What Happened When A Tiny Nation Got Filthy Rich Overnight
Nauru, an island in the South Pacific, is known for its high rate of poverty and unemployment. Only a few decades ago, the island was listed among world’s richest countries while it was a major phosphate exporter but as the resources exhausted, the national systems started to fail.
Life Against The Odds In Australia’s Underground Town
Coober Pedy is at the center of Australia’s opal mining industry. Now the town, where 60% of its residents live underground, is becoming a leader in sustainable living.
How Cities Became Childless
American cities are getting more expensive, and families are being pushed out. Welcome to the future of urban living, where young people have to make a choice: money or babies?
Can China Dump Its Waste Addiction?
China sent Australia’s recycling industry into a spin when it banned most waste imports. Now it’s tackling a home-grown rubbish crisis. Bill Birtles looks at China’s own war on waste and asks: is it winning?
Why Elon Musk And Jack Dorsey Have Big Plans For Africa
Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, Inc, raised some eyebrows in Silicon Valley when he announced he was moving to Africa in 2020. Africa is poised to take off as the next big tech market, and both America and China have taken notice.
How One NASA Image Tells Dozens Of Stories
In 2016, NASA used the Suomi NPP weather satellite to create a high resolution image of the earth at night. It can help us better understand the current developments and conflicts underway. The amount of light pollution is most severe in heavily populated areas, as well as in regions of high prosperity.
Tech’s Most Controversial Startup Makes Drone-Killing Robots
Founded by Palmer Luckey and backed by Peter Thiel, Anduril is rekindling the connection between the American military and Silicon Valley. The company’s surveillance technology consists of large towers, packed with sensors, and small surveillance drones that can be set up to guard the perimeter.
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.
Portrait Of A Place: Atlantic City
Unmasking the declining seaside resort through a portrait of its inhabitants. With a no-holds-barred approach, directors Ben Carey and Billy Linker deliver a full-frontal profile of the once-booming resort town on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast—often sidelined as the “poor man’s Las Vegas.”
Why 40% Of Vietnamese People Have The Same Last Name
The 14 most popular last names in Vietnam account for well over 90 percent of the population. The 14 most popular last names in the US? Fewer than 6 percent. In Vietnam, the most popular last name is Nguyen.
Young Refugees Document The Squalor, And Hope, Around Them
More than 4,100 refugees live in Samos Reception and Identification Center in Greece, a compound built for 650, awaiting their fate. Some have been here for years, and they include people from dozens of nations across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. They also include some 1,200 children, many of them unaccompanied minors.
Malaysia’s $100BN Smart Island City
In an effort to further boost its economy and leverage its unique position on the doorstep of Singapore, Malaysia are raising four artificial islands from the waters of the Johor Strait and constructing a USD $100BN smart city from scratch.
The Ancient Tombs Kept Under Lock And Key
A sense of mystery surrounds the keyhole-shaped kofun tombs in Japan. Although the iconic Mozu Tombs in Sakai city, Osaka have recently been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, surprisingly little is actually known about these intriguing monuments, kept under lock and key by the Japanese government.
The Man Who Cheated Vegas Casinos For Years And Stole Millions
When one man discovers a way to beat the system, Vegas becomes his playground. From slot machine alone he steals millions with the authorities none the wiser, but when he pushes the limits and increases the risks, things take a turn for the worst.
Could Vertical Forests Improve Our Health?
A UN ‘World Cities’ report in 2016 predicted that two-thirds of the global population will live in cities by 2030. Could buildings like Bosco Verticale in Milan help tackle pollution and improve people’s health?
The Origins Of The Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia, referred to by its own members as Cosa Nostra, a phrase meaning “our thing”, is an infamous association of criminal syndicates. They are famous for their heavy-handed role in protection racketeering, alcohol and drug smuggling, and other organized illegal activities across the world.
How ‘Taco Friday’ Became A Swedish Tradition
Fredagsmys, or Cozy Friday, is a beloved Swedish tradition. Across the Scandinavian country, families stay home on Friday night, watch TV, and eat Tex-Mex-style tacos. This dinner choice is so common that, for most Swedes, Cozy Friday is also Taco Fredag, or Taco Friday.
Polygamist Mafia: Escaping The Kingston Clan
Although the mainstream Mormon church abandoned polygamy over 100 years ago, many splinter groups across Utah still practice plural marriage. One such group is the Kingston Clan, known to members as The Order. The Kingstons live in Salt Lake City and run their religion like a secretive business empire.
The Canadian Genius Who Created Modern AI
For nearly 40 years, Geoff Hinton has been trying to get computers to learn like people do, a quest almost everyone thought was crazy or at least hopeless – right up until the moment it revolutionized the field. In this video, Bloomberg Businessweek’s Ashlee Vance meets the Godfather of AI.
“Safety”, Award-Winning Short Film About A School Shooting In America
In a small-town elementary school, 8-year-old Michael lays on the cold gym floor. Suddenly the class hears the sound of a gunshot nearby. As they rush to seek refuge in their gym teacher’s office, Michael senses something familiar about the shooter and makes a daring move, altering both of their lives forever.
Human Population Through Time
It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth’s resources, even as we approach 11 billion?