Roberta Kwok
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Freelance science writer. Bylines @NYTimes @NewYorker @Southern_Review @NatureNews. 2020-21 Project Fellow at @KSJatMIT.
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Articles by Roberta Kwok
Five best books on the human side of science
Lab Girl By Hope Jahren (2016) Hope Jahren, a geobiologist and plant researcher, describes her laboratory as a refuge, a church and a self-contained world. “I chose science because science gave me what I needed,” she writes, “a home as defined in the most literal sense: a safe place to be.” In her memoir, “Lab Girl,” Ms. Jahren narrates scientific struggles both dramatic and mundane. In one deafening and dangerous laboratory mishap, a glass tube that was overfilled with gas exploded.
Five best books on the human side of science
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How Big Companies Use Patents to Play Defense
In popular perception, a patent represents innovation—the legal landmark between an inventor's idea and the next must-have gizmo. With big companies churning out more and more patents, you might think that bodes well for innovation. After all, each of those bright new ideas could eventually show up as new products or features on store shelves, offering consumers more and better choices.
Vulnerable ALS neurons reveal molecular warning signs before cell death begins
Credit: Cell (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.047 A new study from the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience researchers may help explain an enduring mystery about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): why the disease kills off some of the brain and spinal cord's movement-controlling neurons while others show greater resilience. As ALS progresses, more and more of those motor neurons degenerate and die. As a result, patients lose control of their bodies and become unable to breathe.
Is AI Turning Back the Clock on the Job Market?
For more than a century, the effect of technology on jobs followed a clear trend: as machines took over manual tasks, blue-collar professions suffered, while white-collar occupations enjoyed gains. But AI seems poised to follow the opposite trend. The ability of AI to handle office tasks, such as copywriting and data analysis, seems more likely to harm white-collar jobs than blue-collar jobs, where hands-on skills remain paramount.
Why It’s So Hard to Battle Corporate Debt with Policy
When Donald Trump signed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), it seemed like a huge win for corporations. The new law slashed the corporate tax rate from as high as 39 percent to a flat 21 percent. But beneath that business-friendly benefit lurked some less-favorable changes to how companies calculate their tax burden, including a limit on the amount of debt interest that companies could write off.
The Growth Factor Fueling Industry Behemoths
Consider a few types of furniture companies: There’s the small artisan firm, where a carpenter builds one-of-a-kind armoires and cabinets. There’s the medium-sized chain like Crate & Barrel, with about 100 stores in North America and a sprinkling of international locations. And then there’s IKEA. Since its founding in 1943, the Swedish furniture behemoth has expanded to 487 locations around the globe.
Do the new obesity drugs pay for themselves?
Drugs like Ozempic have been found to be effective at promoting weight loss. They are also remarkably expensive. Some argue that the medications could ultimately save health care systems money by reducing the risk of obesity-associated diseases. In the view of Yale SOM health economist Jason Abaluck, drugs like the blockbuster semaglutide—better known under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy—are pretty close to miracle treatments.
Amazon may have withstood stricter antitrust rules because of internal build capacity
The list of companies acquired by Amazon, now a leader in multiple lines of business, seems endless: Zappos. Whole Foods. MGM Studios. Ring. In total, it snapped up 280 firms between 1998 and 2022. This history has led to the criticism that antitrust enforcers should have blocked many of these mergers. In a new study, Prof.
Customers Are Taking a Shine to Eco-friendly Products
At the supermarket, drugstore, and mall, eco-friendly options abound for everything from laundry detergents to toothpaste. Past research has suggested that people tend to believe these greener, more-sustainable alternatives aren’t as effective as traditional products—for instance, that dishwashing soap with “natural” ingredients will leave their plates less sparkly than “regular” soap.
Self-driving cars may only lower ride-hailing prices under specific conditions
In 2018, when Zhen Lian, then a Ph.D. 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.
MBA professors identified which kinds of workers are most at risk when new tech comes along — and the ones who'll stay relatively safe
Moor Studio Two professors developed a way to measure how breakthrough technologies impacted different kinds of workers. They found that those with the most advanced skills saw the biggest wage downturn. But, they say that technology will never replicate human-to-human interaction. Insider recommends waking up with Morning Brew, a daily newsletter. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.
Marketing, Advertising, Election Campaign: How Much Do Campaign Ads Matter?
According to a new study, TV ads do influence voter turnout and choices—and that the tone of the ad makes a difference Image: Shutterstock During presidential election campaigns, voters in battleground states are bombarded with TV ads. Some commercials paint candidates in glowing terms, raving about their impressive accomplishments and sterling character.
How Companies Can Do Data Privacy Better
As consumers in today’s digital world, we’re used to giving away huge amounts of personal data. We enter our age and credit card number when we register for an online service; we allow companies to track what we click on and buy; we often broadcast our geographical location. In theory, much of these data are intended to help firms provide better, more personalized service.
The negative or positive tone of political ads can have a very specific impact on voters, new research shows
The tone of campaign ads have a major influence on voter turnout and choices, according to new research. While positive ads can stimulate a larger turnout, negative ads have a bigger effect on how people vote. Marketing professor Brett Gordon says in close races, running more positive ads can make a key difference. Loading Something is loading.
Users are more concerned about their data privacy, but many companies are still hesitant to invest in data protection
Customers are growing more concerned about the privacy of their data online. Companies are often unmotivated to protect data because leaks hurt consumers more than companies. But, businesses should know that not all privacy measures are costly and some will not impact revenue. Loading Something is loading. Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Are "menu Costs" Messing Up Your Supply Chain?
Image: Shutterstock In theory, companies can change their prices whenever they want. But in reality, changing prices often brings other expenses. These are called “menu costs,” a reference to restaurants having to reprint all their menus when they reprice food. Menu costs can take on different forms depending on the industry—for example, a grocery store has to relabel products, while gas-station employees must use a pole to update numbers on the sign outside.
How An Advice Hotline Is Making Farmers In India More Productive
A 30 percent increase in area covered by mobile phones (one standard deviation) was linked to a 1.4 percentage point boost in the fraction of land that farmers planted with high-yield varieties of seeds. Image: Shutterstock The gap in agricultural productivity between countries is vast: the richest nations perform about 50 times better than the poorest, which has implications for global income inequality.
Could A Small City Become The Next Silicon Valley? It's Unlikely
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images “Become the next Silicon Valley.” So many cities have adopted this goal that it has become a cliché. Many policymakers want to emulate the economic success of the San Francisco Bay Area by drawing tech workers to their own cities—even if they are relatively small.
Could A Small Cty Become The Next Silicon Valley? It's Unlikely
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images “Become the next Silicon Valley.” So many cities have adopted this goal that it has become a cliché. Many policymakers want to emulate the economic success of the San Francisco Bay Area by drawing tech workers to their own cities—even if they are relatively small.
Recessions Can Stifle Product Innovation For Years
Companies tend to introduce fewer new products during a recession, and for good reason. With people spending less money, it makes sense that companies might decide it’s not worth the investment to innovate. And if flagging sales have forced companies to lay off workers, they also may lack the staff to carry out such projects. But there is also the important issue of credit, which tends to tighten during a recession.
Hva gjør du når barnet ikke vil sove på eget rom? Dette svarer ekspertene.
Hva gjør du når barnet ikke vil sove på eget rom? Dette svarer ekspertene. Når er det best å legge barnet på eget soverom? Og hva gjør du hvis det ikke vil sove der? Her er ekspertenes beste råd. Roberta Kwok Journalist, New York Times Denne guiden har vært publisert i New York Times. Vi publiserer utvalgte artikler fra New York Times eksklusivt for abonnenter. Oversettelse: Tekstgården Les hele saken med abonnement Allerede abonnent? Logg inn
Online and Off, We Are Drawn Toward Those with Similar Writing Styles
By Roberta Kwok We tend to become friends with those who are like us—for example, people with the same ethnic or religious background or a similar personality. A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Balázs Kovács suggests that invisible as well as visible cues can be part of this process. Specifically, the study examined whether subtle similarities in the way people write or talk, such as the types of words they use, make a difference in determining whether a relationship forms.
Research shows that when baby boomers delay retirement, their younger coworkers lose out on promotions and wage increases
As baby boomers wait later and later to retire, their younger coworkers can feel like they are blocked from being promoted to more senior positions. Research conducted in Italy proved this point: When older people kept working, junior employees at the same company received fewer promotions and less frequent wage increases. The researchers also found that on average among white-collar employees, a retirement delayed by one year was linked to a 20% drop in promotions for younger employees.
Why Did the Stock Market Bounce Back While COVID-19 Cases Kept Rising?
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 20, 2020. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images. Peter K. Schott June 10, 2020 In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, stock prices plunged, but they have since regained much of their value. Why would stocks rise while the country is paralyzed by a pandemic?
How to Move Your Child to a Separate Room
This guide was originally published on May 20, 2019. When parents bring their new baby home, they often sleep in the same room as their infant. Sharing a bedroom makes it easier to nurse, change diapers and comfort the baby at night. But at some point, many families decide that it’s time to move their child to a separate room — perhaps because they want their child to learn to sleep independently, or because their own sleep deprivation is simply driving them batty.
Keeping a Close Eye on Local Governments’ Finances Can Improve How they Govern
Vespasian/Alamy Stock Photo Anya Nakhmurina April 13, 2020 Local government has a profound impact on the everyday lives of Americans, but little research has been done on how to improve governance of towns and cities. In a new study, Yale SOM’s Anya Nakhmurina investigated the effects of fiscal monitoring policies, which require a state office to review local governments’ finances.
Dreams of Monsters and Coconuts, Airports and Toilets
Young Girl Dreaming by Paul Gauguin This is my last regular post for LWON. Thank you, readers, for indulging my ramblings about mushroom ice cream, eyeless crustaceans, and transit-chasing Frenchmen (not to mention my Canadian spelling habits). And thank you, fellow LaWONians, for letting me be part of your wonderful writing community. I’ll miss you guys. Lately, my dreams have been incredibly boring.
When Women Speak, Do People Listen?
Mary Musa on her farm in Malawi in 2010. Photo: Swathi Sridharan/Flickr. Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak February 27, 2020 In a study of farming villages in Malawi, Yale SOM’s Mushfiq Mobarak and his colleagues found that women’s performance on communication tasks seemed to be hindered by how other people received their work.
Aspiring to Be the Next Silicon Valley? Think Twice
Wikimedia/Anthonyavalos408 Olav Sorenson January 28, 2020 The booming tech sector, propelled bv venture capital, has brought a huge influx of money to the Bay Area, and policymakers often cite the region as a model to be emulated. But a study by Yale SOM researchers suggests that when VC funding in a metropolitan area increases, industries that offer goods and services to customers outside the region suffer. And even among the local establishments that benefit overall, income inequality widens.
Sharing a mutual work enemy with a friend could make you perform better, according to research
Academic researchers studied a group of traders and found profits rose in certain types of relationships. Balanced social triangles, or a positive relationship between three people, correlated with about 30% higher profits. If left alone, unbalanced negative feelings among coworkers can spread. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Does this awkward social situation sound familiar? You're friends with two coworkers — say, John and Layla.
AI and the social sciences used to talk more. Now they've drifted apart.
Image: Shutterstock Artificial intelligence researchers are employing machine learning algorithms to aid tasks as diverse as driving cars, diagnosing medical conditions, and screening job candidates. These applications raise a number of complex new social and ethical issues. So, in light of these developments, how should social scientists think differently about people, the economy, and society?
One invading tree at a time, mountain meadows disappear – Roberta Kwok | Aeon Essays
On a summer afternoon, the scene near the top of Washington’s Sauk Mountain appears utterly serene. Open meadows sweep downward, overrun with wildflowers and humming with snowberry checkerspot and silvery blue butterflies. In the distance, the Sauk River curves around the base of the Cascade Range. Spindly columbines, pale purple phlox, and chubby succulents fringe the trail. But these mountain meadows are the site of a hostile invasion.
How Machine Learning Can Find Extremists on Social Media
Tauhid Zaman November 20, 2019 Extremist groups often use online social media networks to recruit members and spread propaganda. Tauhid Zaman, an associate professor of operations management at Yale SOM, and his colleagues recently investigated how artificial intelligence could assist efforts to detect and suspend such accounts—before the user posts any damaging content. The team’s findings could help law enforcement agencies track ISIS supporters or white supremacists.
Research confirms that you should tackle harder tasks first if you actually want to be productive
Researchers KC Diwas, Bradley Staats R. Staats, Maryam Kouchaki, and Francesca Gino wanted to delve into the tendency to delay harder tasks for easier ones. One study of doctors in an East Coast emergency room found that doctors with a higher workload were more likely to choose "easier" cases. But doctors that took on a higher fraction of difficult cases were more productive in the long run.
What companies don’t tell you about extended warranties
About 15 years ago, Yuval Salant bought a laptop at a major electronics chain store. The salesperson offered him an extended warranty to cover any repairs needed after the manufacturer’s warranty expired. Salant decided to buy the warranty. “Why not just have a safety net?” he thought. But when he got home, he wondered if he had made the right choice. He consulted his cousin, who worked in the tech industry, and who informed Salant that laptops rarely break.
To Prevent Financial Crises, Regulate Short-Term Debt
A run on the National Penny Bank in London in 1888. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. Gary B. Gorton October 16, 2019 Financial crises seem irrevocably intertwined with market economies. Yale SOM’s Gary Gorton argues that this is because short-term lending, while essential to the economy, is also vulnerable to panic when parties lose confidence in each other. In a new paper, Gorton proposes a method of regulating short-term debt and preventing future crises.
Deep learning powers a motion-tracking revolution
As a postdoc, physiologist Valentina Di Santo spent a lot of time scrutinizing high-resolution films of fish. Di Santo was investigating the motions involved when fish such as skates swim. She filmed individual fish in a tank and manually annotated their body parts frame by frame, an effort that required about a month of full-time work for 72 seconds of footage.
AI and the social sciences used to talk more. Now they've drifted apart
Artificial intelligence researchers are employing machine learning algorithms to aid tasks as diverse as driving cars, diagnosing medical conditions, and screening job candidates. These applications raise a number of complex new social and ethical issues. So, in light of these developments, how should social scientists think differently about people, the economy, and society? And how should the engineers who write these algorithms handle the social and ethical dilemmas their creations pose?
To land top jobs, women need different types of networks than men
Image: Shutterstock Many career-advice articles recommend that, in order to succeed in a man’s world, women should act like men. Among other things, that may mean establishing relationships with male colleagues. For instance, one business journal urges women to “get in the game” by golfing with male coworkers, while a careers website proclaims that “beer is for bonding,” advising women to socialize with male peers over drinks.
When Prompting People to Make a Choice, the Consequence of Not Choosing Matters
James Choi August 20, 2019 People often neglect to make decisions about issues ranging from 401(k) enrollment to organ donation. One way to address this neglect is to require people to actively choose. But in a new study, Yale SOM’s James Choi and his colleagues found that the implicit default—what happens if people refuse to make an active choice despite the requirement—affects whether they make a choice.
To land top jobs, women need different types of networks than men
Many career-advice articles recommend that, in order to succeed in a man’s world, women should act like men. Among other things, that may mean establishing relationships with male colleagues. For instance, one business journal urges women to “get in the game” by golfing with male coworkers, while a careers website proclaims that “beer is for bonding,” advising women to socialize with male peers over drinks.
Study Leverages Peer Effects to Encourage Adoption of Hygienic Latrines
Ishita Ahmed James A. Levinsohn, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak July 17, 2019 The spread of a technology often depends on “peer effects”—consumers aren’t willing to take a chance on a new product until their neighbors do. In a new study, Yale SOM’s Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak and James Levinsohn investigated the use of targeted subsidies that leveraged peer effects to spark adoption of hygienic latrines, which reduce the spread of pathogens.
AI and the social sciences used to talk more. Now they’ve drifted apart.
By Roberta Kwok Artificial intelligence researchers are employing machine learning algorithms to aid tasks as diverse as driving cars, diagnosing medical conditions, and screening job candidates. These applications raise a number of complex new social and ethical issues. So, in light of these developments, how should social scientists think differently about people, the economy, and society?
How a long-distance job move can leave early-career researchers short of cash
Credit: iStock/Getty In July 2018, Scott Jones received an offer of a postdoc position at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Western Ecological Research Center in Davis, California. Jones, a plant ecologist, had just completed his PhD at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and was working for the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Chauvin on a three-month contract.
One nation invades another. What will happen next?
By Roberta Kwok Take World War I, for instance. Britain and Germany got caught up in an arms race to build more ships, each hoping to cow the other into submission. Instead, both countries became increasingly aggressive. “And then a random event in Yugoslavia triggered a horrible war,” says Sandeep Baliga, a professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at Kellogg.
Politicians vote differently when journalists aren’t watching
By Roberta Kwok When a major tornado, landslide, or flood devastates a region, it can dominate national news coverage for a few days, pushing out stories that would otherwise get more attention. With cameras pointed elsewhere, do politicians change their behavior? A new study suggests that politicians may take advantage of the temporary distraction to cast votes that are not necessarily in their constituents’ best interests.
Transgender researchers want to make an impact
application A particular use or function of something. audio Having to do with sound. binary Something having two integral parts. (in mathematics and computer science) A number system where values are represented using two symbols 1 (on) or 0 (off). biology The study of living things. The scientists who study them are known as biologists. biomedical Having to do with medicine and how it interacts with cells or tissues.
Transgender researchers want to make an impact
When Miles Ott was in high school, he had a love-hate relationship with math. Sometimes, he enjoyed his classes. At other times, he felt confused. “I did not understand what the point was,” he says. “I just thought I wasn’t good at it.” But that changed in college when he took a calculus class. The teacher explained the concepts very clearly. “‘Oh, this makes sense now,’” Ott recalls thinking at the time. “It was a great feeling to finally understand this thing that was so profoundly confusing to me.
Proud to be different in STEM
Grace Williams was 9 when her dad learned he had Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists don’t yet know what causes this incurable brain condition, which makes people more confused and forgetful. By age 12, Williams had become her father’s main caregiver. She spent hours in hospitals with him and saw how he struggled to get good care and information about his disease. Courtesy of G. Williams Grace Williams has worked with the Alzheimer’s Association as an advocate for people with the disease.
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