Many families buy too little fruits and vegetables because market imperfections drive up their prices. With disturbed supply chains and rising inflation, imperfections become more pronounced, forcing many to choose less healthy alternatives. We propose a subsidy on fruits and vegetables financed through a progressive tax and show that it would strongly push diets in the right direction.  

Pluto has such a peculiar orbit that people have wondered how it exists. In our new work, we found that the orbital architecture of the giant planets lies in a Goldilock's zone that allows for the survival of Pluto and many other similarly peculiar trans-Neptunian objects. A slightly different arrangement of the giant planets would’ve ejected Pluto long ago from the solar system.

There is an urgent need to find new treatments that complement the use of vaccines and antiviral drugs to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our interdisciplinary research team uncovered evidence that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound produced by cannabis plants, has the potential to inhibit SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.

Earth began with an atmosphere similar to that of Venus. While Venus continues to have a hellish surface, Earth turned into a habitable world within just 100-200 million years. How was that possible? We proposed a scenario using theoretical modeling, where a peculiar type of rock that is currently extinct on Earth could have triggered such a radical change.

Following a series of high-profile cases of police harassment and violence, police reform has become a growing national concern in the U.S. We evaluate one reform effort, training police to treat people more fairly in hot spots of crime. We find training significantly improves officer behavior and citizen perceptions of police misbehavior while reducing arrests and crime.

Why do symmetric and regular shapes abound in biology? Using arguments based on algorithmic information theory, we explain why a preference for simple shapes often occurs in biological systems. Our theory is validated via predicting the shape frequencies for naturally occurring protein assemblies, non-coding RNAs, self-assembled tile shapes, and a cell cycle mathematical model.