Low-energy homes don't just save money, they improve lives

Jul 18, 2017 12:47 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

Household energy use is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. International policy is firmly moving towards technology-rich, low- and near-zero-energy homes. That is, buildings designed to reduce the need...

The strange links between intelligence and prejudice

Jul 18, 2017 12:18 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

Human judgement often becomes less accurate when we train it on ourselves. Self appraisals commonly flatter our strengths and minimise our weaknesses. The average man overstates his height by 1.2cm and the average woman...

Hinduism and its complicated history with cows (and people who eat them)

Jul 17, 2017 01:17 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Just this past June, at a national meeting of various Hindu organizations in India, a popular preacher, Sadhvi Saraswati, suggested that those who consumed beef should be publicly hanged. Later, at the same conclave, an...

How loneliness in older people makes them more vulnerable to financial scammers

Jul 12, 2017 19:09 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life

Fraud investigators have warned that people are being targeted by scammers who persuade them to invest their pensions in self-storage units. The UKs Serious Fraud Office launched an investigation in May, saying that a...

Eight things that have changed since the smoking ban ten years ago

Jun 29, 2017 02:37 am UTC| Life

Its hard to think back to what English pubs and clubs were like before the law about smoke-free public places came into force ten years ago. Do you remember the dense fog, the smell of tobacco smoke on your clothes and...

Why Congress should let everyone deduct charitable gifts from their taxes

Jun 28, 2017 04:09 am UTC| Insights & Views Life Law Economy

The 30 percent of American taxpayers who itemize their returns are free to deduct every dollar they donate to an IRS-approved charity from up to half of their taxable income. While neither the White House nor lawmakers are...

What Jeff Bezos gets wrong (and right) with his populist philanthropy

Jun 27, 2017 02:47 am UTC| Insights & Views Life

Jeff Bezos, the worlds second-richest person, trails his peers when it comes to generosity. His familys donations to hospitals, museums and universities rarely make headlines, and he hasnt signed the Giving Pledge, a...