Mobility patterns during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, using mobile phone data, via CNN.  As Kevin Fridy said, “Could have been labeled ‘Colonial borders be like serious yo!’“

• In conflict-related news, Ken Opalo has a very insightful analysis of why the EAC hasn’t intervened to stop violence in Burundi, and the potential regional effects from the ongoing crisis.  Anders Themnér writes about whether networks of former rebel commanders are a force for peace or instability in Liberia.  Remembering the Ones We Lost aims to document the names of everyone killed in the conflict in South Sudan since 1995

• Chris Blattman recommends The Great Surge, a new book providing historical perspective on economic growth in low income countries, by Steve Radelet.  Pair with this new paper on how the industrial revolution in Britain was shaped not by access to energy but by access to human capital.

• Chris also launched an interesting discussion with a recent post on whether the publication standards for RCTs are getting overly restrictive.  David McKenzie suggests that it will become less likely for researchers to study existing government policies rather than designing their own interventions.  Ashu Handa has come back with my favorite post of the lot, on the importance of studying programs as they’re implemented by states, rather than idealized NGO-led interventions.  Rachel Glennerster has a list of practical suggestions for doing research with government partners.

• In the US, we obsessively regulate products that might hurt even a tiny number of children, like Kinder chocolate eggs and strollers with badly designed folding mechanisms.  We track ownership of products like consumer drones that pose minimal risk to others.  Why isn’t there a bigger constituency to stand up to the NRA and demand the same regulations on guns?

• Pieces like this moving article on romance and racism in America make me wish a magazine like Rookie had been around when I was a teenager

• Song of the week: Malian singer Inna Modja‘s celebration of diverse beauty standards in “Kinks in My Hair“