What Does A Cashless Future Mean?
Operating in cash costs countries about 0.5% of their GDP every year. But cost isn’t the only incentive to move towards a cashless future. Many countries are going cashless at great speed. What are the advantages of ditching hard cash and what are the dangers?
The Daring Journey Inside The World’s Deepest Cave
The Veryovkina Cave is the deepest known cave on Earth. It took half a century and about 30 expeditions for Russian cave explorers to reach its record depth of 2,212 meters. Speleologists still think there is more to be discovered.
Unearthed Photos Reveal What Happened To Those Who Dared To Flee Through The Berlin Wall
The US filmmaker Scott Calonico obtained a cache of photographs from security service records of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). One sequence in these never-before-seen images shows the arrest of a West German couple and the East German family they were trying to smuggle out in the boot of their car on 3 September 1988.
China’s Man-Made Forest In The Desert
In 1986, the city of Aksu in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region began an ambitious tree-planting project that looked to turn swaths of desert into forest. The result was over 13 million acres of green that became the Kekeya greening project.
How Migration Could Make The World Richer
Many of the recent political shifts in the West—the election of Donald Trump, the rise of populism in Europe and Brexit—can be partially attributed to the fear of mass migration. Yet increasing migration is one of the quickest ways to make the world richer.
Flat 13: Facing Down Apartheid
This is the story of the apartment in downtown Johannesburg that, between the late 1940s and early 1960s, became a hub of resistance against apartheid.
Counterfeiting Microsoft Windows Restore CDs Landed Me In Prison For A Year
In 2012, while living in China, longtime e-waste recycler Eric Lundgren manufactured 28,000 PC restore discs to be used in refurbished computers sold in the United States.
Mapping America’s Stark Wage Inequality
One of the most important economic stories of the past couple of decades is the rise of economic inequality in the United States and around the world. Since 1980, economists say, wage growth for the highest-paid workers has been roughly triple that for the lowest paid. In some cities, the disparity is wider.
How Singapore Solved Housing
Because 80% of the population lives in one of its one million public apartments, they carry no social stigma and are enjoyed by the rich and poor alike. Singapore has adopted such a unique set of policies that the usual measures fail to accurately capture just how far ahead it is.
James Niehues: The Man Behind The Map
If you are a skier or snowboarder, there is a good chance James Niehues has been your mountain guide. Throughout his 30 year career he has worked at the smallest hills and the most expansive resorts in North America. James has extensively researched, photographed and illustrated nearly every ski map used in North America over the last three decades.
Why Airplane Boarding Got So Ridiculous
Airlines were focused on finding the fastest possible boarding method, so planes can spend less time at gates and more time in the air, making money. They might have stuck with that aim if it weren’t for the other change, which has to do with the fight for overhead bin space.
“Negative Space”, Oscar-Nominated Animation About A Father-Son Relationship
Based on a 150-word poem by Ron Koertge, “Negative Space” is a short animated film that depicts a father-and-son relationship through the art of packing a suitcase.
Why Cruise Lines Keep Cutting Their Ships In Half
In a process called “stretching,” the Star Breeze is getting pulled apart to make room for a new, 84-foot, 1,250-ton prefab midsection addition. Think of it like unsnapping (or unwelding) two Legos and putting another block in between. But with a boat.
How ‘Landscape Urbanism’ Is Making Gentrification Look Like Fun
The High Line and its imitators are examples of “landscape urbanism,” a growing design movement that places green space in collision with old infrastructure. Rehabilitation projects follow a familiar playbook, aestheticizing the labor of the past even as they support a gentrified future.
How Much McDonald’s Franchise Owners Really Make Per Year
The food at McDonald’s has always sold like hotcakes but once the restaurant started franchising, the world began eating up the brand. But being a franchise owner isn’t as easy, or profitable, as you might think. Buying into a McDonald’s franchise is expensive, between $1 million and $2.2 million.
Iran’s Economy Could Be Huge, But They Don’t Care
What has prevented Iran, teeming with natural resources and a young, educated population, from becoming a world-leading economy? How did it go from rapid growth to economic failure, and why is it still unable to fulfil it’s potential?
The Proto-Communist Plan To Resurrect Everyone Who Ever Lived
Nikolai Fedorov, a nineteenth-century librarian and Russian Orthodoxy philosopher, went so far as to call the resurrection project “the common task” of humanity, calling for the living to be rejuvenated, the dead to be resurrected, and space to be colonized specifically to house them.
Sitzfleisch: The German Concept To Get More Work Done
To have sitzfleisch means the ability to sit still for the long periods of time required to be truly productive; it means the stamina to work through a difficult situation and see a project through to the end. Angela Merkel has it in abundance – how do you cultivate this crucial skill?
They Were Promised Broadband And High-Tech Jobs. They’re Still Waiting.
Kentucky’s plan to bring broadband to remote parts of the state has sputtered and its future looks increasingly bleak. State leaders told rural residents it would create better business opportunities. But instead, they keep getting left behind.
Why Amazon Has So Many Counterfeit Goods
Seizures of counterfeit products at U.S. borders have increased 10-fold over the past two decades as e-commerce sales have boomed. The total value of seized goods – if they had been real – reached nearly $1.4 billion in 2018. Most are coming from mainland China or Hong Kong.