1. Important stuff most people get wrong
It’s a simple study: 18 questions on the state of the world (such as: What percentage of people live in extreme poverty?), 3 possible answers each. Turns out: On average, monkeys do better than humans. How is that possible? The monkeys, as you’d expect, have no clue, but picking answers at random means that, on average, they pick the right one every third question. If humans do worse, that means they must know some things about the world — they are just wrong. Take the test yourself (no pressure 🐵), then read about the study.
2. Less than a year to develop a COVID vaccine — here’s why you shouldn’t be alarmed
Yes, Covid vaccines have been developed very quickly, much faster than usual. No, that doesn’t make them unsafe. What makes the concern so, well, contagious is that it intuitively feels correct. «So next time somebody expresses concern at the astonishing speed the vaccine trials have happened at, point out to them that ten years isn’t a good…