Guest post by Jeff Mosenkis of Innovations for Poverty Action.

• NPR had a nice profile of an evaluation of whether teaching girls in Zambia Harvard Business School’s negotiation tools can help them navigate the many challenges to staying in school.
• In clinical trials painkiller placebo effects have been getting stronger, even though the actual drugs haven’t (via Nathanael G.)
• The story of a man who used statistics to beat a game show (also the Price is Right).
• Political Scientist Ryan Briggs’ newborn son has a rare and life-threatening condition, he doesn’t want people to donate to it.
• It’s Nobel Prize week, the Nobel for Physiology or Medicine went to those behind treatments for malaria and roundworm parasites, which largely affect the developing world. New Scientist has a very interesting interview with the winning Chinese scientist who after 240,000 tries at finding a malaria drug, started searching old Chinese medicine recipes. She eventually discovered artemisinin, but still remained anonymous for decades.

And, the econ Nobel will be given out Monday. Previous winner Robert Shiller was recently kicked off an overbooked flight on his way to a conference. He also ate cat food to prove all the “flavors” taste the same, even though manufacturers are happy to admit this. So when this year’s prize is announced, those who don’t win shouldn’t feel bad – the Nobel won’t keep your seat on a plane, and your best work may be ahead of you anyway.