Author: James Martin
Comment on this storyCommentFor months, I’ve been talking to scientists about drug-resistant fungi, waiting for a news hook that might help me convince readers to care about the threat. Little did I know that I was waiting for a fictional apocalypse.In the new HBO show the Last of Us, a real-life fungus called Cordyceps, known to hijack the brains and bodies of insects, has adapted to thrive on human hosts. It swiftly and gruesomely transforms the people it infects, turning them first into zombies that chase down human prey. Eventually, the zombies morph into giant mushrooms. Yikes.In the real world,…
Comment on this storyCommentIn the middle of winter, on a cold, grey day, it’s easy to find yourself yearning for some summer warmth. It’s also easy to forget the deadly heat.2022 was Europe’s hottest summer on record, leading to more than 20,000 excess deaths across western Europe, and this summer could be even worse with the return of El Niño.The effects may be felt most in our cities, which are on average 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than surrounding areas due to so-called urban heat islands (UHIs). That’s when building materials (concrete, asphalt, metal) and machinery (cars, trucks, air conditioning units) absorb…
Comment on this storyCommentThe traditional favorable start to financial markets in 2023, due to investor fund inflows that typically accompany the new year, has been turbocharged by data pointing to a greater possibility of a soft landing for the US economy and, most recently, the signals coming out of the Federal Reserve. The generalized price rally has been so quick and so big for both stocks and bonds that it raises an interesting question for underinvested investors who have not yet put their money to work. What they should do correlates closely, but not entirely, to their economic and policy…
Comment on this storyCommentThe labor market shattered expectations in January as the economy added 517,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent, a low not seen since May 1969, according to data released Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Job gains had been steadily dropping for months, but January’s stunning job growth reflects unexpected tightness in the labor market, even amid fears of a looming recession as high-profile layoffs spread across the tech industry.“These numbers are a real surprise,” said James Knightley, chief international economist for ING. “We had been looking at evidence of some softening in the…
Comment on this storyCommentThis article is a preview of The Tech Friend newsletter. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday.For at least 60 years, technologists have hunted for a mental health holy grail: a computer that listens to our problems and helps us.We keep failing at making an artificial-intelligence Sigmund Freud, and there is both value and risk in leaning on technology to improve our mental well-being. Let’s talk it over. (Imagine me saying that in my most cliched therapist voice.)Projects such as Woebot and Koko have used artificial intelligence to augment elements of…
Comment on this storyCommentIt looks like “Day Two” is coming fast for Amazon.Thursday’s earnings update capped a rough year for the tech giant. It was on the wrong end of consumer spending on essentials and services as inflation soared last year. Its cloud customers pulled back. It closed dozens of sorting facilities after overbuilding to accommodate a wave of online pandemic shopping. It made plans to lay off thousands of people across its hardware and retail businesses. And on Thursday Amazon.com Inc. printed its first annual loss since 2014 with a warning that the new year was off to a tepid start. In a sign of…
Comment on this storyCommentOn Wednesday Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced the expected increase of 25 basis points in the bank’s policy rate, and reiterated that “ongoing increases” will be needed to get inflation back under control. Investors aren’t convinced. In fact, if you wanted to be harsh about the markets’ reaction to Powell’s statement, you’d say they laughed in his face.The prices of stocks and bonds moved sharply up on the news, with the riskiest assets doing especially well. As many analysts pointed out, investors are clearly betting that the Fed isn’t going to do what it says. The…
Comment on this storyCommentThe victories for President Joe Biden keep adding up heading into next week’s State of the Union address. The American Rescue Plan. The Infrastructure Act of 2021. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. As impressive as those accomplishments are, perhaps the most astonishing one is what has happened in the stock market. Yes, the stock market. Despite dropping into a bear market last year, the S&P 500 Index has gained 24.1% since Election Day in November 2020. What’s remarkable is that under Donald Trump, a president with a reputation for market-friendly policies, the S&P 500’s performance wasn’t…
Comment on this storyCommentWhether it’s going after shady Russian oligarchs or chiding governments for failing to tackle corruption, one of the European Union’s most potent weapons is its own record in fighting graft closer to home. So it’s no surprise that the bloc’s critics are making the most of a bribery scandal at the European Parliament involving lurid revelations of suitcases stuffed with cash. The case centers on just a handful of people at the 705-member assembly, but could still undercut the EU’s soft power. In early 2021, Belgian police began to investigate possible interference by a foreign government in the…
Comment on this storyCommentViolence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is escalating and fears are mounting of a wider conflict in what has long been one of Africa’s most volatile regions. President Felix Tshisekedi accuses his counterpart in neighboring Rwanda, Paul Kagame, of supporting a rebel group known as M23. Kagame denies the allegation and counters that Tshisekedi’s inability to control events in his own country poses a security risk to Rwanda. The acrimony reached new heights in late January, when Rwanda’s army shot and damaged a Congolese fighter jet that it says violated its airspace. An…