One More Reason to Skip Dessert

Obesity-waist_circumference

Creepiest incentive ever to exercise: Peruvian cops have arrested a gang that, they say, kills people for their fat.

The extracted adipose tissue was then allegedly sold for cosmetics made in Europe. Oddly enough, the crime fits into a Quechua cultural tradition of white boogeymen waylaying locals and killing them. Like a murderer who calls herself a vampire, this syndicate, police say, called themselves by the legendary creature's name, pishtaco (not to be confused with pistachio, says Wikipedia, and many thanks for clearing that up). Is there a word for this curious form of cultural transmission, where a mythical monster becomes real by giving people ideas for actual crimes? Feel free to suggest one in the comments.

Tags: body fat, cosmetics, crime, myth, organ trafficking, peru

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In markets, medicine, justice, politics, psychology, and economics, "Rational Man" is dead. As the science of human behavior enters the post-rational era, we no longer think of ourselves as cool calculators in pursuit of our objective self-interest. Mind Matters is about this change and its effects on how we live. It's about the reasons people perceive, feel, think, and act as they do, and the gaps between what we think we're doing and what research says we're doing. Most importantly, it's about how this sea change affects the institutions we live by: courts, hospitals, governments, stock markets and other entities that still run on the presumption that people act rationally.

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