Tag: SB001

The world population is estimated to reach 9.5 billion by 2050. Given that most of our current energy is generated from fossil fuels, this creates significant challenges when it comes to providing enough sustainable electricity while mitigating climate change.

Safari tours and other forms of wildlife tourism in Africa generate more than US$29 billion each year. Whether it’s the salaries of park rangers or money for community outreach and education, much of the funding for conservation comes from this tourism revenue, including 80% of the annual budget of South ...

A new, potentially more infectious variant of the coronavirus is thought to be behind rising COVID-19 case numbers in southern parts of the UK. Fearing this version of the virus could spread out of control, the government has introduced a stricter level of restrictions across much of England: Tier 4.

One of the world’s largest battery storage projects will be built on the banks of the River Thames in Essex, after the UK government recently granted permission. When it is completed in 2024, the battery will eventually store 1.3 gigawatt hours of electricity – enough to to supply more than ...

The emergence of a new variant of coronavirus has sparked renewed interest in the part of the virus known as the spike protein.

This year has taught us a lot, including about food and what it means to us. It’s also highlighted just how differently modern Australians behave in relation to food, especially when comparing our behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic to past crises.

Few people would stop to consider if their sporting activities damage the environment. But our research shows Victorians use a huge chunk of their “personal carbon budget” driving to and from sport events each year – either to watch or participate, or to transport children.

AGI could transform human life for the better, but uncontrolled AGI could also lead to catastrophes up to and including the end of humanity itself.

Scientists know that biodiversity is declining across much of the world although less universally and dramatically than we feared. We also know that things are likely to get worse in the future, with a combination of habitat loss, climate change and overexploitation set to drive species and habitats ever closer ...

British consumers need to prepare for the fact that their shopping bills are about to get a lot more expensive.

Fishing on the high seas is a bit of a mystery, economically speaking. These areas of open ocean beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any nation are generally considered high-effort, low-payoff fishing grounds, yet fishers continue to work in them anyway.

The electoral votes have confirmed Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election. The presidential electors gave Biden 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 232 votes. Biden also recorded a solid lead of over 7 million in the popular vote.

After eight months of drought rules, Auckland finally relaxed water restrictions last week, but as New Zealand heads into another La Niña summer, other cities can expect serious water shortages both now and in the future.

The two major players are NASA and SpaceX, which work together intimately on missions to the International Space Station but have competing ideas of what a crewed Mars mission would look like.

A healthy constitutional culture, in which the people and their leaders respect the authority of their Constitution, requires a baseline of trust in the government – a baseline that, in the United States, has eroded from 77% in the early 1960s to 17% today.

A new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, is thought to be driving increased transmission of the disease in parts of the UK. The government has placed some regions including London under new, stricter coronavirus restrictions, known as Tier 4. People in Tier 4 areas will not be ...

Most of us can’t wait to see the back of 2020, a year that has been memorable for all the wrong reasons. While 2020 provided the ultimate stress test for countries to discover their vulnerabilities, we can confidently predict the New Year will bring its own challenges.

The final report of the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry, issued by former judge Jennifer Coate, outlines monumental errors made by the Victorian government and its public servants.

A nature reserve in India could soon be the only location in the world to host wild populations of four major big cat species – tiger, lion, leopard and cheetah. Kuno-Palpur, in central state of Madhya Pradesh, may not be one of India’s best-known sanctuaries but it is certainly becoming ...

Exercise has been used in the treatment of many medical conditions, including heart and lung diseases. But it can also play an important role in treating peripheral artery disease.

If you’re a music lover, chances are you’ll have used streaming services of some kind. Music streaming accounts for more than half of the global music industry’s revenue in the UK, bringing in more than £1 billion in the last year.

Outside of Victoria the number of hours worked has almost returned to where it was – nowhere near where it would have been, but almost where it was.

Two days before Christmas last year, a fire reached our heritage-protected bush property in the Adelaide Hills, and destroyed our neighbour’s house. For the next two weeks we were on constant alert to keep the fire in check.

The real estate sector has unexpectedly thrived during the pandemic. In the last few months, property prices have broken one record after another, climbing to unprecedented heights.

Winter frost fairs were common on the frozen River Thames between the 17th and 19th centuries, but they’ve become unimaginable in our lifetime. Over decades and centuries, natural variability in the climate has plunged the UK into sub-zero temperatures from time to time. But global warming is tipping the odds ...

Coronavirus vaccines are being administered. Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was the first to finish the final stage of testing – known as phase 3 – and the full results have been published. Having assessed the data, countries are beginning to authorise this vaccine for public use and roll it out.

Last year, the UK government announced a consultation around whether flexible work should not just be available, but become employees’ default option in its annual Queen’s Speech. But 2020 rapidly became a hugely different year in Westminster and flexible working rights seemingly ground to a halt at the political level.

The case against Facebook bears similarities to U.S. v. Microsoft, the landmark 2001 case that found the software company liable for monopolization. Here, the FTC will have to prove that Facebook, like Microsoft, acquired its market power in the social media market by excluding rivals, not merely by making a ...

Cash is changing hands less frequently than ever before. In the US, it accounted for 30% of retail purchases in 2020, down from 40% in 2009. In the UK, the change has been even more rapid: only 23% of payments are made in cash, down from 60% in 2009.

Since 2000, Brazil has doubled its total area of soy plantation to 36 million hectares and become the world’s largest producer. This expansion has erased vast swathes of forest and other habitats in some of the country’s most biodiverse regions.

The WTO is the only global organisation that deals with trade rules between nations, covering things like tariffs and product safety testing and certification procedures.

One of the most striking things about the COVID-19 pandemic is just how dramatically different the responses have been from country to country. In early 2020, when little was known about the virus, this difference was unsurprising. Today, with tens of thousands of research articles and cases of best practice ...

Genomic testing shows the strain from the northern beaches cluster to be an international variant of the virus, one currenty circulating in the United States. But what we don’t yet know is exactly how and when this international strain entered the country and how it spread to the community.

Imagining future cities has long been a favourite activity for architects, artists and designers. Technology is often central in these schemes – it appears as a dynamic and seemingly unstoppable force, providing a neat solution to society’s problems.

China has been the only country to land on the Moon for over 40 years – since the Soviet Luna programme. Its recent Chang’e missions (1-4) demonstrated that China could not only orbit and land on the Moon, but also successfully operate a rover.

Governments shouldn’t be worried that raising taxes on the rich will harm their economies when deciding on how to pay for COVID-19.

Assassin’s Creed plays fast and loose with history, simultaneously putting huge amounts of effort into the reproduction of historical architecture and styles while also staging an endless war between the Assassins, who fight for the freedom of all humanity, and the Templars, who believe peace can only be achieved when ...

Investors with millions of dollars to lend went to the Australian treasury and said not only we won’t charge you interest, but furthermore we will pay you 0.01% to make sure that you take it.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is also likely to elevate the troubled policy area to cabinet, in his imminent ministerial reshuffle.

As England emerged from its second national lockdown in early December, Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, faced an onslaught of questions from MPs on both sides of the House of Commons. Each demanded clarity on what the arrangements would be for their particular constituency under the multi-layered tiers that ...

The lockdowns and restrictions introduced to control the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in huge changes to urban life. Previously bustling city centres remain empty, shunned in favour of suburban or rural areas where social distancing is easier and connections to the outdoors are abundant.

Le Carré’s novels dramatically changed the way the British public, fed on a diet of James Bond and Len Deighton, perceived the world of intelligence. They also provided welcome fodder for newspapers. A story about former MI6 chief John Scarlett’s post-intelligence career published in the i paper in November 2015 ...

The initial rollout of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has begun, and vaccines are shipping across the U.S. Demand for COVID-19 vaccines will outpace supply for the foreseeable future. Yet experts have warned that a substantial proportion of these highly perishable vaccines could go to waste if they are not being used ...

This month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type used in Google Search and other text analysis products.

Australians became more satisfied with federal public services, and more trusting of them, during the first months of COVID-19, according to survey results released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Emerging evidence suggests the first-generation vaccines currently in clinical trials have a good chance of preventing SARS-CoV-2 related illness, but they are less likely to prevent infection with the virus altogether. This means it is unlikely current vaccines will adequately suppress viral transmission.

Rural communities, in particular, will be hit hard. The closure of local hubs such as pubs and community centres in rural and remote areas has been a trend in recent years. The pandemic is likely to exacerbate this. Understanding the impact of COVID-19 is crucial when considering the long-term future ...

Last week, Australia took an important step towards addressing the ongoing effects of the 2018 waste crisis. The federal parliament passed legislation banning the export of unprocessed waste overseas via the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020.

Over 700 marine species, including half of the world’s cetaceans (such as whales and dolphins), all of its sea turtles and a third of its seabirds, are known to ingest plastic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was denied a speaking slot, in recognition of Australia’s failure to set meaningful climate commitments. Meanwhile, the European Union and the UK committed to reduce domestic emissions by 55% and 68% respectively by 2030.