Hydraulic fracturing — the process of injecting millions of gallons of water and chemicals into shale formations to release oil and gas — has transformed energy production in the United…
read moreEach year, the American Contact Dermatitis Society designates an “Allergen of the Year.” In 2018, that dubious honor was given to propylene glycol. Propylene glycol, widely used to absorb water…
read moreWho will pay for the opioid epidemic? The millions of individuals addicted to opioids and the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have died from opioid overdose, along with their…
read moreDuPont and 3M introduced the commercial world to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the 1950s. Decades later, the first generation of these water-, grease-, and stain-resistant chemicals – perfluorooctanoic…
read moreOne of the many reasons casualty catastrophe is a challenge to model is that the insured’s exposure is driven by its past and present business activities: the industrial processes it…
read moreIn the first decision of its kind, a California jury last Friday determined that the agricultural chemicals company Monsanto is liable for causing a man’s Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). The jury…
read moreAs many of you who follow us may know, Praedicat was incubated within the RAND Corporation prior to its launch in 2012. RAND is the world’s largest non-profit think tank…
read moreRegulatory and litigious energy is created when a large number of individuals are harmed or perceived to be harmed. Once created, that energy is typically conserved following a path of…
read moreScientists are growing increasingly sophisticated three-dimensional miniature brains and other organs (“organoids”) — stomachs, kidneys, livers, prostate glands, pancreases — in order to understand disease processes and formulate more effective…
read moreMany of us love a good political horse race. The Associated Press, though, recently issued new guidelines for reporting on pre-election polling that seeks to deemphasize that type of election coverage. Among…
read moreAs a labor economist I’ve long been interested in the question of what makes some individuals more susceptible to adverse outcomes than others. Everyone has “bad luck” from time to…
read moreIn early January, two major Apple stockholders, JANA Partners, LLC and the California State Teacher’s Retirement System, sent a letter to Apple urging the company to address the possibility that overuse of…
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