December 2011
31 posts
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“Imagine that you are French. You are walking along a busy pavement in Paris and...”
– Understanding and modelling how pedestrians behave is a youngish field for researchers. Anticipating pedestrian flows makes crowd events smoother and safer, and accounting for the peculiar propensities of different nationalities is key to getting it right.
“How did a nation that, aside from its mussels and chips, renowned chocolate and...”
– Belgium, a small, unremarkable country, brews world-reknowned beer. The country also makes a bigger range than any other—1,131 at the last count. Its hybrid history and culture are part of the reason why.
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“People smoke, Dichter explained, because it is both a sign of virility and a...”
– In America in the 1930s a Viennese psychologist named Ernest Dichter implored advertisers to explore consumers’ unconscious desires. His insights revolutionised marketing and brought sex to advertising.
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“In one survey a fifth of Korean middle and high school students said they felt...”
– Every year South Korea comes to a halt on the day of the university entrance exams, for it is the most important day in most South Koreans’ lives. The single set of multiple-choice tests that students take that day determines their future. But the “one-shot” society carries a heavy...
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“The Buddha tells the people he can fulfil only one of their wishes. Someone...”
– Why does China fail at football?
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“One cold morning in 1591 an English sailor found himself shivering on the island...”
– Master Anthony Knivet left behind a memoir of his strange fortunes, featuring sea monsters, savage tribes and years of slavery. Some of it might be true.
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“There are as many domestic workers in London now as in Victorian times.”
– These days domestic workers are more likely to be self-employed, well-qualified and well-paid than their 19th century counterparts. Yet in some respects the industry has changed surprisingly little.
“The worst of the hazards travellers encounter in the mountainous rainforests of...”
– Our correspondent joined a team of conservationists hunting for new species of frogs in India’s western mountains. Her report is not for the squeamish.
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“Atlantans, it is estimated, have the longest average rush-hour commute in...”
– According to Georgia’s government, the state spends less per head on transport than any other except Tennessee. But fixing the infrastructure means raising taxes—politically unpalatable even in fat years, and this is not one.
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“That the world’s most powerful country—whose scientists have made a vast...”
– In the early hours of December 11th, after three days and nights of exhausting, often ill-tempered, final negotiations, the UN’s two-week-long climate-change summit ended in Durban with an agreement. America has reason to be glad of the outcome—yet its negotiators showed little enthusiasm for almost...
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“We journalists are probably too bleary-eyed after a sleepless night to...”
– In an effort to stabilise the euro zone, France, Germany and 21 other countries have decided to draft their own treaty to impose more central control over national budgets. Britain and three others have decided to stay out. But whether the agreement does anything to stabilise the euro is moot.
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