How well is the world protecting ecosystems and human health?
The new global environmental report card is out. The 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) graded 180 countries on how well they are protecting human health and their ecosystems. Launched at the...
View ArticleThe evidence is in—greater gender diversity in science benefits us all
The World Economic Forum estimated last year that at the current slow rate of progress, it will take until 2133 to close the global gender gap across health, education, economic opportunity and politics.
View ArticleRevolutionary graphene filter could solve water crisis
A new type of graphene-based filter could be the key to managing the global water crisis, a study has revealed. The new graphene filter, which has been developed by Monash University and the University...
View ArticleWhy the internet isn't making us smarter – and how to fight back
In the hours since I first sat down to write this piece, my laptop tells me the National Basketball Association has had to deny that it threatened to cancel its 2017 All-Star Game over a new anti-LGBT...
View ArticleGirls from progressive societies do better at math, study finds
Research co-authored by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has found that the 'maths gender gap' - the relative underperformance of girls at maths - is much wider in societies with poor rates of...
View ArticleOpinion: A post-work economy of robots and machines is a bad Utopia for the left
Picture a world where robots do all the work while humans enjoy life unburdened by labour. This is an old dream of radicals and Marxists. But the post-work imaginary has taken hold in the unlikeliest...
View ArticleGM's Canada labs to develop self-driving car technology
General Motors announced plans Friday to hire 1,000 engineers and software developers at its Canadian research facilities near Toronto over the coming years to design new self-driving cars.
View ArticleClimate change top concern of millennials
Sixty-three per cent of young Australians rank climate change as the most serious issue facing Australia – three times the number in any other geographical area of the world, a global survey has found.
View ArticleWTO seeks trade deal on 'green' products
The heavyweights of world trade, including the United States, China and Japan, meet in Geneva this weekend to establish a list of environmentally friendly products for which tariffs can be eliminated...
View ArticleMultinationals act on ocean-clogging plastics
Forty of the world's biggest companies assembled in Davos agreed on Monday to come up with cleaner ways to make and consume plastic as waste threatens the global eco-system, especially in oceans.
View ArticleFirms push hydrogen as top green energy source
Over a dozen leading European and Asian firms have teamed up to promote the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel and cut the production of harmful gasses that lead to global warming.
View ArticleFor white-collar staff, AI threatens new workplace revolution
If your job involves inputting reams of data for a company, you might want to think about retraining in a more specialised field. Or as a plumber.
View ArticleNorway spurs $400mn rainforest fund at Davos
Norway on Thursday said it will raise $400 million to encourage Brazil's farmers to stop destroying the rainforests, launching a fund also backed by food giants Unilever and Nestle.
View ArticleThe world's cities: vital, but fragile
They may be richer and more numerous than ever, but the world's urban dwellers can be forgiven a sense of dread as threats pile up from climate change, terrorism and anarchic growth.
View ArticleSociety set for head-on collision with driverless cars
Evangelists for driverless cars see a bright future coming down the road: thousands of lives saved, countless driving hours freed up, cityscapes transformed with traffic jams vanquished.
View ArticleWhere are the trees? Not Paris, new 'Green View Index' finds
Where are the trees? More important, where aren't the trees? A lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is helping some of the world's cities answer both questions in an attempt to make them...
View ArticleCassava carrier bags: Indonesian entrepreneur tackles plastic scourge
From bags washing up on Bali's beaches to food packaging scattered across roads and clogging waterways in cities, Indonesia is facing a plastic waste crisis driven by years of rapid economic growth.
View ArticleTurning sunshine into liquid gold
Tiny metalic-gold particles are being used to convert sunlight into fuel. The technology is being developed in South Australia to store solar energy as an alternative to battery storage.
View ArticleAlgorithm can create a bridge between Clinton and Trump supporters
A growing number of people have expressed their concern about high levels of polarization in the society. For instance, the World Economic Forum's report on global risks lists the increasing societal...
View ArticleDiscipline more effective than monetary investment in education: new research
Discipline in schools has a greater impact and is more important to educational performance when compared to monetary investment, a new study from Macquarie University has found.
View ArticleA look at some Israeli high-tech successes
Intel announced Monday it will spend more than $15 billion to acquire Mobileye, an Israeli company that develops technology that essentially gives computers a sense of their physical surroundings—the...
View ArticleWastewater key to solving global water crisis: UN
Recycling the world's wastewater, almost all of which goes untreated, would ease global water shortages while protecting the environment, the United Nations said in a major report on Wednesday.
View ArticleOne in four children will live with water shortages by 2040: UNICEF
Approximately one in four children worldwide will live in regions with extremely scarce water resources by 2040, UNICEF said in a report Wednesday.
View ArticleThe rise of social impact investing
Governments, communities and industries are grappling with issues such as climate change, inequality and social justice – and how to mobilise more funding to tackle these issues. One possible solution...
View ArticleWhy China is serious about becoming the global leader on climate change
The Trump administration's hostility towards climate action and research leaves a void in global climate politics. Could China step up?
View ArticleInformation overload fuels 'fake news': study
"Fake news" has become a troubling phenomenon, allegedly used to manipulate voters and fuel a rise in global populism. In one case, it inspired a man to shoot up a Washington pizzeria.
View ArticleResearchers use polystyrene to make next-generation of solar panels even cheaper
Researchers from The University of Manchester are using polystyrene particles rather than expensive polymers to make the next generation of solar cells, which are used to make solar panels, more stable...
View ArticleAre cryptocurrencies a dream come true for cyber-extortionists?
When malicious software takes over computers around the world, encrypts their data and demands a ransom to decode the information, regular activities of governments, companies and hospitals slam to a...
View ArticleSelf-driving cars could ease traffic, but increase sprawl (Update)
A new study inspired by Boston's early experiments with self-driving cars finds that the technology could ease congestion, but might also lead to more cars on the road and further encourage urban sprawl.
View ArticleRobolution—it's about human skills, not just technology
The presence of robots in industry and beyond – factories are far from the only place where machines play a key role – is anything but new. In a July 2017 article written for the World Economic Forum,...
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