
Mining powers modern life, but can leave scarred lands and polluted waters behind
Oct 04, 2019 14:41 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Modern society relies on metals like copper, gold and nickel for uses ranging from medicine to electronics. Most of these elements are rare in Earths crust, so mining them requires displacing vast volumes of dirt and rock....
People are increasingly interrupted at work, but it's not all bad
Oct 04, 2019 14:41 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life
An email pops up on your screen. Its a client sharing a project update. A Slack message appears. Its your boss asking a question. A text alert beeps. A colleague wants to know if you will be attending a meeting. Sound...
How multinationals continue to avoid paying hundreds of billions of dollars in tax – new research
Oct 04, 2019 14:41 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Tax havens have become a defining feature of the global financial system. Multinational companies can use various schemes to avoid paying taxes in countries where they make vast revenues. In new research, my colleague Petr...
Oct 04, 2019 14:40 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science
I can still remember the horror of discovering that everything I had worked on was wrong. I was a PhD candidate just starting my second year, and my supervisor and I had developed a test for rheumatoid arthritis which...
Britain is a nation of pet lovers – and it has the Victorians to thank
Oct 04, 2019 14:40 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life
Britain was the first country in the world to start a welfare charity for animals, as early as 1824. Now, almost 20m cats and dogs have a loving place in the countrys homes, and almost one in two households is accompanied...
World Cup is reminding South Africans that sport is still divided
Oct 04, 2019 14:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Sports
As South Africas Springbok rugby team vies for victory in the 2019 Rugby World Cup tournament, it is worthwhile to reflect on the historical substance of sports unity since 1994. South Africa held its first democratic...

Mobile-based lending is huge in Kenya: but there’s a downside too
Oct 04, 2019 14:38 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Over the past 10 years mobile-based lending has grown in Kenya. Some estimates put the number of mobile lending platforms at 49. The industry is largely unregulated but includes major financial players. Banks such as Kenya...