How a simple observation from the 1800s about patterns in big data sets can fight fraud

Dec 10, 2015 11:29 am UTC| Insights & Views Science

Benfords law was first mentioned by the American scientist Simon Newcomb in the 1880s, when he noticed that in books of tables of logarithms, the pages of numbers whose leading digit was 1 were more worn than the pages of...

Europe and the Great Recession: is it a crisis wasted?

Dec 10, 2015 11:05 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics Economy

It is a common refrain of political strategists that you should not let a good crisis go to waste. Seven years on from the beginnings of the global financial crisis, we can make an assessment of whether that maxim was...

The earth has moved: big business's radical climate shift is now unstoppable

Dec 10, 2015 10:11 am UTC| Insights & Views Business

The most surprising revelation at here at the Paris climate conference has been the astonishing shift in the world of investors over the past 12 months. There is now unprecedented momentum towards participating in the...

Migrant Crisis Series

Refugees' suffering can't be eased in their current conditions

Dec 10, 2015 09:46 am UTC| Insights & Views

Germany has seen a massive influx of migrants since opening its borders to refugees from war-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East. This year alone it is estimated more than 300,000 people have entered the...

Q&A: why credit rating agencies matter for developing countries

Dec 10, 2015 06:14 am UTC| Insights & Views

Credit rating agencies have played a crucial role in international debt markets for more than 150 years. But they have often attracted controversy. Andile Makholwa, The Conversation Africas economics and business editor,...

How 1.5 became the most important number at the Paris climate talks

Dec 09, 2015 15:22 pm UTC| Insights & Views

One of the final obstacles in the way of a binding agreement at the Paris climate talks comes down to a simple number: 1.5. Limiting warming to a 1.5℃ temperature rise above pre-industrial levels is one of three potential...

Zuckerberg is ploughing billions into 'personalised learning' – why?

Dec 09, 2015 15:08 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg believes personalised learning is the answer to many of educations current woes, and is one of the four key areas that he and his wife Prescilla Chans US$45 billion Chan Zuckerberg...