I think my dream online-shopping scenario would go something like this: I need a new pair of jeans. Search. Click. Buy. Wait a few hours. Answer the doorbell: my jeans.
In an effort to gain a competitive advantage, writes Marcus Wohlson at Wired, big online retailers — Amazon, Walmart, eBay — are experimenting with making our La-Z-Boy dreams a reality. But are most of us willing to throw down extra cash for instant gratification? Probably not. According to a new survey by Boston Consulting Group, which Wohlson cites, less than 10% of 1,500 respondents said they don’t give a second thought to same-day delivery when online shopping. The one exception, though, is “affluent millennials” who live in big cities, and their enthusiasm could be enough to keep same-day shipping profitable.
So what do most of us value above all else? Free shipping.
The Problem of Reproducibility in the Social Sciences (Pacific + Standard)
One could argue that we’re in a Golden Age of research. Top academic journals, especially in psychology, seem to be publishing new discoveries all the time. But since there’s a publishing bias for new research, writes Kayt Sukel, too few scientists are trying to replicate past studies. In other words, everyone’s chasing the next big thing and more checks and balances are needed. That’s why Brian Nosek, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, launched the Reproducibility Project. Since its launch last year, he’s recruited more than 100 colleagues to try to reproduce a study published in a high-profile journal.
Researchers Use Internet to Find New Drug Side Effects (New York Times)
We know that prescription drugs can cause a long list of side effects, but the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t always catch all of them. There is a system in place to find and record previously unknown side effects, but it’s limited in scope. Good news: a team of researchers from Microsoft, Stanford and Columbia found a cool workaround to the problem: they created an automated data-bot that mined millions of web searches (think about how often you type your symptoms into Google) and they discovered new side effects that were unreported in the F.D.A’s warning system.
Bigger is Better
Big Data in the Big Apple (Slate)
The Best Reason to Raise the Minimum Wage (The New Republic)
Stop Calling Student Loans a Bubble! (Time)