Prosecutors say it would be next to impossible to get one teen to testify in court that another had slipped him or her a copied disc at lunchtime. And besides, isn’t sharing music a time-honored part of teen friendship? – Charles Duhigg
Like solo sailors venturing into the Southern Ocean, climbers are seduced by risk. The desire to push to a summit or scale a rock face is so strong that they consciously or subconsciously minimize safety precautions drilled into their brains. – Charles Duhigg
When the mortgage giant Fannie Mae recruited Daniel H. Mudd, he told a friend he wanted to work for an altruistic business. Already a decorated marine and a successful executive, he wanted to be a role model to his four children – just as his father, the television journalist Roger Mudd, had been to him. – Charles Duhigg
Patents are being used to wage war in the digital world, and as a result, patents have become a toll gate on the road of innovation. – Charles Duhigg
For years, agency officials said that atrazine in drinking water posed almost no risk to humans or the environment. – Charles Duhigg
There is a woman named Wendy Wood, who did a study when she was at Duke, and she followed around college students to try to figure out how much of their day was decision-making versus how much was habit. And what she found was that about 45 percent of all the behaviors that someone did in a day was habit. – Charles Duhigg
Union leaders argue that pension shortfalls account for a proportionally tiny portion of governments’ financial problems, and by all accounts, there are plenty of parties to blame for the growth in payrolls and obligations. – Charles Duhigg
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages from banks and other lenders, providing those financial institutions with capital to make new loans. – Charles Duhigg
Everyone dies, and before that, most people eventually lose some of their faculties. So some people worry that as marketers get better at targeting the elderly, the line between advertising and unscrupulous manipulation will be harder to discern. – Charles Duhigg