Latest from Economist
Economist
15 minutes ago
- Politics
- Economist
Why did Israel strike Damascus?
PLUMES OF SMOKE rose over Damascus on July 16th as Israeli warplanes struck Syria's capital. Targeting the presidential palace, the defence ministry and the army command, the attack killed at least one person and wounded several others.
Economist
an hour ago
- Economist
Operation Rubific, the portrait of failure
There are two kinds of British scandal. The old kind resemble the plays of Henrik Ibsen: studies of character failings and personal humiliation brought about by greed, desire and dishonesty. Think of the disgrace of John Profumo, Jeffrey Archer and Jonathan Aitken. The new owe more to Joseph Heller: portraits of institutional failure, in which the craven, the cynical and the helpless are trapped in crises they cannot control.
Economist
an hour ago
- Science
- Economist
The bomb (part 1): were nuclear weapons inevitable?
Where did the world's most devastating weapon come from? In a four-part series, we go behind the scenes at America's nuclear laboratories to understand how a scientific-mystery story about the ingredients of matter led to a world-changing (and second-world-war -ending) bomb less than five decades later. Nuclear weapons have been central to geopolitical power ever since. Now America is seeking to modernise its stockpile and, in doing so, its scientists are pushing the frontiers of extreme physics, materials science and computing. In episode one, we look at the birth of nuclear physics—the science that emerged early in the 20th century to answer a mystery: what is an atom actually made of? Host: Alok Jha, The Economist 's science and technology editor. Contributors: Frank Close, a physicist and author of 'Destroyer of Worlds', a history of the birth of nuclear physics; Cheryl Rofer, a chemist who used to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); and Nicholas Lewis, a historian at LANL. This episode features archive from the Atomic Heritage Foundation.
Economist
3 hours ago
- Science
- Economist
Does AI make you stupid?
Science & technology | Artificial stupidity Illustration: enigmatriz A S ANYBODY WHO has ever taken a standardised test will know, racing to answer an expansive essay question in 20 minutes or less takes serious brain power. Having unfettered access to artificial intelligence ( AI ) would certainly lighten the mental load. But as a recent study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) suggests, that help may come at a cost. Artificial intelligence Science & technology Experiments on fruit flies suggest tiredness could be caused by damaged neurons The performance-enhancing drug is legal, safe—and may have benefits beyond sport Mental illnesses that do not respond to standard treatment could be hormone-driven Found in fossils many millions of years old, they could help scientists study long-extinct species Its appearance puts a new branch of astronomy to the test Studies show that thimerosal does more good than harm
Economist
3 hours ago
- Business
- Economist
Stablecoins should cut America's debt payments. But at what cost?
A TRILLION DOLLARS. That number may keep Scott Bessent, America's treasury secretary, up at night. Next year his government's net interest payments will break the 13-figure mark. The combination of a bulging deficit, now worth 7% of GDP, and the sharp increase in government-bond yields over the past four years makes America's budgetary mathematics increasingly ugly.
