Another step towards returning people to Earth’s satellite
May 9th 2020THE NEXT ten months will see a new race to the Moon played out on Earth, as three groups vie to construct a successor to the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) which took the astronauts of the Apollo project there half a century ago.The contestants, announced by NASA on April 30th, are SpaceX, run…
Motorists using touchscreens in cars are being distracted
May 9th 2020STEP INSIDE most modern cars and instead of all the dials and switches that used to clutter the dashboard you are likely to find it dominated by a touchscreen. Often there is more than one screen, and some are bigger than those on a laptop. But, though touchscreens provide a convenient way to…
With oil prices depressed, China presides over a buyer’s market
WHEN OIL supply threatened to overwhelm storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, in April, the pain was felt as far as Chongqing. Retail investors in the Bank of China’s oil bao, or “treasure”, a speculative vehicle linked to crude futures, took a hit as the May contract for West Texas Intermediate settled at an astonishing -$37.63…
Losses by central banks are nothing to fear
May 9th 2020IF MONEY-LOSING banks are a source of concern, then surely losses by central banks—the bankers for banks—must be especially disconcerting. The tumbling value of assets held by the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank seems a sure sign that central bankers have behaved recklessly and put their economies at risk. Anxiety…
Sun-shy Indonesians are suddenly soaking up the rays
FARAH REYNALDI loathes the sun. Yet for the past month, the 19-year-old law student has been soaking up the rays several mornings a week. At the behest of her father, she takes off her hijab, puts on a T-shirt and shorts, and sweats on the balcony for about half an hour. She is not alone.…
India’s government is better at curbing critics than covid-19
May 9th 2020MANY INDIANS will remember the coronavirus epidemic less for social distancing, or for watching re-runs of “Ramayan”, a popular 1980s television saga based on Hindu myth, than for the endless queues. Destitute migrant workers hoping for a train home are not the only ones who have been made to line up and wait.…
Voodoo priests recommend voodoo to stop covid-19
“WE DON’T DO black magic here,” says Zanzan Zinho as he lifts a giant calabash adorned with goat skulls. The shrine of the Vodun (voodoo) priest is in a courtyard in Ouidah, the spiritual home of the religion, in southern Benin. All around are fetishes: dried snakes, twins made of wood and a baby-girl doll…
African cannabis growers are on a high
WHEN HE WAS a child, Lauben Kabagambe’s grandparents in western Uganda would boil cannabis leaves to treat sick animals. “I grew up knowing that it is a medicine,” he recalls. Today, as the boss of Industrial Hemp, a Ugandan cannabis company, he is growing weed in computer-controlled greenhouses in partnership with a subsidiary of Together…
Lady Killed by Alligator While Doing Homeowner’s Nails
A woman in South Carolina was ambushed and slain by an alligator in a gated community while trying to do the homeowner’s nails on Tuesday. Police say Cynthia Covert, 58, was attempting to touch the alligator when it snatched her. She was able to momentarily get out of the beast’s grasp and stood waist-deep in…