The aging of the population is an undeniable global trend with a social impact at all levels to the point that, as stated in the United Nations World Population Outlook Report (2017) , it is one of the social transformations most significant of the 21st century with consequences on services, health, education, family structure, forms of coexistence […] … learn more→

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is the 20th Etonian to become prime minister of the UK. Most of his cabinet is composed of privileged, privately educated people, with two-thirds of his ministers among the 7% of the population who went to fee-paying schools. With more than half of Britain’s senior judges, top civil servants and diplomats also privately educated […] … learn more→

Technology has been changing extremely fast and affecting our lives significantly. Whether we want it or not, technology forces us to accept changes it brings in our lives and the way we live our daily life. Every week some new gadgets arrive that makes doing things easier outdating their previous versions. The gadgets that are […] … learn more→

Before cities there were swamps. Wetlands and swamps globally have been sacrificed to pave the way for housing, agriculture and industry. Urban developers and dwellers have largely overlooked the vital role that swamps play in buffering storms, capturing carbon, fostering life and filtering water. One of the biggest threats to swamps today is a lack of […] … learn more→

In its new special report on climate change and land, the IPCC calls for more effective and sustainable land management, and more sustainable food consumption. But who is the onus on to go vegetarian, or look after land better? You, me, the “global elite”? The world’s poorest people, or perhaps the many millions of newly-wealthy Chinese […] … learn more→

Recently, I started a new job. One of the first things on my to-do list was to employ someone to work with me. I thought that it might be useful to reflect on the recruitment process, particularly for academics who are looking for an alternative academic job (an ‘alt-ac job’ as some people call it)—an administrative […] … learn more→

We’re running all sorts of experiments on the human race nowadays. Widespread vaccination, widespread exposure to wireless fields, widespread exposure to pornography, and constant tests to see just how often the public will believe highly convenient suicides, among many other experiments…maybe it’s all safe and harmless, maybe, but I completely understand how some people can […] … learn more→

According to tech entrepreneur Patrick Collison and economist Tyler Cowen, academia needs a new discipline called “progress studies.” But their proposal overlooks two crucial facts: human progress has been an object of study for centuries, and innovators ignorant of that scholarship have had devastating effects on the planet and society. When Collison and Cowen write that “progress […] … learn more→

As digital technologies facilitate the growth of both established and emerging organizations, the darker facets of the digital economy are beginning to emerge. In recent years many unethical practices have been revealed, including the seizure and use of consumer data, anti-competitive activities , and secret social experiments . But what do young people who grew up with the internet think […] … learn more→

There’s a huge debate about homework and whether it helps kids learn during the school year. But everyone agrees that homework can take lots of time. The most commonly accepted guidelines recommend one hour for middle school and two hours for high school. However, I think this amount of time on homework every day can be too much. The […] … learn more→