Top Stories of the Week (September 30, 2022) include:
0.15 – China’s trackless trams 01:39 – Germany and Denmark are building the world’s longest undersea tunnel 03:12 Students in the Netherlands have built an electric car that captures carbon 04:09 This tower turns sunlight and air into clean jet fuel
Genetically diverse mice and cross-species comparison uncover links to longevity
Emerging subvariants are more immune evasive than ever
After doubts grew, blockbuster Nature paper is withdrawn over objections of study team
Tenure delays and pandemic impact statements could backfire, some fear
Leader of Russia’s largest chipmaker elected president after incumbent’s sudden withdrawal
Judges reject claims that defendants defrauded agencies by not disclosing China ties
Latin America’s largest nation is facing its most important election in decades as Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva square off amid deep political and cultural polarisation. FT Brazil bureau chief Bryan Harris travels the nation to look at the enormous economic and social challenges facing the next president. He meets wealthy farmers, truckers, evangelicals and those facing food insecurity. Read more at https://on.ft.com/3Cjrg5T
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 214 million people, Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous.
The queen presided over the death of a British world and yet was enormously successful in keeping alive the monarchy that symbolized it.
A poem by Emily Berry
It used to be that people complained how little they knew of Queen Elizabeth. Toward the end, her remoteness was treasured.
Two new books on Berlin track the city through decades of growth, economic desperation, artistic innovation, Nazi terror, political division, and reunification.
Berlin: Life and Death in the City at the Center of the World by Sinclair McKay
The Undercurrents: A Story of Berlin by Kirsty Bell
Jared Kushner’s anti-ideological ideology is to get the best deal for whomever he represents—the business he was born into, the business he married into, and, most of all, himself.
Breaking History: A White House Memoir by Jared Kushner
Our new issue is finally online, ft Mahmood Mandani on leaving Uganda, Tony Wood on Russia’s energy crisis, @MJCarter10 at Westminster Abbey, @danielsoar on Ian McEwan, @amiasrinivasan on Andrea Dworkin, T.J. Clark on painting & poetry & a @Jon_McN cover.
Uganda’s constitution of 1995 entrenched the barrier against citizenship for non-indigenous applicants, who now had to belong to an indigenous group.
The bald lesson of the abbey’s memorials is that money, power and connections repeatedly trump virtue and talent.
Liz Truss’s new government may already be dead in the water
The Sunshine State has seen 40% of America’s hurricanes and a huge population boom
Millions of people struggle with insomnia, but the sleep disorder is now a solvable problem – and the most effective therapy might involve your smartphone rather than sleeping pills
Amazon ships more U.S. smart home devices than any other company and says Alexa is now compatible with 140,000 devices, far beyond the Echo and Fire TV. But privacy advocates are concerned by all the data these devices collect, and are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to block Amazon’s latest smart home expansion.
Chapters: 1:41 First to market 4:27 Acquiring iRobot 7:41 How it uses the data 9:45 Privacy concerns 11:33 Ambient home of the future
After acquiring video doorbell maker Ring in 2018 and mesh WiFi system Eero a year later, Amazon’s now looking to buy Roomba smart vacuum maker iRobot. In a rare move, the FTC is asking for more information before approving the $1.7 billion deal. Ahead of Amazon’s annual smart home event, we talked to Amazon’s VP of privacy to find out what really happens to all the data collected by its devices – and sat down with the head of smart home to hear the strategy behind Amazon’s race to dominate the internet of things.
Katy Birchall consults trainer Ben Randall about how to get your dog to focus on you and stop disappearing on walks
As a difficult shooting season begins, Simon Lester considers the state of the sport amid its many modern challenges
Confusing to dogs and a star of horror films, scarecrows still fulfil their traditional bird-scaring role, discovers Jeremy Hobson
The design director of Liberty Fabrics picks a bright patchwork
Jack Watkins is diverted by the story of Shaw’s Pygmalion
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