The 40th anniversary of the London Marathon takes place on Sunday, October 4 2020. Athletes will run on a closed-loop circuit around St James’s Park before finishing on The Mall. This year’s lineup...
World
‘Pristine’ Landscapes Haven’t Existed For Thousands Of Years...
What is natural? What is artificial? It is often assumed that natural is better than artificial. Getting back to nature is something we should aspire to, with kids in particular not spending enough...
The US is Paying for Letting Dark Money and Disinformation Run...
Billionaires such as Charles Koch spent a fortune convincing ordinary Americans to doubt everything – they shouldn’t be surprised that violence and division has followed in the wake of...
Rising Isis Attacks in Africa Mean the ‘War on Terror’ is Far...
The battle to leave Afghanistan is becoming almost as complex as the war itself. The Biden administration is eager to go but advisers in Washington warn of the Taliban taking over once more and...
How the World Ran Out of Semiconductors
There’s a global shortage in semiconductors, and it’s becoming increasingly serious. The US is currently reviewing its supply of the technology, following a landmark executive order from President...
How Bunny Wailer Brought Innovation and Rastology to the...
The recent death of Bunny Wailer, the last surviving founding member of the Wailers has seen outpourings of grief and appreciation all over the world. But in the wake of the triple Grammy award...
Super Shoes: Explaining Athletics’ New Technological Arms Race
In the 1960s, when traditional cinder athletics tracks were replaced by spongy, synthetic surfaces, endurance running experienced a revolution. Long distance runners began clocking far faster times...
Here’s How Scientists Know the Coronavirus Came from Bats and...
One of the conspiracy theories that have plagued attempts to keep people informed during the pandemic is the idea that the coronavirus was created in a laboratory. But the vast majority of scientists...
John Magufuli: What the Death of the COVID Skeptic President...
On March 18 – a day after announcing that President John Magufuli had died from “a heart ailment” – the then Vice President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and all her security details and other top officials...
A Brief History of Globalization
When Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2018 announced it had chosen the ancient city of Xi’an as the site for its new regional headquarters, the symbolic value wasn’t lost on the company: it had...
Phosphorus is Vital for Life on Earth – and We’re Running Low
Phosphorus is an essential element that is contained in many cellular compounds, such as DNA and the energy carrier ATP. All life needs phosphorus and agricultural yields are improved when phosphorus...
Why White Supremacists And QAnon Enthusiasts Are Obsessed – But...
From Charlottesville to the Capitol, medieval imagery has been repeatedly on show at far-right rallies and riots in recent years. Displays of Crusader shields and tattoos derived from Norse and...
Black Historical Figures Who Shook The World, From a Warrior...
February marked Black History Month in the United States and Canada, a time to reflect on the ways Black people have contributed to society. But the contributions of Black people don’t just apply to...
Donald Trump Spying Allegations: More Likely Useful Idiot Than...
The question of Donald Trump’s relationship with the Kremlin has surfaced once again, this time in a new book by veteran US journalist Craig Unger. The book, American Kompromat, claims that the...
Can You Put A Price On Peace? This Study Says You Can
Conflict and violence cost the world more than $14 trillion a year.That’s the equivalent of $5 a day for every person on the planet.Research shows that peace brings prosperity, lower inflation and...
Cocaine: Falling Coffee Prices Force Peru’s Farmers to Cultivate...
A slump in world coffee prices has pushed farmers in Peru’s central jungle to rip up their plants and replace them with coca leaf – the raw material used in cocaine. This countrywide...
The Five Biggest Threats to Human Existence
In the daily hubbub of current “crises” facing humanity, we forget about the many generations we hope are yet to come. Not those who will live 200 years from now, but 1,000 or 10,000 years from now...
Latin America: Inequality and Political Instability Have Lessons...
In a landmark speech about social mobility in 2013, the then US president, Barack Obama, warned against the problem of growing inequality in the starkest possible terms: The combined trends of...
How ‘Tiger Farms’ Have Turned a Wild Animal into a Species Worth...
Tigers could once be found across much of Asia, from eastern Turkey to Siberia and Indonesia. Today, they are reduced to living in just 6% of their former range. In many of these areas tigers are no...
Myanmar: Despite Appearances the Country’s Military Might is...
A fortnight after Myanmar’s military coup and the momentum of protest is growing. On February 1 2021, Myanmar’s armed forces, officially known as the Tatmadaw, announced on the military-run TV...