Description: A good primer on how clinical studies should be conducted and how statistics are used and misused to influence us.

Description: Summary of all issue articles, with theme of recognizing limits of classical actuarial methods.

Description: Description of the vast variety of predictive analytics topics covered by the Forecasting & Futurism section and introduction to the July 2015 issue of the newsletter.

Description: Summary of the excellent Abstract serve provided to M&PD section members

Description: Each month in the media we learn of another set of jobs being automated into oblivion or replaced by disruptive technologies. We see taxi drivers replaced by Uber and Lyft now, and soon by self-driving cars. An Oxford University study of 702 occupations showed insurance underwriters in 698th place, with a 99% probability of computerization. They were safer for obsolescence by automation than only four occupations such as hand sewers and telemarketers.

Description: Editorial Introduction to the issue.

Description: This article is a review of the book by Joshua Foer. It covers the history of memory techniques, the way a human brain organizes memory, and various problems and successes in memory recall. The author starts by interviewing memory savants, and learns from them that the ability to perform seemingly impossible memory tricks is simply a matter of studying and practicing proven techniques used for millennia. This review suggests that actuaries can benefit greatly from some of these techniques despite the availability of electronic hand-held devices to recall facts because the person who does not need to rely upon such devices can have a huge perceptual advantage in executive presentations.

Description: The author provides an overview of terms that have gained favor in sociology, physics, engineering and anthropology that should be of interest to actuaries.

Description: Second article in a series on effective writing: focuses on writing for Chinese readers if English; and on writing for English readers if Chinese.

Description: The editor of the newsletter provides a running list of articles included in the issue highlighting such topics as the applicability genetic algorithms, the power of group dynamics, judgmental forecasting, improvement in mortality and complexity science.