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.
How Russians do blackmail (The Washington Post)
by Joshua Tucker
If Russian intelligence agencies hold compromising information on someone (like, say, Donald Trump), what do they do with it? A political scientist who focuses on Russia explains just what kompromat is all about, and why Trump might not actually be all that vulnerable to it.
The upside of scientific management (Bloomberg)
By Elaine Ou
Some modern employers use monitoring software and computer algorithms to continually assess employees’ contributions to the company. These moves echo the “scientific management” techniques of the early twentieth century, which seemed to many to be designed to turn people into living machines. But are they really any worse than management by fallible humans?
The deadly molasses flood of 1919 (Boston.com)
by Nik DeCosta-Klipa
Ninety-eight years ago, a flood of molasses killed 21 people in Boson. Since then, scientists and engineers have found some answers about how the bizarre disaster may have happened.
How to have a good domestic life, if you’re an ancient Roman (Aeon)
by Jerry Toner
What was family life like in ancient Rome? A classics scholar, writing in the voice of a Roman nobleman, offers a self-help guide for the patriarch.
Can we really teach kids to have a growth mindset? (Buzzfeed)
by Tom Chivers
Classrooms around the U.S. and U.K. are teaching children to have a growth mindset. Focusing on growth means assuming you can do better with hard work, rather than that your abilities are fixed in place. But there are some big questions about the science that these lessons are based on.
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.
