Researchers are closing in on long covid
Apr 29th 2021IN THE 1890s one of the biggest pandemics in history, known at the time as “Russian flu”, swept the world. It left 1m people dead. Russian flu is now thought to have been misnamed. It was probably not influenza, but rather a coronavirus ancestral to one that now just causes symptoms described by…
Knitting a road with stones and string
Apr 25th 2021SINCE THE Romans began doing it with great panache more than 2,000 years ago, road-building has been something of a sweaty and grubby business, involving heaving great quantities of rocks and stones into place and, in more recent times, covering the surface with asphalt or concrete. Now a group of Swiss researchers think…
What an infrastructure bonanza could mean for America’s economy
May 1st 2021JOE BIDEN’S plan to lavish spending on infrastructure is a crucial part of his bid for a transformative presidency. Much of the first tranche of around $2.7trn, now entering the meatgrinder of congressional politics, will be spent on greening the American economy and tackling inequalities. About a quarter will be directed towards overhauling…
Counting the costs of the lira’s failed defence
PREDAWN POLICE operations in Turkey are nothing new, but some still raise eyebrows. Under the cover of darkness on April 13th, police officers across the country took down giant banners hanging from offices of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). “Where is the $128bn?” the offending signs read.Listen to this storyYour browser…
Volunteers are filling the gaps in India’s fight against covid-19
MANY INDIANS are up in arms about the government’s handling of their country’s all-engulfing second wave of covid-19. Hospitals, testing facilities, even crematoria are overwhelmed. Vaccines are in short supply. The government squandered a lull in infections over the winter, a common criticism runs, and is now flailing in the face of the inevitable resurgence.…
There is hope for South-East Asia’s beleaguered tropical forests
May 1st 2021NO ECOSYSTEM IS more important in mitigating the effects of climate change than tropical rainforest. And South-East Asia is home to the world’s third-biggest patch of it, behind the Amazon and Congo basins.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.Even though humans release…
Why are there so many unfinished buildings in Africa?
LIKE AN ENORMOUS grey skeleton, a six-storey apartment building looms over a quiet street in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Concrete balconies and bedrooms are discernible. But there are no windows, doors or lights. And the only painting is of the scatological variety from the sole residents: crows. How long has it been like that?…
Somalia’s power-hungry president has taken his country to the brink
MOHAMED ABDULLAHI MOHAMED, better known to his people as Farmaajo, was once a popular figure. Residents in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, welcomed him to the presidency in 2017 with celebratory gunfire. They saw him as a reformer who would fight corruption. There were indeed some reforms, enough to secure promises of debt relief from…
Instagram Influencer Penalized in Bali for Painting on a ‘Facemask’ and Going out in Public
Published on Apr 28, 2021 by AnneWhat they thought was a hilarious prank may have ended their online stardom. Two Instagram influencers were caught in a Bali supermarket wearing a painted-on ‘facemask’. Trying to beat the system for its strict COVID-19 protocols, one of the two influencers entered a Bali supermarket to check if their…
Serial Wedding Crasher Stole Gifts From 12 or More Couples in 3 States
A woman nabbed on a surveillance camera nearby an unaware couple’s wedding presents is a suspect in twelve or more wedding rip-offs since 2017.Johnn and Madison Sacharcyzk, newlyweds, were expressing their “I dos” in front of the attendees when the inscrutable wedding crasher was caught on camera nearing the table of gifts. Madison said, “You…