Extra Credit: Our pick of stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
Freud strikes back (The Guardian)
by Oliver Burkeman
Everyone knows Freudian psychotherapy is basically a scam, long since outmoded by data-backed cognitive behavioral therapy, right? Well, new studies suggest we may be getting this story wrong.
The power of the rerun (Pacific Standard)
by Rick Paulas
Why do we forgo flipping channels to watch that same movie we’ve seen a dozen times before? Actually, research has found a number of reasons, from simple nostalgia to a kind of soothing meditative state that repetition can foster.
We’ve entered the age of humans (New York Times)
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Congratulations, we’ve entered a new epoch in the history of the earth. Like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs or the thawing of the ice age, the rise of human technology has transformed the world in ways that alien geologists will see when they pick over the planet’s ruins in a few million years. A new paper says the signs of the Anthropocene era include nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizers, concrete, plastic, and nuclear fallout.
Our disappearing menu choices (Slate)
By Preeti S. Sethi
The globalization of food production means that people in Vietnam, Colombia, and the U.S. increasingly get our food from the same kinds of plants and animals. The world gets 95 percent of its calories from just 30 species, and we cultivate only 150 plants out of 30,000 edible options.
Reconsidering vitamin D (The Conversation)
by Tim Spector
For years, vitamin D has looked like the answer to a lot of health problems. Now, studies are not only calling that conclusion into question but raising fears that the supplement may sometimes cause trouble.
Have you seen a story online that does a good job of bridging the gap between the news and scholarship? Or something that seems particularly well-researched? Let us know and we may include it in next week’s roundup. Email us at jstordaily_submissions (at) jstor (dot) org.
