Get smarter, faster. Subscribe to our daily newsletter.
And the Best Country in the World Is...Ireland! (U.S. Ranks 21st)
A new compilation of data called the Good Country Index has placed Ireland at the top of the world's countries when it comes to contributing to humanity's larger goals.
What's the Latest?
A new compilation of data called the Good Country Index has placed Ireland at the top of the world's countries when it comes to contributing to humanity's larger goals in areas like Prosperity and Equality, Culture, and Health and Wellbeing. The index was compiled by British policy analyst Simon Anholt and is based on 35 separate indicators from the UN, World Bank, and other international organizations. "Using a wide range of data from the UN and other international organisations, we've given each country a balance-sheet to show at a glance whether it’s a net creditor to mankind, a burden on the planet, or something in between."
What's the Big Idea?
Ireland faltered in areas like Science and Technology as well as International Peace and Security. The United States took 21st place and was harmed most by poor ratings in the International Peace and Security category. "Outside of western Europe and the English-speaking world, the highest ranked country was Costa Rica, which finished in 22nd place, while Chile was ranked in 24th place. The African nation deemed to contribute most was Kenya in 26th place." Anholt says the new index is meant to encourage countries to contribute more widely to humanity's general welfare, not just that of its domestic citizens.
Read more at the Irish Times
Photo credit: Patryk Kosmider/Shutterstock.com
Popular
Archaeologists identify contents of ancient Mayan drug containers
Scientists use new methods to discover what's inside drug containers used by ancient Mayan people.
18 January, 2021
A Muna-type paneled flask with distinctive serrated-edge decoration from AD 750-900.
Credit: WSU
Surprising Science
- Archaeologists used new methods to identify contents of Mayan drug containers.
- They were able to discover a non-tobacco plant that was mixed in by the smoking Mayans.
- The approach promises to open up new frontiers in the knowledge of substances ancient people consumed.
<p>Ancient Mayans have been a continuing source of inspiration for their monuments, knowledge, and mysterious demise. Now a new study discovers some of the drugs they used. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-81158-y" target="_blank">For the first time</a>, scientists found remnants of a non-tobacco plant in Mayan drug containers. They believe their analysis methods can allow them exciting new ways of investigating the different types of psychoactive and non-psychoactive plants used by the Maya and other pre-Colombian societies.</p><p>The research was carried out by a team from Washington State University, led by anthropology postdoc <a href="https://wsu.academia.edu/MarioZimmermann" target="_blank">Mario Zimmermann</a>. They spotted residue of the Mexican marigold (Tagetes lucida) in 14 tiny ceramic vessels that were buried over a 1,000 years ago on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The containers also exhibited chemical traces of two types of tobacco: Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica. Scientists think the marigold was mixed in with the tobacco to make the experience more pleasant.</p>
<blockquote>"While it has been established that tobacco was commonly used throughout the Americas before and after contact, evidence of other plants used for medicinal or religious purposes has remained largely unexplored," said Zimmermann. "The analysis methods developed in collaboration between the Department of Anthropology and the Institute of Biological Chemistry give us the ability to investigate drug use in the ancient world like never before."</blockquote><p>The scientists used a new method based on <a href="https://www.future-science.com/doi/full/10.2144/000113133" target="_blank">metabolomics</a> that is able to pinpoint thousands of plant compounds, or metabolites, in residue of archaeological artifacts like containers and pipes. This allows the researchers to figure out which specific plants were utilized. The way plant residue was identified before employed looking for specific biomarkers from nicotine, caffeine, and other such substances. That approach would not be able to spot what else was consumed outside of what biomarker was found. The new way gives much more information, showing the researchers a fuller picture of what the ancient people ingested. </p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ5ODA2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTU5NjU3MH0.yulUX2V5W_S-eR5JE89cKODfRv3numTn_cjeBqbcYAk/img.jpg?width=980" id="023b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0a4f30654bf0f0c2b8463aaaae455714" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="640" data-height="480" />
PARME staff archaeologists excavating a burial site at the Tamanache site, Mérida, Yucatan.
Credit: WSU
<p>The containers in the study were found by Zimmerman and a team of archaeologists in 2012.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"When you find something really interesting like an intact container it gives you a sense of joy," <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-01-scientists-contents-ancient-maya-drug.html" target="_blank">shared</a> Zimmermann. "Normally, you are lucky if you find a jade bead. There are literally tons of pottery sherds but complete vessels are scarce and offer a lot of interesting research potential."</p><p>The researchers are negotiating with various Mexican institutions to be able to study more ancient containers for plant residues. They also aim to look at organic materials possibly preserved in the dental plaque of ancient remains. </p><p>Check out the study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-81158-y" target="_blank">Scientific Reports. </a></p>
Keep reading
Show less
Why cities are critical to achieving a carbon-neutral world
In May 2018, the city of Paris set an ambition to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
25 February, 2021
Photo by Rodrigo Kugnharski on Unsplash
Technology & Innovation
- Countries, governments and companies are aligning on a need for net-zero - and this is an opportunity to rethink decarbonizing our cities.
- There is no "one-size-fits-all" solution – each city's needs must be at the heart of developing integrated energy solutions.
- A city can only decarbonize through collaboration between government, the private sector, and local communities.
<p>The world is at a critical juncture. Never has there been a moment where businesses, energy consumers and governments – from Canada to China – are aligning on a common vision like this: a road to net-zero emissions.</p><p>In the years ahead the role played by cities will be under greater scrutiny than ever before. Cities are, after all, the beating heart of business, commerce, trade and society. They cover 3% of the earth's land surface yet they are responsible for <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more than 70%</a> of all carbon emissions. Cities are where the need for integrated energy solutions, backed up by ambitious policy and urban planning, will be critical if the world is to move towards net-zero emissions in the years ahead.</p><ul class="ee-ul"></ul><p>The private sector has a role to play. Over the past few years, companies and industries have begun to ask how they can play their part. Many in the energy sector are on a mission to help customers decarbonize within their own sectors, businesses, communities and homes. But how could that work for cities?</p>
<h3>Co-visioning</h3><p>While every city has unique needs, five are common to building sustainable and smarter cities of the future. These are mobility, energy, environment, urban planning and living. And it is a mix of these elements that is required to develop integrated solutions. To better understand the different needs, convening a diverse set of city stakeholders is key. This I would like to describe as co-visioning.</p><p>For example, in May 2018 the city of Paris set an ambition to be carbon-neutral by 2050. This ambition is not without challenges. Rising levels of income and wealth inequality, transport emissions and older and energy-inefficient building stock are among the challenges standing in the way of that goal.</p><p>In 2019, Shell, alongside <a href="https://leonard.vinci.com/en/" target="_blank">Leonard</a> (a foresight and innovation platform) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (<a href="https://www.oecd.org/" target="_blank">OECD</a>), hosted a City Scenarios workshop in Paris. This event brought together 45 key stakeholders from across both public and private sectors and the wider community, who discussed how to collectively address and meet the objectives of the Paris Climate Action Plan, which aims to make Paris a carbon-neutral city by 2050.</p><p>The outcomes of this workshop led to a <a href="http://www.shell.com/parissketch" target="_blank">sketch that explores three scenarios</a>. Each describes different visions of the future for the Paris Metropole, while illustrating a pathway to 2050 and describes progress, or lack thereof, towards the goals of the Paris Climate Action Plan. A short description of each scenario is described in the visual below.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/scenarios/scenario-sketches/sketch-paris-metropole-becoming-carbon-neutral.html#vanity-aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2hlbGwuY29tL3Bhcmlzc2tldGNoLmh0bWw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt="Three scenarios for the future of Paris" src="https://assets.weforum.org/editor/fikEqXUoihJyeI5QAOk5cFJ_lIVcKVXWz-21d0r2SJQ.png"></a>Three scenarios for the future of Paris (Image: Shell)</p><p>The purpose of this exploration was to guide the wisest possible choices and actions that should be taken now, to achieve the shared ambitions for the Paris region. Far from being a regular commercial opportunity, this instead looked to envision future scenarios and what customers' needs in the future could look like. This work has enabled us to better integrate solutions in the years ahead.</p>
<h3>Integrated solutions</h3><p>After understanding the needs, one approach to co-innovate solutions is to adopt a 'Living Lab' concept. In Singapore, we launched a <a href="https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/the-energy-future/future-cities/shell-city-solutions.html#vanity-aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2hlbGwuY29tL2NpdHlzb2x1dGlvbnMuaHRtbA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">City Solutions Living Lab</a> to co-create and experiment with city stakeholders' innovative concepts, scenarios, technologies and business models in actual living environments.</p><p>The island city-state is forward thinking in its approach to energy transition. It has set ambitious targets to increase renewables, and announced that it plans to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040. With this shared vision, Shell partnered Singapore's Energy Market Authority (EMA) to jointly work on spurring the adoption of energy storage systems to support the deployment of more solar in Singapore. One ongoing project is to work with local enterprises to develop smart energy-management system solutions that integrate solar and storage to provide fast charging for electric vehicles at Shell service stations.</p><p>There is no one-size fits all solution. Starting from each city's needs, integrated solutions need to be innovated and delivered. This will require unprecedented collaboration between government, industry and society. But the urgency has never been greater. After all, making cities sustainable places to live and work for future generations will be imperative if the world is to meet the broader goals of the Paris Agreement and move closer to a net-zero emissions world.</p><p><em>To learn more, please visit the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/projects/systemic-efficiency" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">programme webpage</a> and see the recent report <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Net_Zero_Carbon_Cities_An_Integrated_Approach_2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Net Zero Carbon Cities: An Integrated Approach</a>.</em></p><p>Reprinted with permission of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weforum.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="">World Economic Forum</a>. Read the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/cities-are-at-the-heart-of-our-journey-to-net-zero/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="">original article</a>.</p>
Keep reading
Show less
Japanese government appoints new "Minister of Loneliness"
While not the first such minister, the loneliness epidemic in Japan will make this one the hardest working.
24 February, 2021
Minister Tetsushi Sakamoto
Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Politics & Current Affairs
- The Japanese government has appointed a Minister of Loneliness to implement policies designed to fight isolation and lower suicide rates.
- They are the second country, after the U.K., to dedicate a cabinet member to the task.
- While Japan is famous for how its loneliness epidemic manifests, it isn't alone in having one.
<p> At the time of writing, the COVID-19 pandemic is just a few weeks shy of being one year old. Many people have been practicing social distancing, quarantine, and isolation procedures for most of that time. While these practices have had a real effect on case numbers, they have also had more than a few adverse side effects. In Japan, the government is blaming a recent increase in suicide rates on the difficulties caused by isolation. </p><p>Japan, which has done an excellent job of keeping COVID death rates low, saw an increase in the number of suicides among <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/world/asia/japan-women-suicide-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women</a> and students during the last year. Despite the continued fall in the suicide rate for men, Japan still has the highest suicide rate among any G7 <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Japan-appoints-minister-of-loneliness-to-help-people-home-alone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">nation</a>. </p><p>In hopes of attacking the problem at its perceived source, the Japanese government has taken the bold step of appointing a cabinet member dedicated to the loneliness <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-minister-of-loneliness-suicides-rise-pandemic-2021-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">crisis</a>. </p>
The Ministry of Loneliness
<iframe width="730" height="430" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I5FIohjZT8o" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><p><a href="https://www.jimin.jp/english/profile/members/114749.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tetsushi Sakamoto</a>, already in the government as the minister in charge of raising Japan's low birthrate and revitalizing regional economies, was appointed this <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/21/national/japan-tackles-loneliness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">month</a> to the additional role. He has already announced plans for an emergency national forum to discuss the issue and share the testimony of lonely <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/12/national/loneliness-isolation-minister/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">individuals</a>.</p><p>Given the complexity of the problem, the minister will primarily oversee the coordination of efforts between different <a href="https://www.insider.com/japan-minister-of-loneliness-suicides-rise-pandemic-2021-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ministries</a> that hope to address the issue alongside a task <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/21/national/japan-tackles-loneliness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">force</a>. He steps into his role not a moment too soon. The loneliness epidemic in Japan is uniquely well known around the world.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Hikikomori</em></a><em>,</em> often translated as "acute social withdrawal," is the phenomenon of people completely withdrawing from society for months or years at a time and living as modern-day hermits. While cases exist in many <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00247/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">countries</a>, the problem is better known and more prevalent in Japan. Estimates vary, but some suggest that one million Japanese live like this and that 1.5 million more are at <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/japan-hikikomori-isolation-society" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">risk</a> of developing the condition. Individuals practicing this hermitage often express contentment with their isolation at first before encountering severe symptoms of loneliness and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200110155241.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">distress</a>.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodokushi" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Kodokushi</em></a>, the phenomenon of the elderly dying alone and remaining undiscovered for some time due to their isolation, is also a widespread issue in Japan that has attracted national attention for decades.</p><p>These are just the most shocking elements of the loneliness crisis. As we've discussed before, loneliness can cause health issues akin to <a href="https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/americas-loneliness-epidemic-is-more-lethal-than-smoking-heres-what-you-can-do-to-combat-isolation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">smoking</a>. A lack of interaction within a community can cause social <a href="https://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/how-religious-neighbors-are-better-neighbors" target="_self">problems</a>. It is even associated with changes in the <a href="https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/loneliness-brain" target="_self">brain</a>. While there is nothing wrong with wanting a little time to yourself, the inability to get the socialization that many people need is a real problem with real <a href="https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/brain-loneliness-hunger" target="_self">consequences</a>.</p>The virus that broke the camel's back
<iframe width="730" height="430" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hp-L844-5k8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><p> A global loneliness pandemic existed before COVID-19, and the two working in tandem has been catastrophic. </p><p>Japanese society has always placed a value on solitude, often associating it with self-reliance, which makes dealing with the problem of excessive solitude more difficult. Before the pandemic, 16.1 percent of Japanese seniors reported having nobody to turn to in a time of need, the highest rate of any nation <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/21/national/japan-tackles-loneliness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">considered</a>. Seventeen percent of Japanese men surveyed in 2005 said that they "rarely or never spend time with friends, colleagues, or others in social groups." This was three times the average rate of other <a href="http://www.oecd.org/sdd/37964677.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">countries</a>. </p><p>American individualism also creates a fertile environment for isolation to grow. About a month before the pandemic started, nearly<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/23/798676465/most-americans-are-lonely-and-our-workplace-culture-may-not-be-helping" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> 3 in 5</a> Americans reported being lonely in a <a href="https://www.cigna.com/about-us/newsroom/studies-and-reports/combatting-loneliness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> issued by Cigna. This is a slight increase over previous studies, which had been pointing in the same direction for years. </p><p>In the United Kingdom, the problem prompted the creation of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. The commission's <a href="https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/reports-and-publications/reports-and-briefings/active-communities/rb_dec17_jocox_commission_finalreport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">final report </a>paints a stark picture of the U.K.'s situation in 2017, with millions of people from all parts of British society reporting feeling regular loneliness at a tremendous cost to personal health, society, and the economy.</p><p>The report called for a lead minister to address the problem at the national level, incorporating government action with the insights provided by volunteer organizations, businesses, the NHS, and other organizations on the crisis's front lines. Her Majesty's Government acted on the report and appointed the first Minister for Loneliness in <a href="https://time.com/5248016/tracey-crouch-uk-loneliness-minister/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2018</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracey_Crouch" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tracey Crouch</a>, and dedicated millions of pounds to battling the problem. </p><p>The distancing procedures necessitated by the COVID-19 epidemic saved many lives but exacerbated an existing problem of loneliness in many parts of the world. While the issue had received attention before, Japan's steps to address the situation suggest that people are now willing to treat it with the seriousness it deserves.</p><p>--</p><p><em>If you or a loved one are having suicidal thoughts, help is available. The suicide prevention hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.</em></p>
Keep reading
Show less
Culture & Religion
How art and design can rebuild a community
MIT professor Azra Akšamija creates works of cultural resilience in the face of social conflict.
Scroll down to load more…
