China’s remote and dangerous Great Wall
Amanda Ruggeri Until recently, there was no restoration on the Jiankou section of China’s Great Wall (Credit: Amanda Ruggeri) While a remote part of the Great Wall may soon attract more visitors, it remains a striking reminder of the centuries that shaped not only the fortification, but China itself. The Great Wall of China, which […]
Israel’s transformative desert retreat
agefotostock/Alamy Israel’s transformative desert retreat (Credit: agefotostock/Alamy) Set deep in the heart of the Negev desert in southern Israel, a small community is inviting travellers to connect with nature and learn to live a little more consciously. My very first taste of Israel was as a teenage volunteer at a kibbutz, and after 25 years, […]
Why rebellious workers spark great ideas
Getty (Credit: Getty) Organisations tend to see rebels as troublemakers – but suppressing these individuals and their ideas could backfire. In the 1980s, a group of young engineers at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston realised that the 1960s Apollo-era mission control set-up would struggle to handle the more complex challenges of flying the space […]
Why the next wave of leaders is African
Getty Images A Ghanaian entrepreneur wants to establish his “leadership university” all over the continent. It’s all part of his ambitions to transform the world’s largest, youngest workforce. “Imagine 40% of the world’s population without opportunity,” Swaniker says, chatting to me from his home in Nairobi. “We’re not only going to have an African crisis […]
The 100-year-old book series that predicted a wild and wonderful future
Getty Images The To-day and To-morrow series looked to the future (Credit: Getty Images) A century ago, a little-known series of books about the future tackled everything from science to religion to monogamy. Max Saunders argues that it deserves to be rediscovered – and not just for its striking prescience. One hundred years ago, towards […]
Is Lord Foster’s new creation the ultimate office building?
Nigel Young/Foster + Partners The centrepiece of the building is a spiralling ramp spanning six floors in a triple-helix formation, designed as a place of meeting (Credit: Nigel Young/Foster + Partners) Norman Foster’s new building in London for Bloomberg is a thing of beauty and a feat of sustainability. Laura Clarke takes a tour and […]
Can Japan reboot its anti-innovation start-up culture?
Night scene of Osaka Japan has long been hailed as one of the world’s most developed nations. But when it comes to innovation, things are less rosy. Why is it stifling its start-ups? Japanese start-up entrepreneur Masayoshi Hashimoto believes he knows where the country’s IT industry is getting its guidance from; the Czech surrealist author […]
How to stop ice-delayed flights and deadly crashes
Ice can weigh planes down, or freeze their control surfaces – and is a factor in one in 10 fatal airline crashes, a recent study suggested(AFP/Getty Images) Flight delays are tedious at the best of times. But it’s even worse when it’s cold, and the plane you’re in poised for take-off suddenly lumbers down a […]
How refrigeration revolutionised global trade
Bettmann Former President Jorge Ubico passed a law requiring indigenous Guatemalans to work for landowners “Crazier than a half dozen opium-smoking frogs.” That’s how one observer described Guatemala’s former President Gen Jorge Ubico. The general liked to dress up as Napoleon Bonaparte, and may even have believed himself to be Bonaparte, reincarnate. Like many 20th-Century […]
How ancient DNA is transforming our view of the past
MPI Evo Anthro Ancient DNA labs maintain strict protocols to prevent contamination of samples with modern genetic material Prof David Reich of Harvard Medical School is one of the leading lights in the field of ancient DNA. His team’s work has cast a new perspective on human history, reconstructing the epic migrations and genetic exchanges […]