Author name: Camm Epstein

In 1850, the French economist Frédéric Bastiat published an essay titled “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen.” His

Policy conversations often use the upstream–downstream metaphor because it captures a familiar problem: Debates tend to focus downstream, where the

Anyone who has ever hung a shelf knows there are two ways to get it wrong. The shelf can hang

Every bowler knows the lane has boundaries. Staying in your lane is not a limitation — it is the condition

Engineers routinely ask how much failure is tolerable before a system stops being viable. Call that threshold the failure ceiling

There is a famous ad for Maxell cassette tapes showing a man reclining in a chair in front of a

Stretch Armstrong was made to be pulled out of shape. Children could grab the toy by its arms and legs

Squeeze a Panic Pete stress toy and the reaction is immediate: eyes, ears, and nose all bulge outward. It’s also

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare’s

Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” opens in early spring. The frozen ground has heaved overnight, and gaps have opened in

People learn what to expect from the systems they inhabit. Classic sociological work has long made that point in different

Most people support affordable housing in principle. Ask whether it should go on their block, and the answer often changes.

Imagine hiring a contractor to oversee a home renovation and paying him 20% of total project costs. If the price

The idiom “a needle in a haystack” refers to something extremely difficult to find. It implies that the needle is

When Arkansas banned PBMs from owning pharmacies, legislators cited a crisis: Independent pharmacies were closing at alarming rates. But were

When a jazz group improvises, the music works only because the players share an underlying framework. They agree on the

When rowers are aligned — matching their timing, rhythm, and pressure — the boat holds a steady line. Coordinated strokes

In international relations, hard power uses force or coercion — military action, sanctions, binding resolutions — to change another actor’s

The phrase “grasping at straws” comes from a mid-16th century proverb, “a drowning man will clutch at a straw.” The

On September 3, 2025, during an announcement to end all state vaccine mandates — including long-standing school immunization requirements —

The ground is shifting beneath the U.S. vaccine landscape. For decades, the CDC’s adoption of ACIP recommendations has provided a

The United States faces a critical national security vulnerability: our dependence on China for the ingredients used to manufacture many

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmacies promote convenience and transparent prices. But beneath the appealing marketing lies a more complex reality. Ten weaknesses

When asked if the pizza should be cut in six or eight slices, a customer said: “Six slices. I don’t

In baseball, the backstop — netting and a wall placed behind home plate — is designed to protect fans without

When policymakers think about what causes morbidity and mortality, heart and other chronic diseases, cancer, and accidents often come to

Netflix’s “Top 10 Today” shows what’s most watched — not what’s most worthwhile. A sensational reality show may outrank a thoughtful

There’s an old parable about a frog that’s placed in a pot of cool water that’s gradually heated. The frog

The United States is falling behind. Since the mid-1980s, improvements in U.S. life expectancy have slowed compared with other wealthy

Across industries, consumer priorities tend to emerge slowly. But once they take root, they change how we define value. When

History is replete with cautionary tales about the dangers of acting on insufficient evidence in pursuit of urgent goals. The

Just as many Americans seek affordable care abroad, the United States has been a leading destination for international patients seeking

Americans travel abroad for all kinds of reasons — vacation, business, education, family visits. Increasingly, they also travel for medical

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. This is an anti-joke where the absence

Millions of people unknowingly rely on hidden security measures to protect them from unseen threats. At airports, the Transportation Security

If you squeeze a balloon in one spot, the trapped air shifts and the balloon will expand where there is

Sometimes writers place quotation marks around a word or phrase to signal sarcasm, irony, disbelief, skepticism, disagreement, or belief that

Punching holes in things can be very useful. Evenly spaced holes made leather belts with metal buckles adjustable. Conductors punched

Ever stood in front of a funhouse mirror? The warped reflections transform the way you look — stretching your torso

Coinsurance is a percentage-based cost-sharing model where patients pay a portion of medical expenses after meeting their deductible. Unlike fixed

The modern proverb “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” originated in 1385 when a primitive version of

In The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy is ready to return home to Kansas, Glinda, the good witch, gives her

When sanding wood, different grits are used for different purposes: extra-coarse grits to smooth extra-rough and uneven surfaces and to

For millennia, people have looked at the heavens and tried to make sense of what they saw. Several moments in

There’s life and there’s death. It’s dichotomous… sort of. Dying is a process toward the end of life, and that’s

The idiom “to have an axe to grind” means to have a selfish reason or strong opinion that shapes one’s

You are what you eat. There is no denying the importance of good nutrition. A healthy diet can lower the

Sometimes we meet or even exceed our goals, and sometimes we fall short. For example, we might set out to

We’re constantly making predictions. Will it rain? How will they respond if we do or say X? How much do

We’re surrounded by countless currents carrying things from one location to another. Temperature gradients, concentration gradients, pressure gradients, electrical gradients,

Why purge physical items when we can just rent additional storage space? Why delete digital files when we can just

If you’ve been in an old European castle with spiral stairs, then chances are the spiral stairs had a left-handed

Do you remember watching Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie Jaws? If so, you likely recall an early scene at a crowded

Smiling has been shown to boost mood; reduce blood pressure, pain, and stress; increase endurance; and strengthen the immune system.

Let’s suppose you’re motivated to work on one of the several global challenges we face (God bless you). And suppose

Demand for products that combined “fen” (fenfluramine), an appetite depressant, with “phen” (phentermine), an amphetamine, soared after a small study

Most of us likely have heard the Verizon Wireless character say, “can you hear me now?” Those commercials ran from

As artificial intelligence (AI) permeates all facets of work and life, many thought leaders are increasingly concerned that AI poses

Some find open conversations about sexual and reproductive health uncomfortable, yet many federal and state politicians comfortably and publicly debate

A 1992 commercial starts with a young student coloring as the teacher drones on: “Stay within the lines, the lines

“What’s in your backpack?” is a reference to the psychological load one carries. People with diabetes carry a heavy psychological

Travelers Insurance Co. has used an image of a red umbrella in its logo since 1870. It’s brilliant imagery —

Churning converts cream to butter. This process agitates the cream and separates it into butter and buttermilk. Whereas cream is

Whales sometimes beach themselves, but because of insufficient evidence, we don’t know why. There are several plausible explanations for such

Probability is the likelihood of something happening. When flipping a “fair” coin (i.e., one that has an equal chance of

Harvard Business School Professor of Leadership John Kotter says accelerating change often requires creating and sustaining a sense of urgency.

Optical microscopes — sometimes called light microscopes — use a range of objective lenses to view small objects. Objective lenses

Picking a lock requires a couple tools, time and effort. In essence, pins are pushed out of the way one

There are rules, exceptions to rules, and rules for exceptions to rules. Yep, payers have all of the above, and

You’ve probably heard the phrase “raise the bar.”  While its origin is based on the high jump and pole vault,

When you look in a mirror, who do you see? Not what, but who? How you see yourself may be

As far back as the 13th century, European craft guilds set and maintained standards for the quality of goods in

“Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice” is often attributed to Henry Ford, who had the phrase

War kills, injures, and sickens combatants and noncombatants, including innocent civilians. The horrors of war include burns, broken bones, wounds

For many people, selecting an ice cream flavor — even when there are many to choose from — is an

In his classic 1975 book titled Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff, economist Art Okun noted the tensions between the

Perhaps you’re familiar with — and sometimes can relate to — the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who is repeatedly forced

Every year in the United States, diseases linked to smoking kill approximately 480,000 people, including more that 41,000 deaths from

Out with the old, in with the new. Gene therapies are ushering in a new age of treating and curing

The three “wise monkeys” depicted in a 17th century wood carving at the Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko, Japan, represent the

The earth is warming — and it is warming faster. For the contiguous United States, the five warmest years on

Humpty Dumpty fell off a wall, and all the king’s horses and men couldn’t put him back together again. As

There are serious health conditions in which a new solution could fill a big unmet need. In that context, the

One might ask: How do I look in these jeans? That’s debatable. The fact that the prevalence of obesity has

If you watched TV during the ’70s, you likely saw various iterations of an ad that said, “When E.F Hutton

The impressionist painter Claude Monet explored the effects of light on the color of objects. He often painted the same

Looking back, social scientists have seen the silver linings of the influenza epidemic of 1918, the cholera epidemic of the