Outer space offers plant breeders some curious advantages
Jan 8th 2022PLANTS GROWN in orbit, and thereby deprived of the comforting directional pull of Earth’s gravity, typically struggle to distinguish up from down. This makes it harder for them to carry water and nutrients around themselves. It also fouls up their ability to draw carbon dioxide needed for photosynthesis from the air. The stress…
Wildlife can now be censused by sniffing DNA in the air
Jan 8th 2022IN THE PAST, studying ecosystems for signs of change has needed lots of boots on the ground. Plants, being sedentary, can be recorded easily by unleashing an infantry of PhD students eager to make a name for themselves. Taking a census of an area’s animals is, however, a different matter. It frequently involves…
The IMF bashes the IMF over Argentina
Jan 8th 2022INFLATION IN ARGENTINA had intensified, the IMF lamented. The cost of living had increased by some 50% over the course of the year. “The most important source of inflation”, the fund explained, “was government-deficit spending, financed by borrowing from the central bank.” The deficit, in turn, reflected excessive wage demands and the failure…
The rise of personalised stock indices
Jan 8th 2022IN 2001 ANDREW LO, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, predicted that technological advances would one day allow investors to create their own personal indices designed to meet their financial aims, risk preferences and tax considerations. Such an idea “may well be science fiction today”, Mr Lo wrote, but “it is…
Japan and Australia are cosying up to each other
Jan 8th 2022SYDNEY AND TOKYOWHEN ABE SHINZO visited Australia in 2014, he became the first Japanese leader to address its parliament. Relations between the two countries have since blossomed. In 2018 Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s then-prime minister, posted a celebratory selfie of himself with Mr Abe and their wives after salvaging the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a…
What is Rodrigo Duterte’s legacy?
Jan 8th 2022NO PRESIDENT OF the Philippines since Ferdinand Marcos, the late dictator, has held such a grip on power as the authoritarian Rodrigo Duterte. Nor has any appeared so unconcerned at accomplishing so little. His promises of constitutional change, devolving power from the centre in Manila, came to nothing. His kowtowing to President Xi…
Sexual-assault allegations test ultra-Orthodox leaders in Israel
CHAIM WALDER was an icon of ultra-Orthodox Jewry in Israel. His best-selling books stood out for their portrayal of young, devout characters who speak openly about their problems and emotions. Mr Walder’s work could be found in nearly every ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) home. By the time of his death on December 27th, the author was…
Jacob Zuma presided over a mountain of sleaze in South Africa
Jan 8th 2022IT WAS MEANT to last no more than six months, but the more muck it raked, the more it found. Four years after it was appointed to investigate allegations of “state capture” during the presidency of Jacob Zuma (2009-2018), a judicial commission headed by South Africa’s deputy chief justice, Raymond Zondo, has released…
The tricky relationship between palaeontology and poor countries
Jan 5th 2022WHAT YOU see depends on where you stand. The unarguable fact that most palaeontologists live in the rich world means two things. One is that the fossils of these places are far better studied than those of poorer countries, which is a scientific pity. The other is that what knowledge has been garnered…
Edward Wilson, controversial biologist, is dead
Jan 5th 2022ONE DAY in 1936 Edward Wilson, a budding seven-year-old naturalist, was out fishing. He hooked a pinfish, which has sharp spines down its back. He pulled too hard. As the fish came out of the water, a spine went into his right eye. Keen not to cut short a day outdoors, he soldiered…