Deputy Editor Ryan Jacobs joined Pacific Standard from The Atlantic, where he covered international affairs and crime for the magazine’s Global channel. Before that, he reported for Mother Jones, Bay Citizen (RIP), Sierra, the Point Reyes Light, and the Chicago Reporter. He is writing a book about crime in the truffle industry for the Clarkson Potter imprint of Penguin Random House.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, the future of the EPA is uncertain.
But new research insights about the power of the Ventura Fault might change that, along with the risks for many other structures along the Southern California coast.
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How unusual names, under certain circumstances, can lead to success.
Unconstitutional violence perpetrated by police against people of color, minorities, and vulnerable populations is all too normal.
Instead, hand them over in silence. Or, market them as the most delicious snack known to mankind.
CEO war speech might inspire ethical decisions internally and unethical ones among competing companies.
New quantitative analysis reveals that people with Uner Tan Syndrome don't actually walk like primates at all.
A linguist and top pomologists attempt to answer what should be a simple inquiry. Oddly enough, the answer brings a complicated tale of devil strawberries, insurance companies, inferior fruit, and the messy line between literal and metaphorical interpretation.
The isolated adventure is about skill, belief in internal power, and talking to yourself.
If you attend a church that promotes messages about faith and employment, you might be more committed, satisfied, and entrepreneurial on the job.
New research suggests that not all casual sex is bad. For those legitimately interested, it can boost life satisfaction and self-esteem and lessen anxiety.
More open layouts can improve inmate-guard relations and support a culture of progress rather than fear.
In a new study, kids gave lower ratings to teachers who left out key details about toys. And once misled, they inspected new toys more carefully.
Frame the story as a prior skeptic, not a staunch believer.
When used correctly, phrases like "pissed off" and "up shit creek" can signal informality and lead to more positive evaluations by potential voters.
With increasing automation, pilots may be thinking about the cold cuts they're going to buy at the deli instead of focusing on the flight.
Studies on health disparities are being confounded by yet another disparity: the disproportionate incarceration of black men.
Senior citizens' hesitance about using caretaking robots comes from a fear that their grandchildren will become emotionally dependent on the machines.
When it comes to luxury products, owning them makes you much more satisfied with your life than using them.
Using too many trials to design investment algorithms renders them statistically useless and potentially devastating.
The one-word-at-a-time presentation eliminates the eye movements that help you comprehend what you're reading.
And when they feel God might reject them, they buddy up to their partner.
Sorry to break it to you, TSwift. At least in terms of cognitive functioning while playing StarCraft 2, you're finished.
Toy hand axes, rock bashing, and special burials indicate that Neanderthals were cooler parents than previously thought, according to a new theory.
University of Kentucky geographers used millions of geotagged tweets to produce fascinating beer maps of the United States.
In more primitive times, stigmatization used to be a helpful evolutionary adaptation. In a more civilized age, it could be an illness amplifier.
The visual field accounts for the recent past in order to prevent us from feeling like we've gone mad.
When it comes to driving pro-environmental behavior, provincial norms are the most effective.
A conversation about the grim business of predicting mass atrocities.
Irrigation and fertilization use varies across and even within cities. Sustainable management plans must rely on a more targeted approach.
A new analysis proves armchair activism is alive and well.
Duck penis expert Patricia Brennan offers a catalog of all the amazing things that would not exist without the pursuit of "oddball" biological research.
Senior female psychology professors are less likely than their male counterparts to cooperate with their junior, same-gender colleagues on research.
Like everyone else, academics seem a bit mystified. Even Darwin's explanation is kind of weak.
New genetic analysis suggests that a deranged Romanian dictator, who relished bear hunting, flew them there.
Aid from external rivals is a key variable that can complicate democratization.
A researcher offers some lofty theories about some pretty basic observations.