interventions like these are crucial to make the world smarter.

In 2008, Christopher Charles was thinking about anemia. Anemia is often caused by an iron deficiency. It makes you tired and weak. It makes you have trouble thinking clearly. Almost 50% of Cambodia’s population suffers from this disease! Over 3.5b people on our planet have anemia, a $50b drain on global GDP. You can cure anemia with iron supplements – but they taste bad, and they often cause stomach pains, constipation, and even more disgusting problems. So Charles had another idea: give villagers little blocks of iron to drop into their cooking pots. The iron gets released slowly as the water boils. But at first, people hated them. They thought the iron blocks where ugly. They thought the iron blocks would scratch their pots. So they turned them into doorstops. He kept trying. Eventually he came up with a second idea, that could make the first idea work.

He realized that in rural Cambodia almost everything revolves around fish. People earn money fishing, they’re a big part of the Khmer diet and their folklore. So, he made iron into “lucky fish”. And people are now happy to put one into the pot when cooking.

1 of those who has been using the fish is Sot Mot, a 60-year-old grandmother who lives just outside Phnom Penh. She drops the fish into boiling water as she chops up garlic, ginger and lemongrass for Khmer chicken soup. “Before, I felt tired and lazy and my chest shook when I was tired. But after I use the fish, I have strength and energy to work and I sleep well, too.”

1 of her granddaughters seems to be improving, too. “Before, when I went to school I felt tired, and I didn’t do well at math, maybe the 6th in the class. Now, I’m No. 1.”

2023-09-13: And sometimes you have to take something out, like lead

Last year in Get the Lead Out of Turmeric! I reported that adulteration of turmeric was a major source of lead exposure among residents of rural Bangladesh. Well there is good news: the lead is gone! Wudan Yan at UnDark reports the remarkable story of academic research quickly being translated into political action that improves lives.

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