DOUGLAS QUENQUA

Breaking: Cell Phones are Annoying

Douglas Quenqua — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:04:30 +0000

This isn’t news so much as validation. A new study is the latest evidence that overheard cell phone conversations are more distracting than regular overheard dialogue. The difference is that your brain tries to fill in the missing half of the conversation, thus making it difficult to focus on anything else. I’ve written about rude people before, and there have been several other studies saying basically the same thing. But you can never have too much ammunition when waging war against jerks.

Filed under: Douglas Quenqua, New York Times Tagged: 2013, Amy Alkon

31 Pretty Good Paragraphs about BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith

Douglas Quenqua — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:16:09 +0000

I first met Ben Smith in 2009 when we participated in a panel discussion in front of some student journalists. He was at Politico at the time, and it was just after Eliot Spitzer had gotten busted. While we were waiting to go on stage, Smith got a call from Spitzer on his cell phone. I thought that was pretty cool. Fast forward three years, and Smith–one of the smartest political reporters in NYC–took the top editorial job at BuzzFeed, instantly making him America’s most respected purveyor of listicles and cat gifs. How do you not write about this guy?

Filed under: Douglas Quenqua, New York Times Tagged: 2013, Ben Smith, BuzzFeed

Traumatized, but not Forever

Douglas Quenqua — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:38:35 +0000

What happens to children who witness violent crime? That question was on everyone’s mind following the awful shooting in Newtown, Conn. The bad news is that children are exposed to trauma far more frequently than most people assume. The good news is they usually get better

Filed under: 2012 Tagged: Childhood Trauma, Newtown

Signing Science

Douglas Quenqua — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:27:38 +0000

Like all languages, sign language evolves organically. There is no central office inventing or approving new signs. While there’s something beautiful about that, it’s also a huge pain in the ass to hearing-impaired science students, because there is a lack of agreed-upon signs for complicated terms like “photosynthesis” — or even simple ones like “mass.” This leads to a lot of improvisation and finger spelling, which only adds to the frustration deaf students already feel in the classroom. Now, with the rise of the Internet and particularly Web video, hearing-impaired scientists are creating online forums and even wikis to try to agree on some useful signs. The story is here, but be sure to check out the gorgeous multimedia page that goes with it, starring N.Y.C.’s favorite interpreter, Lydia Callis.

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times Tagged: Lydia Callis

The New Adonis Complex

Douglas Quenqua — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:55:01 +0000

The unattainable body image: It’s not just for girls anymore. This article, which appeared on Page 1 of the NYTimes, resulted in my first appearance on the Today show, which includes a nice tutorial on how not to pronounce my name. (I mean, I was right there in the studio. You could have just asked.)

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times

Mom, Courtesy of a Raffle

Douglas Quenqua — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 15:55:39 +0000

Luck plays a role in every pregnancy, but this is taking it to the extreme: Fertility clinics are now raffling off rounds of in vitro fertilization, either to raise money for charity or drum up a little publicity. To some, this is nothing more than giving a fair shake to couples who can’t afford the pricey treatments. To others, it’s trivializing the sanctity of life, and exploiting already-vulnerable people. A NYTimes Page 1 story, Clinic Raffles Could Make You a Winne r, and Maybe a Mother.

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times

Drinking on the Job

Douglas Quenqua — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:45:59 +0000

Throughout the campaign, Barack Obama made a big show of the fact that he likes to drink (and brew) beer. It was all part of the President’s strategy to make his non-drinking Mormon opponent seem weird and “not like you and me.” It got me thinking, this must be the kind of thing non-drinkers deal with all the time, and it must be unyieldingly annoying. So I asked some teetotalers how their chaste tendencies affected their careers. Seems the sober life has its drawbacks, too.

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times

A Voice for Gay Christians

Douglas Quenqua — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:21:41 +0000

I first came across Matthew Vines while visiting Harvard in April to write this story. Walking through campus, I saw a flyer advertising a screening of his YouTube video, The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality. The next morning–a Saturday–I watched 50 college kids sit in total silence for 67 minutes while Matthew, a gay Harvard student from Kansas who left school to study the Bible, lectured about Corinthians, Leviticus, Ancient Greek and the modern concept of homosexuality. I was impressed, to say the least, and knew I had to write about this kid. At a time when everyone seems to be taking sides either with Christian values or gay rights, it’s nice to hear someone suggest the two may not be mutually exclusive. My story from this week’s Sunday Styles section, Turned Away, He Turned to the Bible.

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times Tagged: matthew vines

The Sleeping Race

Douglas Quenqua — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:46:34 +0000

If you’ve ever been on Facebook past midnight, you already know that nobody in this country is sleeping. Well it turns out that just how little people sleep actually depends on race. Research has shown over and over that black people in America tend to sleep about an hour less than whites, who get the most and highest quality sleep of anyone. (Hispanics fall somewhere in the middle.) What researchers don’t yet know is why, though they have some pretty good guesses.

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times

All Hail the Cube

Douglas Quenqua — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:23:16 +0000

While I admit that this clip was running through my head the entire time I was writing this story, the truth is that the new subculture surrounding the Rubik’s Cube is actually very cool–and kind of important. In a world increasingly dependent on algorithms, it’s good to know that budding science geeks have a “toy” they can learn from. So I attended the 2012 Rubik’s Cube tournament in Las Vegas –blindfolded solving, one-handed solving, solving with your feet–and came away with this. Sadly, no Alf.

Filed under: 2012, Douglas Quenqua, New York Times Tagged: Rubik's Cube