Special Reports

A large study covering 37 years from start to finish has revealed something about those who tend to stay up late: These night owls are more likely to die at a younger age, but due to smoking and drinking-related causes rather than how late they go to bed. Data on 22,976 Finnish adult twins were analyzed for the study, with 42.9 percent identifying as "somewhat evening types" or "evening types". Technically, this is our chronotype – our tendency to want to sleep or be active at certain times. Previous studies have suggested night owls have a higher mortality risk and…
Lucid dreaming is associated with better subjective sleep quality, a higher sense of mental well-being, and lower feelings of loneliness, according to new research published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. The findings suggest that while a small percentage of lucid dreams can be negative or have unpleasant aspects, lucid dreaming is generally a positive experience. Lucid dreaming refers to the experience of being aware that you are dreaming while you are still in the dream state. In a lucid dream, the dreamer has the ability to exert some control over the dream narrative and may deliberately influence…
A new paper published in the European Journal of Risk Regulationconsiders the danger from existential terrorism, defined as acts that threaten the existence of humanity. The authors highlight what they term ‘spoiler attacks’ involving AI or other new technology, which might enable a group with limited resources to cause unprecedented destruction. “I don't expect existential terrorism to be at the top of global agendas, nor do I believe it should be,” Zachary Kallenborn, one of the report’s, authors told me. “But global discourse is clearly changing around existential risk.” Kallenborn is a Policy Fellow at the Schar School of Policy…
As Pakistan spiralled into crisis this year, Wilson Muthaura pressed its government to put the tea Kenya's KTDA co-operative produces 3,400 miles away on a list of essentials that would grant importers access to precious U.S. dollars. His urgent lobbying reflects anxiety about a scarcity of dollars - the lifeblood of global trade - across emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) that is impeding commerce and piling pressure on local currencies and sovereign debtors. The World Bank estimates that one in four EMDEs have effectively lost access to international bond markets, a key source of hard currency needed to pay…
Things have been topsy turvy lately on the roadsides of West African nations where cheap contraband petrol from Nigeria has abruptly doubled in price, upending an informal sector that is central to the region's economic activity. Since Nigeria scrapped a state fuel subsidy on May 31, black market fuel vendors and commercial drivers in Cameroon, Benin and Togo who were heavily reliant on petrol smuggled from Nigeria have seen their businesses collapse. With supplies dwindling, queues have been forming at official petrol stations, where fuel is now competitively priced. In Garoua, a town in northwest Cameroon about 60 km (37…
Inside the stables of Paleis Noordeinde in The Hague is a golden coachembellished with images of colonial offerings to Dutch rulers that many, including the current Dutch king, regard as a symbol of exploitation that, according to a new study, netted three Dutch rulers the equivalent of more than €545m (£465m). Historians calculated the staggering value of colonial profit for Willem III (also king of England, Ireland and Scotland), Willem IV and Willem V for a report published at the request of the Dutch parliament last week before a widely expected apology over slavery from the Dutch king. The study,…
Beneath your feet in the depths of our planet, there’s an unbelievably vast ecosystem teeming with life. In recent years, a massive international team of scientists revealed how billions upon billions of microorganisms live miles beneath Earth’s subsurface. Presenting their work at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in 2018, the researchers calculated the size of this mysterious treasure trove of life for the first time – and it was way bigger than they expected. They reported that approximately 70 percent of the total number of microbes on the planet live underground. In total, these microbes represent around 15 to…
The international economic architecture built after 1945 was based on a powerful idea: economic interdependence is crucial, if insufficient, for global peace and prosperity. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the predecessor to the World Trade Organization were founded in response to the three preceding decades of ceaseless instability, when the world had been devastated by two world wars, the Great Depression, and political extremism. It had also been a period of deglobalization, in which countries retreated into increasingly isolated trading blocs. In the rubble of World War II, governments sought to construct a new system that, by…
Across the west, popular misery and ‘elite overproduction’ are fuelling crisis, argues data-driven historian Peter Turchin. So what can we do to turn things around? In February 2010, Peter Turchin, a relatively obscure researcher at the University of Connecticut, wrote a letter to the distinguished journal Nature. He was responding to their “2020 visions” issue – an upbeat dawn-of-the-decade exercise that collected predictions of progress from across science and politics. Turchin assumed the role of Cassandra. “The next decade is likely to be a period of growing instability in the United States and western Europe,” he wrote, “which could undermine…
The rugged, chilly coast of northern Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle, is not usually thought of as prime agricultural land. But far down a dead-end road on the shores of Skjerstad Fjord sits Salten Smolt, one of the most advanced farms in the world. Rather than crops or cows, though, the firm produces fish. Inside its 7,000 square metre main building are tanks capable of producing 8m smolt—juvenile Atlantic salmon—every year. Fish farming is the fastest-growing form of food production in the world. Seafood accounts for around 17% of the world’s protein intake (in some parts of Asia and Africa,…
April 15, 2025

GenCos warn of nationwide blackout over FG’s N4trn debt

Power Generation Companies (GenCos) have threatened to shut down operations over a N4 trillion debt…
April 14, 2025

‘Tinubu may be a great dad, but he’s Nigeria’s worst president’ – Eedris Abdulkareem

Veteran Nigerian rapper and activist Eedris Abdulkareem has launched a scathing critique of President Bola…
April 13, 2025

The Church’s biggest problem isn’t bad leadership. It's this

Kerry Hasenbalg Idolatry is often thought of as an ancient sin involving golden calves and…
April 06, 2025

Excavation near site where Jesus was crucified and buried results in ancient discovery

Proof of an ancient garden, consistent with biblical scripture, has emerged at the holiest site…
April 15, 2025

At least 51 killed in another attack in Plateau state

At least 51 people were killed by gunmen in the early hours of Monday in…
April 15, 2025

Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 557

Israel makes new Gaza ceasefire proposal but prospects appear slim Mediators Egypt and Qatar have…
April 15, 2025

Is it finally safe to ditch your phone case? I put it to the test

Thomas Germain With smartphones tougher than ever, a new wave of phone minimalists say cases…
January 08, 2025

NFF appoints new Super Eagles head coach

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has appointed Éric Sékou Chelle as the new Head Coach…

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