Earth’s magnetic field illuminates Biblical history
Dec 15th 2021WHEN SENNACHERIB, King of Assyria, sent his army to the kingdom of Judah in 701BC, and had it destroy the city of Lachish, 43km south-west of Jerusalem, he was doing his bit for science as well. As Yoav Vaknin of Tel Aviv University told this year’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held…
Nature does not use propellers. So why do people?
Dec 15th 2021NO KNOWN sea-creature uses propellers. Perhaps that is because they are too difficult to evolve from existing animal body plans. Or perhaps it is because they are not particularly good at doing what they do. When pushing water around for propulsive purposes, bigger is not only more powerful but also more efficient. But…
Has the pandemic shown inflation to be a fiscal phenomenon?
Dec 18th 2021HERE IS A potted history of recent economic policy and inflation. In the 2010s central banks created vast amounts of money through their quantitative-easing (QE) schemes, while governments enacted fiscal austerity. Inflation in the rich world was mostly too low, undershooting central banks’ targets. Then the pandemic struck. There was plenty more QE.…
After a shocker in 2021, where might inflation go in 2022?
Dec 18th 2021THE ONLY thing that proved transitory about inflation in America in 2021 was the consensus that it would subside. The left-hand chart shows that analysts consistently revised up their predictions, trailing reality. Consumer prices are now rising by nearly 7% compared with a year earlier, the fastest pace since 1982. What does the…
Omicron latest: Which countries are best protected against Omicron?
Dec 15th 2021IF THERE IS one lesson the covid-19 pandemic has taught the world, it is that acting early pays off. So when news emerged on November 25th in South Africa of a worrying new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, countries immediately began scrambling to tighten the rules on international travel. By November 29th suspected…
Honey bees, Varroa mites and unintended consequences
Dec 15th 2021FEW PESTS are more feared by apiarists than the aptly named Varroa destructor. This mite, originally a parasite of Apis cerana, the Asian honey bee, has plagued Apis mellifera, cerana’s western cousin, for only 50 years or so—having arrived in Europe via what was then the Soviet Union and subsequently spread to both…