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Remember When Kurt Cobain Died? The Difference Between Him And Robin Williams Will Get You Thinking.

Suicide is a tough topic. For people who have been touched by suicide, it's heart-wrenching. For those who have considered suicide, it's much more nuanced. For others, it's just perplexing. But this episode of the "Freakonomics" podcast will get you as close to understanding it as you can get without a Ph.D. It starts with fascinating look at a society in the Amazon where no one ever dies by suicide (you'll be hooked after that) and includes an incredibly valuable study on how media coverage affects people on the brink (18:20).

Just in case you're in a hurry, here's the rundown of the highlights:


0:00 — The story of a (real) society where no one EVER kills themselves

9:00 — The preeminent scholar on suicide discusses who is most likely to die by suicide

18:20 — The suicide contagion phenomenon, Cobain and how the media affects suicide rates, and how to talk about it responsibly

28:00 — The country with the most suicides in the world and what a "suicide triggers"

39:30 — The suicide epicenter of the United States and the "suicidal impulse"

44:10 — Why the rich kill themselves

47:40 — How ancient Greek philosophers and modern-day economists think about suicide

49:40 — What it looks like when someone who isn't depressed decides to end their life

54:00 — Why groups with the most difficult circumstances have lower suicide rates

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don't be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

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A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

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Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

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via PamTina_/Twitter

Pam's little brother is so sweet.

Pam has a little brother, who recently learned that he is actually her half-brother.

Of course, half-siblings are still very much siblings, but Pam's brother doesn't quite grasp the concept yet and seems upset about having to part with 50% of his sister.

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Jennifer Garner's Ziploc care package.

Homelessness has been on the increase in America since 2016 and the numbers exploded in 2020. On a single night in January 2020, there were more than 580,000 individuals who were without a home.

There are many reasons for the increase in homelessness and one of the leading causes is a lack of affordable housing across the country. Housing prices have been on a steady increase and, according to PBS, we are about 7 million units short of affordable housing in the country.

So what can the average person do about this human tragedy taking place in America’s streets? Some people who would like to help don’t feel comfortable giving money to homeless people, although experts in the field say that most of the time it is OK.

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