Welcome to Lux Recommends #210, this week’s edition of what we at Lux are reading and thinking about. This is the last edition of 2019, so see everyone in the new year! (want to receive this by email? Sign up here)
Articles
What a 5,700-Year-Old Piece of Gum Reveals About Its Chewer: “From a wad of pitch less than an inch long, researchers have painted a detailed portrait of an ancient human — and added another layer to the story of human evolution.” — Adam K
Denman Glacier: Deepest point on land found in Antarctica — Adam K
Due Diligence and Investee Performance: “PE funds on average carry out seven weeks of due diligence, and our estimates suggest that the effect of an extra four weeks of DD is on average associated with a doubling of three-year ROA performance.” — Alex
Avatar Was the Biggest Movie of All Time, So Where Are Its Fans? “10 years after James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure premiered, we look at its cultural impact — or its lack thereof — to figure out why it failed to inspire a cult fanbase.” — Adam K
Winner Of French Scrabble Title Does Not Speak French — Adam K
Novartis’ digital transformation continues apace with Amazon supply chain tie-up — Adam G
Hyperauthorship: global projects spark surge in thousand-author papers: “The mass-authorship trend that began in particle physics is spreading to other fields.” — Sam
Venturing A Perspective On The Drug Pricing Debate — Adam G
It’s a Vast, Invisible Climate Menace. We Made It Visible —Lux friend Adam Borod
Racial bias in widely used hospital algorithm, study finds — Zavain
Nike’s Fastest Shoes May Give Runners an Even Bigger Advantage Than We Thought — Ian
Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy — Adam G
Books
The best science fiction and fantasy books of 2019— Friend of Lux Guy Perelmuter
The Last Equation of Isaac Severy: A Novel in Clues by Nova Jacobs: A “literary mystery about a struggling bookseller whose recently deceased grandfather, a famed mathematician, left behind a dangerous equation for her to track down — and protect — before others can get their hands on it.” — Sam
Movies
6 Underground: “After faking his death, a tech billionaire recruits a team of international operatives for a bold and bloody mission to take down a brutal dictator.” — Adam G
The Laundromat: “When a widow gets swindled out of insurance money, her search for answers leads to two cunning lawyers in Panama who hide cash for the superrich.” — Adam G
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — Adam K
Videos
Dishwasher from the inside — Adam K
Coolest game of catch ever — Adam K
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