For the Millennial
The Federal Trade Commission issued its largest-ever fine, of US$5 billion, to Facebook for violating a 2011 privacy settlement in late July. But the amount is only about a month’s worth of the company’s revenue, suggesting that the fine, while seeming large, is, in fact, rather modest.
By Anushka Saxena Amidst geopolitical conflicts and trade wars around the globe, the ‘x’ generation of the 21st century is faced with a seemingly unresolvable issue; a middle ground situation for nations around the world – whether or not to install high-speed, reliable network connections provided by the world’s 5G patent leader, Huawei Technologies. A
In the end, the military campaign was called Operation Ranch Hand, but it originally went by a more appropriately hellish appellation: Operation Hades. As part of this Vietnam War effort, from 1961 to 1971, the United States sprayed over 73 million liters of chemical agents on the country to strip away the vegetation that provided cover for Vietcong troops in “enemy territory.”
There has always been an interest in how the name of a thing affects our interpretation of it. Does it matter what something or someone is called? Imagine that you are going to meet either “Anne” or “Kate” (or “Owen” or “Kirk”). Would you expect different kinds of people, based on their names? Who would you expect to be kinder? Who would you expect to be more outgoing?
Perhaps the most amazing thing about fossils is that they don’t just show us what extinct animals looked like, they can also reveal how those animals lived. Even a fossilised dinosaur egg can provide a wealth of clues about its parents’ behaviour.
A new antiretroviral drug regimen has been given the go-ahead by the World Health Organisation. This follows the preliminary results from studies that include an ongoing trial in South Africa.
Rewilding and restoration of land often rely on the reintroduction of species. But what happens when what you want to reintroduce no longer exists? What if the animal in question is not only locally extinct, but gone for good?
Groundwater reserves in Africa are estimated to be 20 times larger than the water stored in lakes and reservoirs above ground. These are the freshwater stores that flow in rocks and sediment beneath the Earth’s surface. They are a vital source of drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa, where groundwater is often the only year-round supply of fresh water in rural areas. Increasingly it is being used in towns and cities as well.
Data are generated every time we make a purchase or receive other services such as health care. This has always been the case, but over the past 20 years, data collection has become increasingly automated, with data collected and stored in digital (rather than paper) formats.
I am a scientist who researches climate hazards. This week I have published research on the potential for a catastrophic cyclone-heatwave combo in the global south. Yet over the past few days I have been approached by various media outlets to talk not about that hazard, but about the unfolding UK heatwave and climate change. It is always satisfying to respond to public interest around weather extremes, but there is a danger that key messages about extreme heat globally are not receiving enough airtime.