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.
What are you laughing at? (The New York Times)
by Kate Murphy
The last time you laughed, what was it about? Was it some goofy thing your dog did or a truly funny joke? Or was it a way to flatter a friend, or relieve tension after your boss said something off-color? A look at research on laughter suggests it’s worth thinking about when we laugh, and whether we’d sometimes be better off staying quiet.
Evolution’s greatest hits (Wired)
by Matt Simon
Evolution makes creatures do some crazy things, from fungi that can control the minds of ants to tiny shrimp that can punch open snails’ shells, to sea creatures that fight off sharks by shooting clouds of mucus.
What the data say about non-citizen voting (The Washington Post)
When Donald Trump says this year’s elections could be rigged, he sometimes cites research using a particular survey that found non-citizens vote in large enough numbers to potentially shift some election outcomes. But a number of other political scientists who’ve looked into the same data came to a different conclusion: that the best estimate of the level of non-citizen voting is zero.
The splintering of the power elite (The Conversation)
by Johan Chu and Jerry Davis
In the twentieth century, many people railed against a cohesive power elite made up of bigshot corporate executives. Be careful what you wish for. Today, sociological research finds that there are still plenty of elites with lots of economic and political power, but they’re not a cohesive group pushing in the same direction. That’s not necessarily a change for the better.
The two ways we think (Aeon)
by Daniel J. Siegel
How do we look at a dog compared with an animal we’ve never seen before? How does travel make our brains work differently? We need different ways of thinking—applying known facts versus gathering sensations—to function well in the world.
Have you seen a story online that does a good job of bridging the gap between the news and scholarsip? 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.
