A lesson to learn from the industrial revolution: sustained technological innovation underpins economic growth. Some lesser known lessons to learn from the conflict in Ukraine. How scientists have learnt to forecast famine. The only certainty about Covid that unites the scientists is uncertainty about its evolution. There’s lots of science that tells us that what we eat does effect how we feel and function.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I do not pay attention to trivialities anymore” President Zelensky answering a question on how the war changed him – in the second article of the week
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Dylan Matthews, About 200 years ago, the world started getting rich. Why?
(Vox, 1 June 2022)
A new book (How the World Became Rich) explains what made the Industrial Revolution, and modern life, possible by triggering sustained economic growth, thus suddenly improving quality of life (what we today characterize as extreme poverty was until two centuries ago the condition of almost every human on earth). There are many reasons that need to coalesce, but the simplest answer is that economic growth occurred only after the rate of technological innovation became highly sustained (metered paywall – reads in 6-8min).
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Geoffrey Cain, Volodymyr Zelensky on War, Technology, and the Future of Ukraine
(Wired, 2 June 2022)
100 days after the beginning of the invasion, this interview with the Ukrainian President sheds some light on those aspects of the war that are more rarely discussed in mainstream media: why Big Tech must do more to pull out of Russia, the important role played by Elon Musk’s Starlink, why modern leaders have to appeal to the distracted social media generation, and the fundamental importance of the IT army (metered paywall – reads in 4-5min).
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Maria Paula Rubiano, How scientists predict famine before it hits
(BBC Futures, 31 May 2022)
Decades ago, a group of earth scientists, climatologists, agronomists and data analysts combined forces to ensure that a famine would never again take the world by surprise. These “famine forecasters” can predict the rise of a famine months before it hits. Consequently, they allow local governments to act and international funds to hit the ground before starvation does. The idea is not to provide emergency assistance to hand out food, but to create conditions to adapt to drought (free access – reads in 7-9min).
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Katherine Wu, You Are Going to Get COVID Again … And Again … And Again
(The Atlantic, 27 May 2022)
Will the danger mount each time, or will it fade away? Scientists (abundantly interviewed for this article) aren’t sure. SARS-CoV-2 may yet become another common-cold coronavirus, but there’s no guarantee. The experts’ outlooks range from optimism to pessimism, though all agreed that uncertainty loomed. Until we know more, none were keen to gamble with the virus—or with their own health. Any reinfection will likely still pose a threat, “even if it’s not the worst-case scenario” (metered paywall – reads in about 10min).
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Kimberley Wilson, How to use food to help your mood
(Psyche, 1 June 2022)
Wherever we are in the world, food is used to influence affective states, so how deep is food’s potential to affect how we feel? Can food improve our mood in a significant or lasting way – and, if so, how? Might there be prescriptions of nutritional interventions to help us feel better? This article responds to all these questions. The emerging scientific consensus is that the higher the inflammatory potential of a person’s diet, the worse their brain function will tend to be, and there is overwhelming evidence that a whole-food, plant-heavy, fibre-rich diet that is low in added sugar, trans fats and processed meat products is associated with protection from depression (metered paywall – reads in about 10min).
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