Skip to content

Farah Mohammed

Farahnaz Mohammed is a nomadic journalist, based wherever there’s an internet connection. Her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Guardian, The Women’s Media Center and others, and her work has been referenced by Quartz, The Washington Post and El Colombiano. Farah holds a Masters of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Masters in Spanish and English Literature from The University of Edinburgh. You can find her on twitter @FarahColette, or at www.farahmohammed.com.

Bitcoin bubble

What Is a Bubble?

Tulip bulbs. Housing. Bitcoin? In every bubble, the value of something is based more on peoples' esteem of it, rather than intrinsic worth.
Japanese elderly prison

When the Elderly Poor Are Left Behind

In Japan, elderly people are committing crimes just so they can go to jail and feel cared for. A similar situation has played out in India, where the elderly have been left out of traditional social support networks.
The Mechanism Netflix

Netflix Is A Questionable Historian

Brazilian social media is in an uproar about a recent Netflix show that portrays Brazilian political corruption. Can film and TV ever get history right?
laptops in class

What Should Schools Teach?

American schools produce graduates that have learned to memorize facts, but lack direction in ethics, social skills, adaptability, or knowing how to be happy.
Xi Jinping leader step down

How To Make a Leader Step Down

President Xi Jinping of China recently managed to abolish term limits. What compels some leaders to discard the rules of the very systems that led them to power?
Family reading children's book

In Children’s Books, How Much Reality is Too Much?

While children will undoubtedly counter myriad difficulties as they navigate life--and it does them a disservice to pretend otherwise--exposure is a double edged sword.
dancing happy woman yellow

Teaching Happiness

According to one scholar, we're inundated with ways to pursue pleasure, which we conflate with happiness, to our own detriment.
Leave Britney Alone

How YouTube Has Changed Our Concept of Celebrity

When YouTube entered the scene in 2005, it made sharing amateur entertainment both instantaneous and global.
Business people clapping for businesswoman leading presentation in conference room

What Makes a Company Worth Working For?

Academics are studying what makes a good company culture. These have involved everything from ranking hierarchies of needs to sociological explanations of group mentalities.
online personality quizzes

What Do Personality Quizzes Really Tell You?

Do personality quizzes help solidify one's sense of self? Or is there something limiting in having one's identity summed up so neatly?
Homelessness in San Francisco

The Partisan Blame Game That Perpetuates Poverty

A sociological explanation for why the Bay's homelessness epidemic is so intractable.
Electronic screen of stock data numbers

The Rise of Shareholder Activism

Is a large publicly-trade company responsible only for making its shareholders the most money possible? Or is it also responsible for making the world a better place?
long-tailed macaque

Should We Fear Cloning?

Recently, two baby monkeys were cloned—the first time primates have been successfully duplicated. Why are we so afraid of human cloning?
Diamond water prices

Why Are Diamonds More Expensive Than Water?

Water is simultaneously one of the few things we absolutely cannot live without, and one of the things we value least. There's an economic rationale behind that.
Brexit referendum headlines

Are Referendums Good For Democracy?

Referendums have a way of turning everyone into a self-proclaimed political expert. But does giving a population the chance to directly weigh in on a specific issue lead to a more informed voting public?
hospital interior

The Cautionary Tale of India’s Private Hospitals

In 1985, a writer in Economic and Political Weekly saw the beginning of private hospitals in India and warned of the dangers of their mismanagement.
public shame

The Danger of Public Shaming in the Internet Age

The ritual of public shaming is nothing new. But today's brand of mass humiliation is more public, more widespread, more scarring, and potentially more dangerous. 
Oprah and Obamas

How Oprah Became a Cultural Icon

The idea of a President Oprah has sparked excitement rather than ridicule. Americans value symbolism as much as political experience; while Oprah has little of the latter, she is practically made of the former.
fortune teller's hands

Why Economists Make Terrible Fortunetellers

Even the (presumably rational) economists of the world love to try to predict the future. They often get it wrong, suggesting that all the rational data in the world is rendered useless by the irrationality of human behavior.
Facebook on smartphone

Why Facebook Can Be Good For Your Health

Is Facebook bad for your mental health? Researchers have been studying the profound impact social bonds can have on health since the 1970s.
data mining

Testing Americans’ Tolerance for Surveillance

What would have been considered a dystopian level of surveillance a mere twenty years ago has now become the norm. Why don't internet users care?
Cropped shot of a woman using her laptop on a wooden table

The Rise and Fall of the Blog

A quick Google search will yield suggested results, 'are blogs still relevant 2016', 'are blogs still relevant 2017'' 'is blogging dead'.
Banksy hotel room

Should Banksy be on the West Bank?

Who is Bansky better serving with his artwork in Gaza? Those living on the bank itself or his personal brand?
colorful pills on black background

Paying People to Take Their Pills

The majority of medication-related hospital admissions were caused by noncompliance—when patients, for one reason or another, don't take their drugs.
Starbucks drinks

Why Brands Want To Be Your BFF

Most contemporary consumers consider ourselves too savvy to be taken in by a corporation’s attempts to integrate seamlessly ...