September 10, 2023 – Emma Nelson, Isabel Hilton and David Bodanis on the weekend’s biggest talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director Tyler Brûlé in Lisbon and our Istanbul correspondent, Hannah Lucinda Smith.
Monocle on Saturday, September 9, 2023: A look at the week’s news and culture with Georgina Godwin. Plus: Yassmin Abdel-Magied joins us for a look through the morning’s papers, while Fernando Augusto Pacheco meets Angus Dowling of Australian psychedelic-rock band Babe Rainbow to discuss their new single “Juice of the Sun”.
Submarine flows from the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai eruption decimated seafloor cables
In December 2021, an undersea volcano in the southern Pacific Ocean, the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai (hereafter called the Hunga volcano) began erupting. In January 2022 the eruption reached a powerful climax, triggering atmospheric waves that traveled around the globe and a tsunami that swept across the Pacific Ocean. An estimated 75% of Earth’s volcanoes are underwater, and 20% of all fatalities caused by volcanic eruptions since 1600 CE have been associated with underwater volcanism (3).
China’s high demand for online food delivery resulted in an increase in the use of disposable, single-use cutlery. Disposable cutlery increases plastic pollution, and paper napkins and wooden chopsticks contribute to environmental degradation that endangers wildlife and marine species and compromises human health. Informed by the literature on “green nudges, ” which are prompts to promote environmentally friendly behaviors, He et al. collaborated with Alibaba to use its mobile food delivery platform, Eleme, in a longitudinal field study across China.
The Globalist Podcast (September 8, 2023) – As G20 agrees to grant membership to the African Union, what else is on the agenda at the summit in India?
Plus: China drafts ‘national spirit’ law to ban harmful clothing, the US Department of Defense will cut support for Hollywood directors whose films are censored by China and the return of a Paris-Berlin train service.
The prized materials could be transformative for research — but only if they have other essential qualities.
The wave of excitement caused by LK-99 — the purple crystal that was going to change the world — has now died down after studies showed it wasn’t a superconductor. But a question remains: would a true room-temperature superconductor be revolutionary?
Record-high ocean temperatures, combined with a confluence of extreme climate and weather patterns, are pushing the world into uncharted waters. Researchers must help communities to plan how best to reduce the risks.
Oceans are warming up, and dangerously so. Since April this year, the average global sea surface temperature has been unusually high and rising; by August, oceans in the Northern Hemisphere had reached record-high temperatures, even surpassing 38 °C in one area around Florida.
The Globalist Podcast (September 5, 2023) – Who is Ukraine’s new defence minister, Rustem Umerov? Monocle’s Kyiv correspondent, Olga Tokariuk, profiles the Crimean Tatar with experience in Russian negotiations.
Plus: US officials visit Saudi Arabia to discuss Palestine, Olaf Scholz’s government slumps in the polls and we review the latest Indian newspapers.
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (September 11, 2023) – Three essential articles read aloud from the The Economist. This week, how much will artificial intelligence affect the elections of 2024? Also, the ways cynical leaders are using scaremongering tactics both to win and to abuse power (9:35) and why everyone wants to own an airline these days (17:00).
The Globalist Podcast (September 4, 2023) – Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meets with Vladimir Putin in Sochi to discuss grain deals, we get the lowdown on the Chinese economy with Patricia Thornton and Mexico’s opposition selects a female candidate with Indigenous roots to run for office.
Plus: France debates the height of ceilings, we get a roundup of news from the Nordics with Helsinki correspondent Petri Burtsoff and we check in with Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival.
Boomers Daily 