Well-researched stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
Is your best friend a liar? (New Scientist)
by Brian Owens
We all know dogs have a lot in common with people. A new study reveals one particularly human-like characteristic: They’re willing and able to deceive people if it can help get them what they want.
The cleverest inventions (The Conversation)
by Catherine Anderson, Carla Viviana Coleman, Craig M. Vogel, Kalle Lyytinen, and Lorraine Justice
What makes good design? Beauty? Creativity? A simple solution to a complicated problem? Professors from five design schools weigh in on the most impressively designed products, from paperclips to virtual reality headsets.
The upside of narcissism (The Boston Globe)
by David Scharfenberg
The Trump presidency has put the term “narcissism” in the spotlight again. In recent decades, social critics have used the diagnosis to identify a wide range of personal and cultural failings. But there’s also something attractive, and, in some cases, effective, about many narcissists.
Why we can’t have fair juries (The New York Times)
by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Our system of court trials relies on jurors’ ability to watch witnesses speak and reach their own conclusions about their emotions and motivations. But experiments show just how bad we often are at deducing feelings from expressions, raising questions about the whole enterprise.
Fighting climate change by looking to the ice age (The Atlantic)
by Ross Andersen
One of the world’s most ambitious bids to fight climate change involves knocking down trees, cultivating vast grasslands, and—yes—bringing back the mammoth. How understanding the era before early humans destroyed many of the world’s largest animals could help salvage our future.
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.
