In The News

The Legacy of the Silk Road

Valerie Hansen January 25, 2013
Modern-day diplomats in Asia and beyond envision reviving the Silk Road, an ancient network of routes crisscrossing the continent for trade and security. But Valerie Hansen, author and professor of history at Yale University points, out that trade was not the primary purpose of the network. “Instead, the Silk Road changed history, largely because the people who managed to travel along part or all...

High-Tech Fork Counts Your Mouthfuls

Bruce Kennedy January 25, 2013
Inventors in one part of the world often observe problems elsewhere and develop solutions. Researchers have long pointed out that eating too fast leads to weight gain and obesity. Quick eaters take in too much before realizing their stomachs are full. So engineer Jacques Lépine invented a fork with electronics in the handle, designed to vibrate and turn red if users insert food into their mouth...

To Get Movies Into China, Hollywood Gives Censors a Preview

Michael Cieply, Brooks Barnes January 21, 2013
The world’s most populous country and big market for entertainment imposes tough restrictions on films with sex, violence, politic, ghosts or Chinese villains. So China’s censors get a first peek at major Hollywood films, sometimes even sitting in on film shoots. Negotiations and edits can ensue. “The lure of access to China’s fast-growing film market – now the world’s second largest, behind that...

Can China and Turkey Forge a New Silk Road?

Anna Beth Keim, Sulmaan Khan January 18, 2013
China and Turkey are taking steps to reinvigorate their relationship and role as strong bookends to the Asian continent while encouraging new connections along the routes of the ancient Silk Road network. The two countries aim to boost bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2020, and plans are underway to connect Ankara and Beijing by rail. But there are complications, too. Turkey, NATO member, also...

For Better Planning, Watch Global Demographic Trends

Joseph Chamie December 12, 2012
An understanding of demographic trends can assist governments in targeting policies for the future and saving money for education, retirement, taxes, healthcare, distribution of natural resources, and more. More importantly, targeted policies can ease resentment emerging over demographic imbalances. The globe can anticipate an additional 1 billion people by 2025 – a total of 8 billion – and...

An American President in the Age of Globalization

Strobe Talbott November 19, 2012
This week YaleGlobal Online marks its 10th anniversary and coincidentally it’s also a period of global transition. In Washington and Beijing, new administrations prepare to take the reins. We begin this week with an analysis of the significance of President Barack Obama’s reelection by Strobe Talbott, the first director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, of which YaleGlobal is the...

Mongolia in Globalization’s Chokehold

Mark Juergensmeyer October 19, 2012
Landlocked Mongolia is in the heart of Asia, a land of great mineral resources and of rapid change since it abandoned communism in 1990 with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Mark Juergensmeyer, director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, visited shortly after that transition and more recently – ascribes many changes to the...