Number of words: 991 Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century. And 23 nations – including Spain and Japan – are expected to see their populations halve by 2100. Countries will also age dramatically, with as many people turning 80 as there are being born. … Read more

Number of words: 357 While India had the world’s harshest lockdown, Pakistan barely had one at all. Indian economist Kaushik Basu proposed a theory where India’s lockdown “itself became the source of the virus’s spread”. “By having people huddle together, infecting one another, and then having the same people travel hundreds of miles, the pandemic … Read more

Number of words: 1,688 There are things we say when we catch the eye of a stranger or a neighbor walking by. We say, “Hello, how are you? It’s a beautiful day. How do you feel?” These sound kind of meaningless, right? And, in some ways, they are. They have no semantic meaning. It doesn’t … Read more

Number of words: 2,511 PA: I want to ask you guys a question. How many languages do you speak? This is not a rhetorical question. I actually want you to think of a number. For some of you, it’s pretty easy. Inside your head, you’re like, “It’s one. You’re speaking it, buddy. I’m done.” Others … Read more

Number of words: 1,644 Every working morning for the last 26 years, Michael Boyer has slipped into a pair of neon-bright, multi-coloured tights, tied on his lipstick-red cape, grabbed his flute and marched out into the medieval streets of Hamelin, a town of 60,000 residents in Lower Saxony, Germany. “People sometimes mistake me for a … Read more

Number of words: 1,214 We are used to thinking of idleness as a vice, something to be ashamed of. But when the British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote “In Praise of Idleness” in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, idleness was an unavoidable reality for the millions who had lost their jobs. Russell realised … Read more

Number of words: 1,533 Some call it the Rolls Royce of chalk, the Steinway of writing utensils. Some say it’s unbreakable, others say it leaves no dust behind. And it turned the world’s brightest minds into hoarders, going to great lengths just for a few sticks of the stuff. “I would reach into my cupboard … Read more

Number of words: 712 The Moon, our closest cosmic neighbour, and the only other body in the Solar System on which humans have set foot, is fairly well known to us. We know that there is practically no air. We know that there is water ice, but no liquid water.So you can understand why the … Read more