I'm thuper cereal-- these ThuperFreakonomic solutions are too easy on humans!

But perhaps [SuperFreakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's] biggest sin, which is also the central point of the chapter, is pointing out that seemingly insurmountable problems often have cheap and simple solutions. Hence world hunger was largely conquered not by a massive effort at population control, but by the development of new and sturdier strains of wheat and rice. Hence infection and mortality rates in hospitals declined dramatically as doctors began to appreciate the need to wash their hands.