It will probably take a while for the fact that Angela Merkel is no longer Germany’s chancellor to sink in. It is hard to remember life before ‘Mutti’. When she came to power in 2005, no one had...
World
Minerals, Drugs And China: How The Taliban Might Finance Their...
Now that the Taliban have reportedly taken full control of Afghanistan and begun forming a government, a looming challenge awaits: How will they keep their country and economy afloat financially? For...
AUKUS: Is An Arms Race With China The Price Of ‘Global Britain’?
A new military alliance between the US, Australia and the UK will, for the first time, provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. While not officially aimed at another country, the “AUKUS”...
The Five Most Impressive Geological Structures In The Solar...
When we talk about amazing geological features, we often limit ourselves to those on Earth. But as a geologist, I think that’s crazy – there are so many structures on other worlds that can excite and...
The History Of The Taliban Is Crucial In Understanding Their...
The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised. To Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, a key to understanding what is happening now –...
9/11 Did Not Change The World – It Was Already On The Path To...
The September 11 attacks in New York and Washington were visceral in their impact. In less than three hours, the twin towers of the World Trade Center were reduced to a mountain of twisted metal and...
Calculating The Costs Of The Afghanistan War In Lives, Dollars...
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to destroy al-Qaida, remove the Taliban from power and remake the nation. On Aug. 30, 2021, the U.S. completed a pullout of troops from Afghanistan...
Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough: What Do New Results Mean For The...
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has announced a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion, using powerful lasers to produce 1.3 megajoules of energy – about 3% of the energy contained in 1kg of...
Why Did A Military Superpower Fail In Afghanistan?
The speed and efficiency with which Taliban forces were able to complete the occupation of most of Afghanistan, as well as the quick collapse of the Afghan government, has led to criticism of...
Fracking And Poorer Surface Water Quality Link Established – New...
Fracking – hailed by some as the greatest recent advance in energy production, criticised by others for the threat it poses to local life – continues to divide opinion. The term fracking refers to...
These 3 Energy Storage Technologies Can Help Solve The Challenge...
In recent decades the cost of wind and solar power generation has dropped dramatically. This is one reason that the U.S. Department of Energy projects that renewable energy will...
Amid Calls To #TaxTheChurches – What And How Much Do US...
The hashtag #TaxTheChurches began trending on Twitter in mid-July. The spark was allegations about the wealth of celebrity pastor Joel Osteen. But it wasn’t the first time that “tax the churches” has...
Climate Repair: Three Things We Must Do Now To Stabilise The...
“Nowhere is safe.” As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in a recent report that climate change and its consequences are here to stay, is there still an opportunity to...
How The Crisis In Container Ships Could Ruin Christmas
Ningbo-Zhousan may not exactly be a household name, but find something in your house made in China and it’s quite likely it was delivered from there. Ningbo-Zhousan, which overlooks the East China...
The Taliban Wants The World’s Trust. To Achieve This, It Will...
“We want the world to trust us.” In the Taliban’s first press conference since seizing control of Afghanistan, this message was intended to allay fears of what a return to power could mean for the...
South Africa’s Way Forward: Abandon Old Ideas, Embrace Bold...
In the preface to his great book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, written in the 1930s at the height of the Great Depression, the renowned economist John Maynard Keynes...
Afghanistan: What The Conflict Means For The Global Heroin Trade
The long war in Afghanistan reached a potential watershed on August 6 when Taliban fighters took over Zaranj, a dusty frontier town with a population of some 63,000 on the Afghan-Iranian border...
Brain Drain Is A Hidden Tax On The Countries Left Behind
Dr John Baptist Mukasa, or JB Neuro, as his colleagues called him, “was always at the beck and call of everyone who needed neurosurgical care”, according to his colleague Dr Sabrina Kitaka...
COVID Vaccine Trials Were A Triumph – Now We Need A Similar...
The triumph of COVID-19 vaccine development and the discovery of effective treatments was only possible because of the unprecedented coordination of clinical trials. A process of testing – that often...
Virgin Galactic And Blue Origin: Can They Be More Than ‘Space’...
Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and his team successfully flew to the “edge of space” on the Unity 22 mission aboard a Virgin Galactic plane on July 12. The event was...