Undigested history
Undigested historyWhether as victim or as aggressor, the country finds it hard to face up to the past MANY asleep in Tokyo did not hear the rumble of the American B-29 bombers. By the time his father shook him awake, Katsumoto Saotome’s neighbourhood in Tokyo’s lower town was in flames. Canals were no escape, for the jellied paraffin in the bombs turned water into fire. Once it stuck to you, he sa
The truly personal computer
THE Ood are an odd bunch. Among the more enigmatic of the aliens regularly encountered in “Doctor Who”, a television series about a traveller in time and space, they are mostly silent—though sometimes given to song—and disconcertingly squid-like. What is more, evolution has equipped them with two brains—one in their heads, the other carried around in their hand.
Planet of the phones
Planet of the phonesThe smartphone is ubiquitous, addictive and transformative THE dawn of the planet of the smartphones came in January 2007, when Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, in front of a rapt audience of Apple acolytes, brandished a slab of plastic, metal and silicon not much bigger than a Kit Kat. “This will change everything,” he promised. For once there was no hyperbole. Just eight
Onwards and upwards
Onwards and upwardsThe AAAS’s annual meeting looked at contacting aliens, perceptions of smell, curing blindness, mysterious portraits and greedy galaxies. But first, vaccination VACCINES are medical science’s nuclear weapons. Clean water and sewage disposal aside, they have saved more lives than any other public-health measure. Vaccines have wiped smallpox, a disease once dreaded by rich and poor
Showdown
OpinionLeadersLetters to the editorBy InvitationCurrent topicsUS elections 2024War in UkraineWar in the Middle EastThe World Ahead 2024Climate changeCoronavirusThe world economyArtificial intelligenceCurrent topicsUS elections 2024War in UkraineWar in the Middle EastThe World Ahead 2024Climate changeCoronavirusThe world economyArtificial intelligenceWorldThe world this weekChinaUnited StatesEurope
Still fighting
Still fightingIn Asia memories of the second world war still bring more recrimination than reconciliation AS WARS fade from living memory, time should heal the emotional scars. In Asia, however, it seems only to deepen wounds left by the second world war. The 70th anniversary this year of the conflict’s end is likely to attract more attention than even the 50th or 60th. That would seem to offer a
A dad and two mums
EVERY year around a hundred children are born in Britain with seriously damaged mitochondria, those parts of a living cell that synthesise the chemical fuel that powers the rest of it. It is often a death sentence. Those who survive live a debilitating existence in which the tissues of their bodies—brains, muscles, nerves and the rest—are chronically short of the energy they need to function.
Oh, baby
Oh, babyBritain’s approval of babies with three genetic parents offers lessons for other countries “PLAYING God” is what medicine is for. Every Caesarean section and cancer treatment is an attempt to interfere with the natural course of events for the benefit of the patient. Not every procedure should be allowed, but a general sense of what is “unnatural” is a poor guide to what to ban. Transplant
Mission impossible
THE stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant is the world’s most complex and costly industrial clean-up. The first three of Fukushima Dai-ichi’s six reactors melted down in March 2011 and the fourth was damaged. TEPCO’s early guess was that decommissioning would take 30-40 years. That is certainly optimistic.
Grinding on
NEARLY four years after north-eastern Japan’s huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown on March 11th 2011, more than 170,000 people are still stuck in temporary housing along the ravaged coast. One of them is Sumiko Yoshida, a woman in her 70s who lives with her husband in cramped, mouldy quarters in Rikuzentakata, a fishing port that was washed away by the tsunami. More than 1,750 people die
Abe agonistes
MORE than most countries, Japan has long wished to remain divorced from the world’s worries, which seldom reach its shores (the last terrorist attack, in 1995, was home-grown). So the news that Islamic State (IS) had murdered a second Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, brought anguish to many. It also shone a light on the foreign-policy ambitions of the prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
A sense of urgency
EVERYONE had assumed that his job was on the line, but the swiftness of the departure of Don Thompson, chief executive of McDonald’s, came as a surprise. On January 28th the world’s biggest fast-food chain announced that Mr Thompson will leave on March 1st. He will be replaced by Steve Easterbrook, the chief brand officer.
iThrone
iThroneApple reigns supreme when it comes to making money, but now faces even greater expectations NEVER before has so much money been made by a single firm in such a short period of time. On January 27th Tim Cook, the boss of Apple, announced that it had made $18 billion in its latest fiscal quarter, which ran almost to the end of December 2014. That beats the previous record of $15.9 billion rep
Oily and easy
OpinionLeadersLetters to the editorBy InvitationCurrent topicsUS elections 2024War in UkraineIsrael and HamasThe World Ahead 2024Climate changeCoronavirusThe world economyThe Economist explainsArtificial intelligenceCurrent topicsUS elections 2024War in UkraineIsrael and HamasThe World Ahead 2024Climate changeCoronavirusThe world economyThe Economist explainsArtificial intelligenceWorldThe world t
Sand storm
A TOUR of the Middle East by Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, was knocked sideways by the news on January 20th that Islamic State (IS), the extreme jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless Japan quickly pays a ransom of $200m. The sum demanded is equal to an amount Mr Abe had committed days before in Egypt to give to countries battling IS. As The Economi
Going dark
Going darkJust as the threat of terrorism is increasing, the ability of Western security agencies to defeat it is declining OVER the past decade Western security agencies have been remarkably successful in keeping jihadist terrorists at bay. Put it down to diligence, surveillance technology, financial resources, the manageable numbers of potential terrorists and, often, good luck. The spooks have
The magic of mining
The magic of miningMinting the digital currency has become a big, ruthlessly competitive business A HUGE aircraft hangar in Boden, in northern Sweden, big enough to hold a dozen helicopters, is now packed with computers—45,000 of them, each with a whirring fan to stop it overheating. The machines (pictured) work ceaselessly, trying to solve fiendishly difficult mathematical puzzles. The solutions
The Abe habit
The Abe habitShinzo Abe wins again, but what will he do with his mandate? THE general election on December 14th cost ¥63 billion (over $500m), and came just two years after the previous one. So many Japanese could not see the point of it that only 52.7% of voters went to the polls—a post-war low. Yet for Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, the decision to call the election seems vindicated. Even thoug
Make haste slowly
COAL kills, especially in China. Up to half a million people die prematurely each year as a result of the country’s infamously foul air. Coal, from which China gets roughly four-fifths of its electricity, is the main contributor to that deadly pollution. And since the country’s power-generation may need to double by 2030 to keep pace with economic growth and more affluent lifestyles, the damage fr
Free the drones
Free the dronesDrones have immense commercial potential—so long as regulators don’t try to tether them to the ground ONE of this year’s top-selling Christmas presents is a drone. For $50 you can buy a tiny quadcopter with a video camera, perfect for snapping a bird’s-eye view of your garden; for $700, one equipped with a gyroscopically stabilised camera which, when paired with a wireless tracking
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