Hirsch experienced a similarly frustrating path to diagnosis – for five years, doctors told Hirsch that she had an eating disorder, or possibly anxiety, before diagnosing and treating her hyperthyroidism. In fact, studies show doctors interpret identical information from patients differently depending upon whether the patient is male or female.

It’s not all Pepes and trollfaces — memes can be a force for good

Donahoe says memes have resonated with him particularly when they depict a “worse, extreme version” of himself. For Donahoe, the most successful memes are more than just jokes. They “strike a societal, cultural chord” and can be a potent cocktail for self-reflection as tools that can guide and even influence behavior.

'Apocalyptic threat': dire climate report raises fears for California's future

As researchers point out in a summary of the findings, cooling mechanisms such as air conditioners can help mitigate the effects of intense heatwaves, but increased electrical consumption can also drive up the emissions responsible for climate change in the first place. And the double threat of wildfires and increased energy consumption can endanger a power grid vital in a crisis.