January 06, 2025We asked Yale SOM faculty for their best tips on living happily, healthily, and productively in the new year.January 21, 2025Ordinary investors generally can only see an average of analysts’ target prices for a given stock. In a new study, Yale SOM’s Thomas Steffen and Frank Zhang find that when the degree of variation within that “consensus” figure is large, it’s a bad sign for future returns.January 30,…
Which headline are you more likely to click on?Headline A: “Stocks Plunge Amid Global Fears.”Headline B: “Markets Decline Today.”Online publications frequently test headline options like this in what’s called an A/B test. In this case, a publication shows headline A to half of its readers, headline B to the other half, then measures which receives more clicks.Marketers have long used A/B tests to determine what drives engagement. Generative AI is…
Howie and Harlan are joined by Basmah Safdar, a Yale School of Medicine emergency physician and an expert on sex-specific differences in cardiovascular and microvascular health, which have important implications for the understanding and treatment of heart attacks, long COVID, and other conditions. Harlan reports on Australia’s ban on social media for kids, and a Medicare pilot program that will pay providers based on improved outcomes in chronic conditions. Howie…
How often do boycotts and other consumer protests change corporate behavior?Studies find boycott attempts are successful 25-40% of the time. However, boycott attempts only get analyzed after they’re getting some traction, and corporations don’t always follow through on their promises. So all we can say for certain is that boycotts lead to substantive changes often enough for activists, customers, and corporations to take them quite seriously.How should organizers frame their…
This commentary originally appeared in the Hartford Courant. The views expressed are the authors’ own.Recently, a controversial New York developer was shot down by Bethel, Connecticut, in its plan to build attainably priced apartments, following failed efforts in Granby and Manchester, as well as success in Avon, Cheshire and New London—with appeals underway in Rocky Hill, Simsbury, and West Hartford.For several decades, Connecticut municipalities have admirably strived to solve the…
Transcript Harlan Krumholz: Welcome to Health & Veritas. I’m Harlan Krumholz.Howard Forman: And I’m Howie Forman. We’re physicians and professors at Yale University, and we’re trying to get closer to the truth about health and healthcare.Our guest today is Dr. Sudhakar Nuti, but first, we like to check in on current or hot topics in health and healthcare. Harlan, what are you going to tell us about today?Harlan Krumholz: Today…
Howie and Harlan are joined by Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert and an outspoken opponent of health misinformation, to discuss vaccine skepticism and the forces—from wellness influencers to HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—that amplify it. Harlan reports on research reinforcing the link between social media and mental illness; Howie highlights two potential areas of common ground with the administration's health policy. Show notes: Social Media and Mental Health "Social…
The research is clear: the circadian rhythms of adolescents make it hard for them to wake up early. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control recommend that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. so students can get enough sleep, making it more likely they attend class, excel in their studies, and graduate. But most school districts ignore the science, building schedules around…
Why do some independence movements succeed while many others fade or are crushed? The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 is a rare case in which a separatist movement not only gained mass support but also prevailed in open conflict against a powerful state. Explaining that success is not just a historical exercise. It also clarifies how states lose legitimacy and how climate shocks can transform diffuse frustration into coordinated political…
Partisan gerrymandering is having a heyday. Politicians in at least 16 states are enacting or considering new congressional maps designed to advantage one party over the other; most recently, California voters approved a map designed to increase Democratic seats, in order to counter a Republican-leaning map in Texas. Democrats and Republicans are locked in a zero-sum game—and democracy itself seems to be the only guaranteed loser.Is there a path to…
Is there a strategic argument for the U.S. resuming nuclear testing?What’s going on is very scary. Nuclear weapons of the major powers have not been tested since the early 1990s. Now there are signs the Russians may test a bomb. I think this would be for political shock effect, an escalation over the Ukraine war. Washington wants to deter them from doing this, so we threaten to test if they…
Q: Your career in renewable energy development began in the early 1990s. With that long view, what are the innovations that stand out to you?The technology has changed so much since I entered the field. The electrons coming from wind power have gotten much, much cheaper because wind turbines have gotten much, much more efficient. In most locations in the U.S., wind is now less expensive than legacy sources (e.g.,…
Do you think AI has the potential to dramatically change the model for consumer search?Compared with traditional search engines (e.g., non-AI Google search), AI-assisted search tools such as ChatGPT offer several advantages, especially when consumers are searching for complex and personalized products, such as vacation packages or wellness programs. First, instead of relying on simple keywords, consumers can now describe their needs in greater detail and with higher precision, leading…
Is the prevalence of sports betting changing the way people experience watching sports?Sports betting can certainly change how people experience sports. Interestingly, we have some research that says the money is not necessarily even the key to these effects. For example, there has been an explosion in fantasy football participation among fans. These activities fundamentally change the way that fans view sports. Their excitement is not driven by teams winning…
This commentary originally appeared in Fortune. The views expressed are the authors’ own.While President Trump’s unorthodox deal making style has intentionally resembled a “bull in a china shop,” it was more like a placid cow in a field last week in China. The world collectively took a deep breath following the U.S.-China summit, as neither Trump nor Chinese president Xi Jinping escalated the ongoing trade war between the two nations.…
Q: How did you come to focus on immigration?I did not start out intending to work on immigration policy. Before Yale, I had been an entrepreneur. After Yale, I was very lucky to land a fellowship in the Obama White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, helping develop a policy portfolio to enable startups to achieve greater growth. I thought I’d work on access to capital or…
Howie and Harlan are joined by Nate Wood, a Yale School of Medicine internist and trained chef, to discuss his work combining lifestyle guidance with hands-on training in making healthy, tasty food. Harlan shares new guidance on what counts as a healthy blood pressure; Howie provides an update on rising health insurance costs. Links: Blood Pressure Harlan Kumholz, "Severe Hypertension: The Next Never Event" JACC: 2025 High Blood Pressure Guidelines…
What was interesting to you about this question?I’m betting you’ve seen the bumper stickers appearing on Teslas: “I bought this car before I knew Elon was crazy.” Those bumper stickers, his role in DOGE, and all the headlines made us suspect Elon’s political activities might be having an impact on Tesla’s sales. Michael Jordan famously refused to endorse Harvey Gantt for Senate, explaining, “Republicans buy sneakers too.” Musk’s partisan activity…
This commentary originally appeared in Fortune. The views expressed are the author’s own.Communications scholar Marshall McLuhan’s prescient 1964 bestseller, Understanding Media, argued that “the media is the message,” in which the technology overtakes the spoken words it transmits. In fact, the core messages can get garbled if the media can’t keep up with the intended meaning. Ironically, the media echo chamber initially misunderstood key messages from Salesforce founder Marc Benioff…
Let’s say you see an interesting headline about new research, suggesting that a ride-share service reduced traffic jams in cities. You click the link, scroll down the article, and then discover that the study authors based their results on private data from the ride-share company itself. How much would that disclosure dampen your trust in the finding?Quite a bit, according to a new study co-authored by Prof. John Barrios. On…
This article was originally published on Ted and Logan’s Briefings on High-Tech Industries in August 2025 and updated in October. The views expressed are the authors’ own.The Magnificent Seven—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla—used to compete in distinct lanes. AI has changed that. These 7 are now in a new pool without lanes and with more competitors: OpenAI, Oracle, AMD, IBM, Palantir, IBM, Anthropic, Salesforce.Over the history of…
Q: You have been recognized in the industry for an approach you call “collaborativity.” Would you explain collaborativity?Collaborativity is a concept I created a handful of years ago that I now use regularly with the team. Collaborativity is a way of codifying the creative process in a way that leans into the notion that creativity is quite iterative and collaborative in nature. Yet when you look at the creative industry,…
Howie and Harlan are joined by public health communicator Katelyn Jetelina for updates on COVID-19 and other issues, and to discuss how her emails to students and colleagues in the early days of the pandemic turned into a platform with global reach. Harlan looks at how AI is being used on both sides of the battle between providers and insurers over claims; Howie reports on a setback with a promising…
This commentary originally appeared in Time. The views expressed are the author’s own. Recently, we conducted a test that found five leading AI models—including Elon Musk’s Grok—correctly debunked 20 of President Donald Trump’s false claims. A few days later, Musk retrained Grok with an apparent right-wing update, promising that users “should notice a difference.” They did: Grok almost immediately began spewing out virulently antisemitic tropes praising Hitler and celebrating political…
This commentary originally appeared in Fortune. The views expressed are the author’s own. Apple received an unwanted spotlight last week when President Trump’s trade advisor, Peter Navarro, attacked CEO Tim Cook for not moving manufacturing out of China fast enough. In fact, having received similar pressure during Trump’s first term, Apple, in terms of what it sells in the U.S., now makes most iPhones in India and most laptops, AirPods,…
Howie and Harlan are joined by Seth Berkowitz, an internist and health equity expert, who argues that we know how to keep people healthier but are lacking the political will and commitment to do so. Harlan reports on a rapidly growing AI platform for doctors; Howie explains why the budget bill could reduce access to medical school. Links: OpenEvidence OpenEvidence “OpenEvidence, the Fastest-Growing Application for Physicians in History, Announces $210…
Collection No. 10 Every cultural institution has a mission that goes beyond the bottom line—enriching a community, preserving human achievement, delivering joy. But that mission also depends on business considerations—assembling financial and human capital, connecting with customers, considering long-term sustainability. We talked with leaders in the arts about the large and small strategic choices that their institutions must make to survive and succeed. Published July 16, 2025 Creating the Bilbao…
Q: How important has the master plan you developed in the ’90s been to the museum? We adopted our master plan in 1993, and we are still working on it. In fact, we’re now in our last major project, which is our new air and space center. If I go back to 1992, the year before we adopted the master plan, we knew we wanted to do air and…
Q: Where are art and technology coming together in interesting ways right now? The thing that excites me the most is how artists will unlock digital tools as part of their physical practices. A paintbrush is a tool. A hammer and chisel, those are tools. AI is a tool. What artists are really good at is figuring out how to use things in new and unexpected ways—not just following…
Q: What is the relationship between art and finance? The relationship between finance and art has always gone both directions. In a practical sense, artists have long depended on patrons, especially in order to produce large works. And the patrons used their public displays of wealth to move up the social pecking order. You could even say that the relationship is older than our species. There’s a 250,000-year-old hand…
This commentary originally appeared in Fortune. The views expressed are the authors’ own. In the last week alone, Meta has poached more than a dozen top AI researchers from peer companies, giving each one immediate cash bonuses worth up to $100 million in a frantic effort to keep up with the AI arms race after falling behind market leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic. But perhaps Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg…
This commentary originally appeared in the Washington Post. The views expressed are the authors’ own. President Donald Trump has presented himself as a strong champion and consistent supporter of artificial intelligence. Upon returning to the White House, one of his first acts was to issue an executive order to “sustain and enhance America’s dominance in AI.” On his second day in office, he announced the Stargate Project, calling it “the…
The arrival of the smartphone has changed the way we watch TV. Instead of being glued to the big screen, you might watch a show for a few minutes, check your text messages, return to the TV, and then get distracted by a game on your phone. These shifts in our viewing habits have raised concerns for advertisers who are shelling out big bucks to run commercials. “What are they…
Howie and Harlan discuss the alarming healthcare cuts proposed in the budget bill currently moving through Congress, recent breakthroughs in HIV prevention and diabetes treatment, and the stark contrast between scientific progress and the deep structural flaws in the U.S. healthcare system. Links: The Budget Bill H.R.1—119th Congress (2025-2026) “A List of Nearly Everything in the Senate G.O.P. Bill, and How Much It Would Cost or Save” “Senate passes Trump’s…
This commentary originally appeared in Time. The views expressed are the author’s own. The sweeping victory of the charismatic Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic New York mayoral election has the business community alarmed, if not downright distressed. Immediately after the election, many New York CEOs and financiers predicted an accelerated flight of capital to lower tax states like Texas and Florida. Mamdani’s victory fits the emerging pattern of angry…
Howie and Harlan discuss health and healthcare issues making headlines, including public attitudes toward the Medicaid cuts in the budget bill making its way through Congress, a one-time gene therapy that could cure high cholesterol, “ambient” AI in the exam room, and the replacement of the the CDC’s entire vaccine advisory board. Links: Remembering Atul Butte “Atul Butte, a biomedical and bioinformatics pioneer, dies at 55” Marina Sirota on LinkedIn…
In 2018, when Zhen Lian, then a PhD student at Cornell, started working on a research project about self-driving cars, the technology still seemed like “a futuristic topic,” she says. Just five years later, while traveling in Phoenix, she was able to hail a self-driving car—also known as an autonomous vehicle (AV)—to get a ride from her hotel to the airport. . The incorporation of AVs into the ride-hailing industry…
A third of doctors trained in Ghana now live abroad, as do 91% of Ethiopian-born PhD holders and two-thirds of graduates from the top Canadian software engineering programs. Statistics like these have long prompted concerns that large, rich nations are depriving less populous, less wealthy ones of their native-born talent. If most of the skilled workers leave, the thinking goes, small countries and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will struggle…
This commentary originally appeared in Time. The views expressed are the author’s own. Thursday’s escalating explosions between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are only a prelude. It is the start of a hot war, and it could soon get far worse for Musk while doing Trump little good‚ other than to have a convenient scapegoat now for the unpopular DOGE with its over-promised $2 trillion of government savings. This…
In this season finale, we do something a little different. Instead of featuring an outside guest, we bring you behind the scenes—with the voices and minds who help design and deliver the very work this podcast explores. Dr. Heidi Brooks is joined by her colleagues David Tate and Stacey Casamassima for a candid, deeply human conversation that essentially doubles as a real team meeting. This is the team that teaches…