In The News

Fighting the Zika Virus

Nayan Chanda February 17, 2016
Over their lifetime Aedes aegypti mosquitoes may not wander more than a few hundred meters from the source where they emerged as larva without human intervention. Still, the range for the insects is widening, and they have a presence on every continent. Mosquitoes are vectors for multiple blood-borne pathogens, including dengue and the Zika virus, and those are also spreading. The World Health...

AI and Robots Threaten to Unleash Mass Unemployment, Scientists Warn

Clive Cookson February 16, 2016
Almost any task performed by humans could be automated, and development of robots could soon replace most human jobs. Computer scientists Moshe Vardi of Rice University and Bart Selman of Cornell University warned the American Association for the Advancement of Science, that “governments – and society as a whole – were not facing up to the acceleration of AI and robotics research,” reports Clive...

However Annoying, Failure to Engage Russia Is Not an Option

Jochen Prantl February 16, 2016
Negotiations to end civil war in Syria, which has left 250,000 dead, and forced more than 10 million to flee their homes, are set to resume February 25. Syrian troops, aided by Russian airstrikes, are gradually retaking territory held by the rebels. “Russia needs to be convinced that an immediate ceasefire rather than the continuation of war serves its long-term interests,” argues Jochen Prantl,...

Can We Stop Mosquitoes From Infecting the World?

Cheryl Katz February 15, 2016
The World Health Organization has declared Zika a global emergency, exploring links to mosquitoes and birth defects, though much is unknown. No vaccine or treatment is available, and immediate efforts focus on mosquito control. Researchers have linked the birth defects with Zika and mosquitoes, while some doctors in Argentina question if a larvicide could be the problem. Mosquitoes are “adapting...

To Tame a Dragon

Nayan Chanda February 15, 2016
US President Barack Obama, hosting the first US-ASEAN summit, is calling for a negotiated settlement over South China Sea disputes. “For the past several years, the US has sought unsuccessfully to nudge Asean members to take a unified stance against China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea,” writes Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online, for the Times of India. “Although member...

Putin Is No Ally Against ISIS

George Soros February 12, 2016
Russia’s indiscriminate bombing of population centers in Syria by Russia may temporarily save the Assad regime, but is threatening the region and Europe, too, argues George Soros, financier and philanthropist, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “There is no reason to believe [Russian President Vladimir Putin] intervened in Syria in order to aggravate the European refugee crisis," he writes...

Gravity Waves From Black Holes Verify Einstein’s Prediction

Andrew Grant February 12, 2016
Gravitational waves blanket the universe with tremors, as theorized a century ago with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and detected in 2015 by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or Advanced LIGO, with giant lasers in Louisiana and Washington states. “The fleeting burst of waves arrived on Earth long after two black holes, one about 36 times the mass...