02/14/2014

Solving Life’s Everyday Problems, With Data

28:34 minutes

Alex “Sandy” Pentland, a data scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tracks the “digital breadcrumbs” we leave behind with our smartphones and web browsers, using them to plan more efficient bus routes. Other data geeks like Hilary Mason and Max Shron use data points to solve everyday problems, such as where to find the best cheeseburger, or how to predict the success of online dating matchups.

Below are three examples of Hilary Mason’s data maps, showing the relative cost of popular food items across the 100 most populated metro areas in the U.S. She accessed the data via Locu, a company that parses data from U.S. menus, and also pulled data from Menupages and Seamless in New York City. “This analysis is not exactly rigorous and is subject to the bias in these data sets, so it shouldn’t be considered definitive or authoritative,” she notes, “but I do think it’s a good example of a bit of useful knowledge gained very quickly.”

The average price of a cheeseburger (the darker the dot, the more expensive the burger), aggregated by zip code for the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas.
The average price of a cheeseburger (the darker the dot, the more expensive the burger), aggregated by zip code for the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas.
The average price of a pizza (the redder the dot, the more expensive the pizza), aggregated by zip code for the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas.
The average price of a pizza (the redder the dot, the more expensive the pizza), aggregated by zip code for the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas.
The average price of a pad thai (the darker the dot, the more expensive the pad thai), aggregated by zip code for the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas.
The average price of a pad thai (the darker the dot, the more expensive the pad thai), aggregated by zip code for the 100 most populated U.S. metro areas.

Segment Guests

Hilary Mason

Hilary Mason is founder and CEO of Fast Forward Labs in New York, New York.

Max Shron

Max Shron is author of Thinking with Data (2014, O’Reilly Media) and founder of the data science consultancy Shron and Company in New York, New York.

Alex 'Sandy' Pentland

Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland is an MIT professor and author of Social Physics (2014, Penguin Press) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Meet the Producers and Host

About Becky Fogel

Becky Fogel is a newscast host and producer at Texas Standard, a daily news show broadcast by KUT in Austin, Texas. She was formerly Science Friday’s production assistant.

About Christopher Intagliata

Christopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.