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Future Perfect Archive

Archives for November 2018

Money
Relief efforts want money. So why do we insist on donating canned goods?Relief efforts want money. So why do we insist on donating canned goods?
Money

It’s hard to give up cash.

By Rachel Sugar
Future Perfect
How pesticide bans can prevent tens of thousands of suicides a yearHow pesticide bans can prevent tens of thousands of suicides a year
Future Perfect

After Sri Lanka passed bans on lethal varieties of pesticide, suicides fell by half.

By Dylan Matthews
Watch a 2-year-old solve one of philosophy’s most famous moral dilemmas
Future Perfect

“Uh oh,” indeed.

By Zack Beauchamp
Future Perfect
This city just approved a new election system never tried before in AmericaThis city just approved a new election system never tried before in America
Future Perfect

Fargo just switched to an “approval voting” system, which allows you to mark all the candidates on the ballot that you like.

By Kelsey Piper
Technology
Why nonprofits should think more like tech companiesWhy nonprofits should think more like tech companies
Technology

“Social Startup Success” author Kathleen Kelly Janus explains on the latest episode of Recode Decode.

By Eric Johnson
Future Perfect
How to be a better carnivoreHow to be a better carnivore
Podcast
Future Perfect

Ikejime, a more humane method of fish slaughter, explained.

By Dylan Matthews and Byrd Pinkerton
Future Perfect
How to save lives when Congress refuses to pass gun controlHow to save lives when Congress refuses to pass gun control
Future Perfect

Psychotherapy, antidepressants, summer jobs, and other non-gun control ways to prevent gun deaths.

By Dylan Matthews
Future Perfect
Everyone wants to “teach a man to fish.” But skills training alone doesn’t help the world’s poor.Everyone wants to “teach a man to fish.” But skills training alone doesn’t help the world’s poor.
Future Perfect

Business skills programs don’t increase income, unless you combine them with material grants.

By Kelsey Piper
Future Perfect
Criminal profiling doesn’t work. TV shows should maybe stop celebrating it.Criminal profiling doesn’t work. TV shows should maybe stop celebrating it.
Future Perfect

Psychologists cannot, it turns out, catch criminals with the power of their minds.

By Dylan Matthews
Climate
I’m a woman who fought wildfires for 7 years. Climate change is absolutely making them worse.I’m a woman who fought wildfires for 7 years. Climate change is absolutely making them worse.
Climate

Warmer climate is creating the perfect conditions for long wildfire seasons in the West.

By Anastasia Selby
Future Perfect
How a $50-a-year nutrition program cut domestic violence in BangladeshHow a $50-a-year nutrition program cut domestic violence in Bangladesh
Future Perfect

Cash alone didn’t help. But group training for nutrition, with home visits, did.

By Dylan Matthews
Climate
US climate politics just got even more polarized. Here’s how Democrats can move forward.US climate politics just got even more polarized. Here’s how Democrats can move forward.
Climate

Bipartisanship is unlikely, but progress is possible.

By David Roberts
Climate
Fossil fuel money crushed clean energy ballot initiatives across the countryFossil fuel money crushed clean energy ballot initiatives across the country
Climate

A carbon tax, limits on fracking, a renewable energy standard — all defeated.

By David Roberts
Future Perfect
Why do people hate vegans so much?Why do people hate vegans so much?
Future Perfect

A UK food editor just lost his job for writing an email about “killing vegans.”

By Abigail Higgins
Future Perfect
This is the most important moral question about self-driving carsThis is the most important moral question about self-driving cars
Future Perfect

Hint: It’s not whether an autonomous car should choose to hit a person or a dog.

By Kelsey Piper