According to the World Health Organization, global obesity rates have more than doubled since 1980. For the first time in history, being overweight is killing more people than being underweight. At least 2.8 million adults around the world die each year from being overweight or obese. And yet, obesity is preventable. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver [...]
The opportunity to learn more about where we fit into the vastness of the cosmos is under threat from shortsighted decision makers who have politicized science. For much of the 20th century, governments around the world wanted to boldly go where no man had gone before. More recently, though, austerity budgets around the world and [...]
As the Bonn climate talks begin, John Vidal speaks to former president José María Figueres about Costa Rica’s journey towards sustainability Say the name Figueres in Costa Rica and it’s bound to get a reaction. José “Don Pepe” Figueres led the 1948 revolution, was president three times, nationalised the banks and gave women and black [...]
Oxford neuroscientist Susan Greenfield argues that we need to snap out of our complacency and look at the unprecedented impacts of new technology on our brains. It is not unusual, these days, for children to spend five hours a day looking at computer screens or mobile phones. That’s five hours a day that they’re not [...]
Racism and a legacy of colonialism are preventing the West from recognizing the potential of African innovation. Affordable technology is helping people all over Africa propel an economic revolution. Investment is pouring in from India, China, and other emerging markets. But the West, in my eyes, is ignoring one of the 21st century’s most important [...]
Feminist theorist and author Elisabeth Badinter argues women are being shackled by expectations of what it takes to be a good mother. Women once again need to start talking frankly to each other about what it means to be a woman. Contrary to a coalescing body of opinion, it does not mean being a mother. [...]
China’s building boom has been dominated by soaring glass skyscrapers and contemporary designs inspired by the West. Wang Shu, recipient of the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize, questions the wisdom of this approach. You’ve won the world’s most prestigious architecture prize and yet your firm is called Amateur Architecture Studio. Why did you choose this name [...]
A former American hostage in Iran says it’s time for the United States and Iran to stop demonizing each other and start talking about things they can agree on. In mid-April, after more than a year of posturing, Iran again met with representatives of the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain (the United Nations [...]
Concern about copyright laws have led to Pirate Party members being elected in Spain, Austria, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and especially Germany in recent years. The movement’s founder weighs in on the latest rounds of attempts to fix copyright and why they’ve sparked protests around the world. Widespread protests in support of a free internet [...]
As a climate scientist, I have seen my integrity perniciously attacked, politicians have demanded I be fired from my job, and I’ve been subject to congressional and criminal investigations. I’ve even had death threats made against me. And why? Because I study climate science and some people don’t like what my colleagues and I have [...]
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