The Economist

Covid-19: how tech will transform your kids' education

The 2020 pandemic disrupted education for 1.4 billion students globally, exposing structural inequities that spurred major government interventions and a projected doubling of EdTech spending to over $400 billion by 2025. Industry leaders like Century founder Priya Lakhani and Mersion are deploying AI-driven platforms and simulation software to personalize learning and revolutionize teacher training, shifting focus from consumer tools to classroom-specific efficiency. Despite these innovations, experts warn that without targeted infrastructure investment in under-resourced schools, the emerging hybrid model risks widening the digital divide, even as hybrid learning gains acceptance for combining physical instruction with technology-enabled skill acquisition.

Covid-19: Can vaccines keep up with variants?

Alok Jha, Natasha Loder

Driven by the Delta variant and potential mutations within immune-suppressed hosts, the pandemic persists as unchecked global transmission threatens to create vaccine-evading "omega" variants. Experts warn that while current vaccines remain effective against severe outcomes, the primary risk lies in uncontrolled spread leading to higher absolute death tolls and future immune evasion. To prevent this nightmare scenario, scientists advocate for proactive surveillance at human-animal interfaces and the development of rapid variant-specific vaccines alongside stricter laboratory and environmental security protocols.

Hydrogen: fuel of the future?

Vijay Vaitheeswaran

As a high-density energy carrier essential for decarbonizing heavy industries like steel and cement, hydrogen is seeing a surge in global adoption with over 350 large-scale projects totaling $500 billion in investment. Despite historical production challenges and public perception hurdles stemming from the Hindenburg disaster, government mandates in nations like Germany and China are accelerating the shift toward renewable green hydrogen. This strategic transition positions hydrogen as a critical component for long-term net-zero goals in sectors where direct electrification remains impractical.

Afghanistan: how the Taliban weakened America

Robert Guest

The Taliban's rapid seizure of Afghanistan marks the end of a twenty-year US campaign defined by strategic failures in intelligence, nation-building, and centralizing power that ultimately collapsed the Afghan government without significant battlefield resistance. President Biden oversaw a chaotic withdrawal that prioritized the evacuation of American citizens over allies, causing severe damage to US global credibility while triggering internal displacement and fears of a resurgent al-Qaeda. Despite public promises of an inclusive government, the new regime has immediately enacted severe restrictions on civil liberties, including bans on women working and media censorship, signaling a high risk of further regional instability.

Should covid-19 vaccines be mandatory?

Natasha Lodo

Debate over mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies intensifies as approximately 30% of U.S. adults remain unvaccinated, creating a polarized divide between public health advocates and those defending bodily autonomy. While jurisdictions like Italy and U.S. states such as California have implemented employer mandates and federal testing requirements, the nation lacks a uniform national strategy due to constitutional limitations and stark political opposition. Historical precedents from the smallpox era and mixed results from financial incentive programs suggest that future vaccine mandates will remain highly localized, varying significantly by state politics and legal frameworks.

Should we be worried about technology?

Tom Standage

Speaker highlights the cyclical historical pattern of technological optimism and backlash, noting that current "tech lash" sentiments mirror past shifts from Victorian Luddite protests to 1990s dot-com utopianism. The presentation argues that technology itself lacks inherent agency, asserting that societal outcomes depend on human application and that regulatory frameworks must evolve through real-time "sandbox approaches" to manage rapid innovation. To address modern challenges like the climate crisis, the speaker advocates for a measured strategy where further technological solutions, such as geoengineering and electric vehicles, are employed to solve problems created by previous innovations.

What is net zero?

Vijay Vaitheeswaran

Over fifty nations and major global entities have committed to the Paris Agreement goal of balancing greenhouse gas emissions with removals by the mid-to-late 21st century, a target essential for curbing the annual 40-billion-tonne carbon output of the current economy. While established methods like reforestation offer immediate relief, the strategy increasingly relies on unproven negative emission technologies to handle hard-to-abate sectors, creating a strategic risk that delayed emission cuts will be offset by future innovations. This transition faces significant hurdles, including disputes over accountability between historic and emerging emitters and the absence of universal accounting policies, leaving the achievement of net zero as a complex endeavor requiring unprecedented global cooperation beyond mere technological solutions.

Henry Kissinger: how Biden should handle China

Henry Kissinger, Biden

Henry Kissinger outlines a precarious escalation in US-China tensions, warning that mutually exclusive narratives on hegemony and interference require a foundational agreement to exclude high-tech warfare and enforce mutual restraint. He evaluates the Biden administration's diplomatic tone as an improvement over the previous era, yet notes that its approach remains a strategic balancing act between domestic political pressures and the urgent international necessity of coexistence. Kissinger concludes that the unique challenge of sustaining a relationship between a democratic United States and a "Confucian Marxist" China demands the explicit definition of specific issues rather than reliance on a rules-based order that is not currently applied to Beijing.

Covid-19: why your life will never be the same again

James Francham, Tom

The Economist has developed a global normality index tracking behavioral shifts across 50 nations in transport, leisure, and business to quantify the transition from pandemic restrictions to post-pandemic norms. Historical precedents like the Black Death and the 1918 flu inform the analysis of how health crises drive structural change, while current data suggests a hybrid world is emerging where retail habits and office occupancy permanently settle between pre-pandemic levels and new digital realities. Although long-term outcomes depend on future vaccine efficacy, the index confirms that society is moving toward a "normality tracker" that captures simultaneous acceleration of remote work and revival of mid-century trends like drive-throughs.

Mass extinction: what can stop it?

Katrine Brahek

Experts warn that human reliance on deteriorating ecological networks, with one million species at risk of extinction, poses an immediate threat to global food security and climate stability. While advanced technologies like AI-powered trail guards and satellite imaging have improved monitoring and anti-poaching efforts, these tools remain ineffective without robust political will and enforceable policies. The failure to meet the 2020 Aichi conservation targets highlights an urgent need for governments to transition from vague goals to funded, ground-level interventions to prevent a catastrophic ecological collapse.

China’s economy: what’s its weak spot?

Kai-Fu Lee, Stephanie Studer

Facing a nearly 20% decline in its birth rate and a shrinking workforce, the Chinese Communist Party is accelerating a strategic pivot from infrastructure-led growth to social welfare and automation to avoid stagnation before reaching its wealth targets. To counter demographic headwinds exacerbated by high housing costs and a grueling work culture, the state is expanding childcare subsidies, promoting three-child family norms, and integrating advanced robotics to boost productivity. Despite these challenges, analysts project that China can still rival the United States as the world's largest economy by leveraging a more skilled, urbanized workforce and a transition toward high-value technology sectors.

Did covid-19 leak from a Chinese lab?

Natasha Loda

One year after the COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of deaths and trillions in economic damage, scientists continue to debate whether the virus emerged via natural zoonotic spillover or escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology. While early dismissal of the lab leak theory was fueled by political rhetoric, recent shifts and confirmed past genetic engineering capabilities at the facility have compelled intelligence agencies to investigate further despite China's obstruction of raw data. Experts maintain that a natural origin remains the most probable scenario, yet the inability to access withheld information means the virus's true source may remain an unsolved mystery for decades.

Crypto: will the bitcoin dream succeed?

Mathieu Favas

This analysis examines Bitcoin's 2021 trajectory as a volatile investment asset rather than a functional currency, highlighting its extreme price fluctuations, low transaction efficiency compared to traditional payment networks, and massive environmental energy consumption. The discussion covers the decentralized architecture created by Satoshi Nakamoto, the lack of central bank safeguards, and the mixed adoption landscape where El Salvador legalized tender while regulators restrict institutional capital and criminals exploit the system. Experts remain divided on whether the capped supply of 21 million coins represents a nascent asset class comparable to gold or a speculative bubble destined to burst like historical financial manias.

Can Brazil Survive Bolsonaro?

Bolsonaro, Joe Biden, Lula, Sarah Maslin

Set against Rio de Janeiro's backdrop of systemic corruption, high police violence, and pandemic-driven healthcare strain, President Jair Bolsonaro navigated a political crisis marked by Brazil's highest global death toll in April 2020 and a catastrophic rise in Amazon deforestation. Although his 2018 election capitalized on anti-corruption sentiment and evangelical support through an initial emergency welfare program, his approval ratings have since collapsed below 30% due to soaring unemployment, the withdrawal of economic aid, and failed anti-corruption reforms that protect his family. As the nation approaches the 2022 presidential rematch between Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, democratic institutions like the Supreme Court continue to check executive overreach while analysts warn of escalating tension between the military, the government, and long-term democratic stability.

Why trophy hunting helps protect animals

Dan, Johnny, Marina Lamprecht

Proponents of regulated trophy hunting in Namibia and Zimbabwe argue that the industry generates tens of millions of dollars annually to fund conservation, support over 770,000 households, and prevent wildlife extinction in areas where photo tourism is unviable. By retaining local control over land use and enforcing strict government quotas, these regions report significant rebounds in species such as the white rhino and lion while funding essential community projects like school meals. Conversely, critics warn that corruption in poorly governed nations often diverts revenue, leading some conservationists to call for international funding models that protect habitats without relying on controversial hunting practices.