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The Dangerous Stupidity of “Doing Your Own Research”

Froot Loops

In a recent interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that parents of newborn babies should do their own research before vaccinating their babies. Here’s the full quote: “I would say that we live in a democracy, and part of the responsibility of being a parent is to do your own research. You research the baby … Read more

Why the Nike Backlash May Be Just the Beginning

Nike backlash

When Jennifer and I wrote Beyond Diversity, one of the first things we talked about was blind spots. We knew that there would be things we could not see or cultural references we might not know. It was the reason we engaged six contributors and another eight sensitivity readers to help us uncover those deficits in … Read more

UAE Becomes First Region to Experiment with Using AI to Write New Laws

UAE uses AI to write lesgislation

Here’s a fascinating statistic about the recent state of AI regulation: “at least 69 countries have proposed over 1,000 AI-related policy initiatives globally, but these primarily focus on how to control AI rather than empower it.” What could empowered AI do for the future of government? The United Arab Emirates is the first nation to … Read more

Earth Day, Environmental Hostility and The Blue Marble 50 Years Later

Blue marble

This past week was Earth Day and one of the efforts to commemorate the day was NASA recognizing the 50th anniversary of their iconic “blue marble” photo of the Earth by releasing a similar image taken fifty years later. How did they compare? “In the 50 years that separates these two snapshots in time, one … Read more

The Complex Reality of “Girlbosses” In Space

Katy Perry Space X

This week the first all-female crew for a “manned” spaceflight headed to space—for ten minutes—on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. One of the passengers was pop singer Katy Perry who reportedly broke into song while on the flight (What a Wonderful World) and promptly kissed the ground when she landed safely back to Earth. Again, … Read more

How “Chrono-Nutrition” Could Use Metabolism Science to Change When We Eat Anything

new line of “circadian snacking

If there is an optimal time to eat a particular type of food, then there are suboptimal times to have it too. The problem is, we don’t usually know this sort of detail about the things we consume. Yet scientists already know that “nutrient sequencing”—the act of eating fiber-rich vegetables first during a meal, followed … Read more

The Sad Retreat of April Fool’s Day and What It Reveals About Our Culture

April Fools

The week of April Fool’s Day, I regularly look forward to reading about all the brands taking risks, exploring their fun sides and doing something with personality. This used to be one of my favorite weeks to read all the advertising trade publications. This year wasn’t as much fun. Much of the coverage seemed to … Read more

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis

NOBW_who is government

In the words of bestselling author Garrett Graff who recently wrote a review for The Washington Post, this book “examines some of the remarkable people who make up the federal workforce — career civil servants who have accomplished the extraordinary in quiet ways, people whose jobs are normally buried layers below any partisan rancor. Perhaps never … Read more

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In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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