You would be forgiven for thinking that deafness is something that can’t be prevented with medicines. But perhaps it is, writes Helen Carmichael:

• Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is caused by hairs in the ear becoming damaged. This can be ‘mechanical’, caused by vibrations.
• It can also be because of ‘free radicals’ (reactive chemicals) being produced by the ears’ surface cells after loud noises. These free radicals also destroy fragile ear hairs.
• This is an ongoing process; the free radicals are present for 7-10 days after exposure to elevated noise levels.
• A wide range of chemicals can help remove free radicals; including taking magnesium supplements.
• Test are still in the trial stage, but a variety of studies suggest that there are a large number of possible drugs that could be taken routinely, or after exposure to loud noises, that would help mitigate hearing damage.
• The market for NIHL preventing drugs is estimated to be worth a potential $2 billion. The hearing implants and devices market is currently worth around $6 billion.

Free radicals are only part of the picture, but if workers who are exposed to loud noises could help mitigate their hearing loss through routine supplements then so much the better. Read more in this chemistry-focused article over here

Source: Society of Chemistry and Industry

How much is the value of the zip code system of the United States? Niraj Chokshi looked at a study that tried to answer the question:

• According to a report by the U.S. Postal Service Office and IBM, the zip code system is worth $9.5 billion a year.
• $2.2 billion of that value goes to the postal service, $2.1 billion to firms who use it for mail-related products, $2.4 billion for firms that use it for non-mail products, and consumers, governments, and non-profits gain $2.9 billion.
• The zip code isn’t an American invention – Germany had the first modern zip code system in 1961, and it didn’t come to the United States until 1963.
• The primary challenge when setting up the system was ensuring that there was a high rate of adoption. AT&T warned the post office that their experience with implementing area codes for telephones indicated that implementing zip codes would be an uphill challenge.
• A massive advertising campaign ensured that the system had near 100% adoption within 20 years.
• The next evolution for the zip code might be the addition of longitude and latitude coordinates. Even a 1% improvement in zip code data could yield $33 billion in benefits.

Read more about the study, its limitations, and the mysterious Mr. Zip who made the American zip code system possible over here.

Source: The Atlantic

One of the many debates that the Boston Bombings will lead to in the United States, is the debate about the role that the government has to play in providing terror insurance:

• Insurers are able to develop risk forecast models for natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes to help identify the right amount they should charge for insurance.
• However their models are unable to truly account for terror attacks since those are relatively rare.
• The fear is that since private insurers won’t provide terror insurance, important infrastructure and development projects will be held up as developers are unwilling to take on an uninsured risk of a terror attack.
• After 9/11 the government set up a program that would provide government support if a terror attack led to over $100 million in losses.
• However that program is expiring in 2014 and lawmakers are hoping that even though the Boston Bombings wouldn’t have triggered a payout under the policy; it will still serve as impetus to extend the program.

Read more about why it is being opposed and how it could be modified over here.

Source: Politico

Via: Marginal Revolution

Overpriced snacks and drinks in a tiny dorm-sized refrigerator are a staple of hotel stays. Or at least they used to be writes Andrea Petersen:

• Hotels claim that they actually make a loss on the over-priced snacks in the fridges. Between payment disputes and guests replacing the contents of bottles with water, up to 20% of revenue is lost.
• Most people don’t even use the mini-bar because people don’t really enjoy drinking alone, and are aware of how expensive the contents are.
• To get people to use it more some hotel are putting in more exotic snacks such as ham-flavoured almonds, or beer from local breweries, to convince guests to purchase items they can’t get anywhere else.
• Others are getting rid of the fridge entirely and putting snacks in plain view, making them harder to resist.
• Some hotels have experimented with putting in electronic trackers to see if the contents of a fridge have been disturbed. They also track expiry dates, cutting down on the cost of labour required to replace items. However these have their own problems as customers might move things around without consuming anything.

Read more about why some hotels have just put in empty fridges into the rooms, the most popular items with guests, and why one guest was charged $700 for items he didn’t consume over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: The Economist

Farming in the modern era is a difficult and capital intensive process. This is especially true for farmers who grow crops of marijuana. Ana Campoy took a look at the economics of the industry:

• Growing marijuana is labour intensive – and growers can’t hope to use cheap immigrants to do the job. Payroll can make up to a third of production costs.
• As the legal framework concerning the growth of marijuana has eased, there has also been increased competition which has eaten away at profits. The price for a pound of weed has crashed from $3,900 to $2,000.
• The strict regulations around growing pot require a lot of investment. The state requires cameras in every room with plants and expensive heating lamps have to be bought. Banks refuse to offer finance.
• Meanwhile the industry has to deal with cheap overseas competition from Mexico where wages are low, working conditions are harsh, and regulations are lax.
• As with any farm, pot-growers have to be on the look-out for pests and other dangers that can lower the quality of a harvest.
• Farmers are also concerned about intellectual property rights. After one strain of pot called Bio-Diesel won the award for best quality in 2009, copycats with lower quality plants used the same name to market their produce.

Read more about the best way to make money growing weed, why there can be raids even in states where it’s legal to grow the plant, and how a single male plant can ruin an entire harvest of marijuana over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

To aid the manhunt of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, officials asked residents to stay home and business to stay shut in the city of Boston. Joshua Green and Caroline Winter took a look at the economic implications of this:

• As one of America’s most important cities Boston see’s about $1 billion in economic activity every day.
• But shutting down the city doesn’t end all economic activity. Thanks to computers a lot of work continues to go on. Moreover activities such as shopping for groceries that could not happen on the day of the manhunt will simply happen the next day, preserving the economic benefit.
• Some economic activity is lost though, and the value for that lost activity is up to about $333 million.
• One source of commerce that will continue is the trade of donuts. Police officials asked that Dunkin Donuts remained open so that officers had a place to take a snack break.

Read more about the economics of shutting down a city, as well as what New York City and Washington can tell us about the after-effects of a crisis over here.

Source: Businessweek

We’ve previously covered cupcakes as the next big food trend. It appears that cupcakes may just have been a bubble which is now collapsing:

• Crumbs Bake Shop – a chain that sells cupcakes that cost up to $42 – has seen its share price drop from $13 to $1.70 in the past 18 months.
• This is in part because the cupcakes were a novelty. People enjoyed them a few times, but there isn’t much repeat business.
• The barriers to entry in the market are also low and there has been a flood of competitors who’ve eaten away at Crumbs’ market share.
• Image issues contributed to the decline – at least one former employee claims that the premium cupcakes aren’t always fresh.
• For its part, Crumbs claims that its disappointing financial performance is due to $700,000 in lost sales during the time of Hurricane Sandy.

Read more about the cupcake bubble, what experts have to say, and a potential future strategy for Crumbs over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Raspberry Pi is the realised dream of a small, cheap, hackable computer that will work anywhere in the world. But getting there wasn’t an easy ride, writes co-founder Pete Lomas

• The plan was to build 1,000 units at $36 each and sell them for $35. There’s a reason it’s a charity, not a company
• Three weeks before launch, demand was above the estimated 1,000 units, to the tune of 200,000.
• People had invested considerable sums of money in Raspberry Pi. The original idea was to have the hardware and software be totally open so anybody could hack it. But open also means copyable, and that would have meant investors potentially never getting their return.
• To overcome this, the designers published the schematics early on, but waited a while before releasing the Bill of Materials and physical PCB design.
• The project created 30 manufacturing jobs in the UK.

Read more in this mildly technical article; about what different groups were asking for in the design, why the project was saved by a laser making hair size holes, and how 7 year olds are getting involved over here

Source: Wired

“I have no doubt that we could physically place a human being on Mars. Whether they’d be able to survive for an extended period of time is much more doubtful” says Dr Bray. But the plan is to have humans settling the red planet by 2023, writes Melissa Hogenboom:

• Mars One is the non-profit organisation aiming to send the colonisers. After the first arrivals, four new settlers will be sent every two years.
• All of the technology that will be used on Mars already exists, including solar cells for energy and water recycling technologies for drinking and crop growing.
• For the reality TV show lovers, there’s something for you. The plan is to televise the whole experience in a Big Brother (or perhaps Truman Show) style programme.
• Cost may be an issue at $6 billion for the first group. But Mars One already has two investors, Trifork BV from the Netherlands and  Now&Partners from South Africa.
• There might be slight hiccups. “There’s no liquid water, the atmospheric pressure is “practically a vacuum”, radiation levels are higher and temperatures vary wildly” warns Dr Bray.

Read more about this project including plans to deal with the radiation, how Mars compares to Antarctica and why the tickets to Mars are only one way over here

Source: BBC

Half a century ago chicken came on the bone and resembled a bird. Today the era of on the bone chicken appears to be coming to an end, giving way to boneless chicken:

• Up until the 1970s fast food chains didn’t have product offerings beyond burgers and fries. However federal guidelines around the 70s began to discourage Americans from eating red meat.
• Moreover the price of beef began to rise, causing fast food chains to desperately search around for alternatives.
• Chicken was an attractive option since it was cheap and thought to be healthier than beef.
• McDonald’s led the charge trying out chicken pot-pies and bone-in fried chicken. Only deep fried boneless chicken chunks resonated with customers.
• Now boneless chicken has become so common that one KFC executive jokes that young people today no longer know that chicken has bones in it.
• Most chains from Chik-Fil-A to Burger King have abandoned on the bone chicken. KFC was the last holdout and it too recently announced plans to introduce boneless chicken menu offerings.

Read more about the history of chicken nuggets, what Colonel Sanders would have thought, and the problem with chicken margins over here.

Source: Time