Mapping cells to build a complete atlas of the human body
BODIES ARE made of cells. Lots of them. An average adult human contains about 37.2trn cells, 100 times as many as the number of stars in the Milky Way. Clearly, trying to map the location of every one of these cells would be a futile endeavour. But cells are not identical. They are divided into…
The COP25 meeting on the climate yields little
ANNUAL UN CLIMATE summits are never moments of unbridled optimism, but this year’s, held in Madrid and dubbed COP25, was particularly dispiriting. Its logo was a clock with its hands at a quarter to 12. Midnight duly passed on Friday December 13th—supposedly the summit’s last day, and then again on Saturday. Only on Sunday did…
A system based on AI will scan the retina for signs of Alzheimer’s
Dec 18th 2019THE DIFFERENT parts of a health-care system have different focuses. A hospital’s dementia unit keeps records of patients’ mental abilities. The stroke unit monitors blood flow in the brain. The cardiac unit is interested in that same flow, but through and from the heart. Each agglomeration of equipment and data is effective in…
Bringing rocks back from Mars
Dec 18th 2019SAN FRANCISCOTHE IDEA, popular in science fiction, that alien life will do bad things to life on Earth if the two come into contact, is not restricted to the activities of malevolent extraterrestrial intelligences. In “The Andromeda Strain”, a novel by Michael Crichton, the baddies are mysterious and deadly (but completely unintelligent) microbes…
Are there too many central bankers?
Feb 22nd 2020CENTRAL BANKERS around the world have long pondered the causes of a slowdown in productivity. Might they be part of the problem? Many national central banks in the euro area have shed staff in the two decades since they ceded many of their responsibilities to the ecb. Yet they still look flabby: the…
The Bundesbank is caught between a doveish ECB and a suspicious public
FRANKFURT IS BLESSED with not one but two central banks. In the north loom the brutalist headquarters of the Bundesbank—a raw-concrete structure that is three times wider than it is tall. Ascend to its higher floors and you get a splendid view of the city’s skyline to the south—including a gleaming glass tower completed in…
Why Morgan Stanley wants to buy E*Trade
The bank is doubling down on its success in wealth management“I THINK OF it like an aircraft-carrier,” said James Gorman, the boss of Morgan Stanley, last March. He described his bank’s wealth- and asset-management divisions as “ballast”, steadying the ship, because they bring in consistent, recurring revenues. The “engine room” is investment banking, which earns…
Economists discover the power of social norms
Feb 6th 2020OVER THE past generation women have made substantial economic gains, even as progress on other measures of social equality has been uneven. Their average level of education has caught up to that of men across rich and poor countries alike. Indeed in much of the rich world the share of young women with…
The UN’s highest court orders Myanmar to protect the Rohingya
The unanimous ruling is a rebuke for Aung San Suu Kyi; but it is unenforceableJan 23rd 2020THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (ICJ) in The Hague ruled on January 23rd that Myanmar must take action to protect the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority group. It was the first international court ruling against Myanmar, which stands accused…
India’s armed forces get their biggest shake-up in decades
Jan 18th 2020WHEN JAWAHARLAL NEHRU became the prime minister of India at independence in 1947, one of his first acts was to evict the country’s commander-in-chief, General Sir Rob Lockhart, from Flagstaff House, among the grandest mansions in Delhi. In a pointed gesture of civilian supremacy, Mr Nehru then moved in himself. A few years…