The Power of Good Intentions

A host of new experiments show how good intentions can add to life: Food tastes better, pain hurts less, and pleasure is more pleasant when we see people as benevolent.

Death Penalty Throughout The World

Human rights group Amnesty International believes that in 2011, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China and the United States carried out the most executions in the world.

The real hunger games: How banks gamble on food prices – and the poor lose out

In the last decade, financiers have speculated billions of pounds in food, helping to make prices dearer and more volatile.

U.N. to Create Gross National Happiness?

Should happiness figure in a nation’s bottom line? And should the concept of Gross National Product be replaced by Gross National Happiness?

How the Speed of Information Has Affected Human Progress

Imagine receiving today’s newspaper…and then discovering our meandering correspondence postmarked for March 24, 2012. Or, to switch directions, imagine sending an email this afternoon…only to learn it won’t arrive until next Friday, April 13; a ten day delivery time.

The Kony 2012 “Controversy”

Last week, “Invisible Children” launched a brilliant video aimed at making Ugandan rebel warlord Joseph Kony “famous” in the interest of capturing him and ending his reign of deranged brutality. The group hoped for half a million YouTube views by year end. They’re up to 76 million today.

The three deadliest words in the world: It’s a girl

It’s a girl, a film being released this year, documents the practice of killing unwanted baby girls in South Asia. The trailer’s most chilling scene is one with an Indian woman who, unable to contain her laughter, confesses to having killed eight infant daughters.

The best and worst places to be a woman

Today is the the 101st International Women’s Day. Eighty-five per cent of countries have improved conditions for women over the past six years, according to the World Economic Forum, but in economic and political terms there is still a long way to go. The Independent on Sunday explores the best places to be a woman today.

13 Things I Wish I Could Have Told Myself At 25

Stuff I wish I could have told the twenty-five year-old me (assuming I would have listened).

What goes on in the mind of a sniper?

A young cowboy from Texas who joined the elite US Navy Seals became the most deadly sniper in American history. In a book published this month he provides an unusual insight into the psychology of a soldier who waits, watches and kills.

Are rich people more unethical?

Since the economic implosion of 2008, the news has been littered with accounts of questionable behavior in boardrooms, corner offices, and other gold-plated spaces. What’s not clear from the headlines, however, is whether white-collar criminals  are bad apples or extreme examples of a widespread trend.

Ending world hunger is possible – so why hasn’t it been done?

Some 850 million people go to bed hungry. If the right decisions are made now, we can feed the world and address inequality.

Income inequality is bad for society

The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, a book published in 2009, show how, exactly, income inequality is related to bad outcomes on average.

Should you feel guilty for buying your iPhone?

Last week, The New York Times gave us an inside look at what it’s like to work at Foxconn, the manufacturing company that owns several China-based factories that crank out Apple’s iPads, iPhones and iPods by the millions.

A Numeric Breakdown Of how Bad It Is To Work At Foxconn

An investigative series by the New York Times aput the spotlight on Foxconn, the Taiwanese company whose massive Chinese factories manufacture some of the world’s most popular consumer electronics.

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Mafia Now The Biggest Lender In Italy

A testament to the state of the banking industry in Italy and the resilience of a criminal network declared dead many times over the years.

Child Labor Is increasing Around The World

Child labor risks are rising around the world, including in supply-chain countries, according to a new report from Maplecroft.

The Elusive Big Idea

THE July/August issue of The Atlantic trumpets the “14 Biggest Ideas of the Year.” Take a deep breath. The ideas include “The Players Own the Game” (No. 12), “Wall Street: Same as it Ever Was” (No. 6), “Nothing Stays Secret” (No. 2), and the very biggest idea of the year, “The Rise of the Middle Class — Just Not Ours,” which refers to growing economies in Brazil, Russia, India and China. Now exhale. It may strike you that none of these ideas seem particularly breathtaking. In fact, none of them are ideas.

Digital Narcotics May Be the Future of Drugs

Technologists will become the next drug dealers, administering narcotics through brain stimulation, according to Rohit Talwar, the founder of Fast Future Research, speaking at Intelligence Squared’s If conference.

The Bright Side of the Global Economy: The Middle Class Is Growing

There is a middle class revolution happening in the largest economies in Central and South America, a counterbalance to the terrible news coming out of Europe.

Idolize Bill Gates, Not Steve Jobs

Apple is undoubtedly the gold standard of today’s tech world. In fact, it’s probably the gold standard of American industry at the moment. Its innovative design, user interface, and ecosystem make it a titan in any category it enters. And it’s clear that Steve Jobs was the reason Apple rose to its current heights from the brink of bankruptcy.

The best time and place a woman to be alive: America, C.15,000BC

For women, there was only one time and place better than here and now to be alive—and that was 10,000 to 20,000 years ago on the Pacific north-west coast of what is now America, or anywhere else that was nice and fertile. 

How Economic Inequality Is (Literally) Making Us Sick

Imagine there was one changeable factor that affected virtually every measure of a country’s health— including life expectancy, crime rates, addiction, obesity, infant mortality, stroke, academic achievement, happiness and even overall prosperity. Indeed, this factor actually exists.

If capitalism has failed, how the hell do we pay for our Shreddies?

I might be an economic dunce, but if our failing currencies are replaced by a medieval bartering system, what will we have to do to get our favourite breakfast cereals?