Word: predictible
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...scientists, it's all part of the larger question of how the human brain makes decisions. But the answers may be invaluable to Big Business, which plowed an estimated $8 billion in 2006 into market research in an effort to predict--and sway--how we would spend our money. In the past, marketers relied on relatively crude measures of what got us buying: focus-group questionnaires and measurements of eye movements and perspiration patterns (the more excited you get about something, the more you tend to sweat). Now researchers can go straight to the decider in chief--the brain itself...
...YANKEES What economists are struggling to predict is how pervasive the impact of this housing slowdown will be on the rest of the U.S. economy, and abroad. Perhaps most surprising, American consumers are continuing to spend, regardless: automobile purchases are sluggish, but retail sales rose by a higher-than-forecast 0.9% in December. "I'm not prepared to bet against the American consumer. That's a highly dangerous proposition," says Jesper Koll, chief Japan economist for Merrill Lynch...
...What economists are struggling to predict is how extensive the impact of this housing slowdown will be. Many other real estate markets around the globe rose in tandem with the U.S. in recent years, but so far none have come back down to earth with the same force. Perhaps most surprisingly, American consumers are continuing to spend, regardless: automobile purchases are sluggish, but monthly retail sales rose by a higher-than-forecast 0.9% from November to December. "I'm not prepared to bet against the American consumer. That's a highly dangerous proposition," says Jesper Koll, chief Japan economist...
...face of it, that doesn't seem especially surprising: we feel strong emotion at important events, which are obviously more memorable than ordinary moments. But the connection is much deeper than that and dates back to our deepest evolutionary past. "The major purpose of memory," observes McGaugh, "is to predict the future." An animal that can remember the significance of that large, nasty-looking thing with the big teeth and sharp claws will survive longer and produce more offspring...
...with their booming economies, were supposed to consume every last drop of oil the world could produce, guaranteeing shortages for the rest of us. And with instability mounting in the Middle East as well as in major oil-producing countries like Nigeria and Venezuela, it was only logical to predict many years of tight supplies - and ludicrous profits for the ExxonMobils of the world...