FREAK-est Links
A Walmart in Cleveland that’s more selective than Harvard. Deep budget cuts to “transform” scientific research in the UK. Japan cancels plans for more nuclear reactors. Sergey Brin says only 20% of Google employees use Windows. The Atlantic agrees with Levitt about Groupon. Read More »
Our Daily Bleg: Need Some Startup Strategy, Please
A reader named Patrick Nash needs your advice:
My friend and I have developed a cutting-edge technology for social media. There are other similar technologies out there for social media but we could never compete with their resources. Should we just point blank say we are the cheap alternative as a selling strategy? Sounds cheesy and flimsy but may be our only avenue.
What do you have to say to him? I don’t expect a lot of you to have experience specific to his product, but I know there are a lot of starter-uppers among our readership (yes, both kinds of starter-uppers), as well as what you might call “psychology of pricing” pros. So let’s see what kind of advice you have for Patrick.
The Rare Earth Conundrum
Electric cars are all the rage today, but some of the smartest people I know believe that moving towards electric vehicles is a terrible idea. Looking casually as an outsider at the unappealing economics of electric vehicles (the need for a new and immensely expensive infrastructure, cars that cost much more than either traditional gas engines or hybrids, limited ranges and long recharging times), I find it hard to understand why the Obama administration is pushing electric cars.
One argument I’ve heard is “national security,” the idea being that electric vehicles would make the United States less dependent on imported oil. Be careful what you wish for, however, because if electric cars become a mainstay, we may be trading one dependence for another that is even more troubling. Ninety-five percent of the world’s output of rare-earth metals today comes from one country: China. By some estimates, demand will outstrip supply within five years. At least with oil we know there are fifty years of oil reserves readily available. Moreover, oil is produced all over the world, limiting the monopoly power of any one country. Read More »
IVF’s Magic Number
According to a new study published in the medical journal Human Reproduction, there is a magic number of eggs for successful in-vitro fertilization: 15. Analyzing more than 400,000 IVF cycles in the U.K., the study found that:
Read More »There was a strong association between the number of eggs and LBR (live birth rate); LBR rose with an increasing number of eggs up to 15, plateaued between 15 and 20 eggs and steadily declined beyond 20 eggs. … The results showed a non-linear relationship between the number of eggs and LBR following IVF treatment. The number of eggs to maximize the LBR is 15.
and 
. If you haven’t seen it yet, the movie features Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, and was made by a dream team of documentary directors. Paste Magazine named it one of the 