More pieces we would like to commission
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Aedes aegypti
14 min read
The article specifically discusses this mosquito species as responsible for most cases of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya, and mentions scientific tools like gene drives and Wolbachia bacteria to eliminate it. Deep knowledge of this species' biology and ecology would enrich understanding of the proposed elimination strategies.
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Pontine Marshes
18 min read
The article references 'the Pontine marshes near Rome' in discussing Italy's millennia-long struggle with malaria and its mid-20th century elimination. This specific historical and geographical topic provides fascinating context about one of history's most ambitious land reclamation and public health projects.
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Gene drive
12 min read
The article mentions gene drives as one of the scientific tools that could suppress or eliminate disease-carrying mosquitoes. This is a cutting-edge and controversial biotechnology concept that most readers would benefit from understanding more deeply, especially given its potential implications for public health interventions.
This April we published our first list of pieces we would like to commission. Some of these ideas have already turned into great articles, such as on the wonders of modern drywall and an 80,000 year history of the tomato. Others are planned for upcoming issues, including our new print magazine. A few turned out to be bad ideas for pieces after all.
Given the success of the last list, here is another one. If you find that a really good article already exists on one of the topics below, please send it to us. If it’s old or obscure, we might republish it.
If you are the right person to write one of these pieces, please email us at wip-pitches@stripe.com, introduce yourself, indicate which pitch you’d like to take, and summarize how you would like to approach the story as though it was one of our normal pitches (guide here – please do read this, our pitch guidelines are different to those of many other publications).
The mosquito we should just get rid of. One mosquito species is responsible for most cases of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya: Aedes aegypti. It thrives in cities, breeding in bottle caps and flower pots, and has adapted perfectly to human life. But now scientists have tools, like gene drives and Wolbachia bacteria, to suppress or even eliminate it. What makes this one mosquito species so harmful to us? How might we eliminate it?
Successful pension reforms in recent history. Australia successfully moved its population to a retirement savings plan (‘Superannuation’) in the early 1990s. Silvio Berlusconi’s governments in Italy drove reforms that moved much of the population from ‘defined benefit’ pensions to savings-focused ‘defined contribution’ pensions. What can other states learn from these experiences to reduce their own future retirees’ dependence on working age populations?
How Japan fixed its pensions. We’d like pitches on all kinds of pension reforms. But we especially want to understand what happened in Japan in 2004. The country has the worst old age dependency ratio of any developed country. Its fiscal position, however, is much better than many other rich countries, in part due to the reforms to its pensions under the Koizumi government. What did this reform involve and why did it pass?
Why have American electricity prices risen so much? Some people blame renewables, others
...This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.