Molly Hickman and the Horizon Scanning Study Group1 have launched forecasting questions about the progress of science. Please go forecast!
Dave Evans and Amina Acosta have published a new meta-analysis of information interventions for education in LMICs (à la Jensen 2010). I’d love to see more work in this area - yes, they’re not exactly revolutionary, but they’re so cheap and they do appear to work.2
Alexander Kustov and Kelsey Piper wrote a piece I’ve been meaning to write: American immigration outcomes really are different (and better) than European ones.
I’d broaden this a bit to include the Anglosphere; note this graph from Marie and Pinotti 2024:
Immigrants in the Anglosphere are particularly underrepresented in prisons.
Matt Beard argues that you will become like the people you work with, so choose them carefully.
Deena Mousa points out in The Economist that LLMs are worse in languages other than English. This has real consequences as LLMs are increasingly used in medical care.
Owl Posting thinks we could be a little fucked on biosecurity (but it’s not hopeless).
Selection Rules Everything Around Me: David J. Bier shows Muslim immigrants in the US integrate even more than polls of Muslim-Americans suggest, because the most liberal often no longer identify as Muslim.
University students in sub-Saharan Africa are dangerously financially vulnerable, often verging on ultra-poor. Student finance and housing could help.
One in ten babies in San Francisco is born via IVF.
Jordan Schneider does not endorse nuking ourselves a new canal to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
The average American home has about 900 sq ft per person living there. Britain could never.
My baby continues without me.
OK, I am a bit biased on this particular point, because I was part of commissioning this meta-analysis when I was at Coefficient Giving.