How risky are you? Why insurance works better with less discrimination
Jul 18, 2017 14:16 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Discrimination is a great taboo of our times, and yet one huge industry gets away with it every day. The insurance sector looks at us as risk with legs. It puts us into groups, and if we are in a group deemed riskier, we...

Why do human beings speak so many languages?
Jul 18, 2017 14:15 pm UTC| Insights & Views Life
The thatched roof held back the suns rays, but it could not keep the tropical heat at bay. As everyone at the research workshop headed outside for a break, small groups splintered off to gather in the shade of coconut...

From Elizabeth I to high fashion, the tales behind Game of Thrones' costumes
Jul 18, 2017 14:10 pm UTC| Insights & Views Entertainment
Game of Thrones, which returns today for its seventh season, offers fantasy, horror and intrigue, and, as Sarah Mower has put it, shines a light on our cynical, sophisticated, brutal, hopeless new Dark Ages. It is also...
We need more than just laws to ensure responsible alcohol service
Jul 18, 2017 14:07 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law
Australian law prohibits the sale of alcohol to drunk people. Despite the shifting sands of alcohol policy, Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) legislation has remained a stalwart figure. In Australia, RSA imposes...

Taxing empty homes: a step towards affordable housing, but much more can be done
Jul 18, 2017 14:06 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Vacant housing rates are rising in our major cities. Across Australia on census night, 11.2% of housing was recorded as unoccupied a total of 1,089,165 dwellings. With housing affordability stress also intensifying, the...

Smart or dumb? The real impact of India's proposal to build 100 smart cities
Jul 18, 2017 13:56 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology
In 2014, the new Indian government declared its intention to achieve 100 smart cities. In promoting this objective, it gave the example of a large development in the island city of Mumbai, Bhendi Bazaar. There, 3-5...

Death toll mounts in Rio de Janeiro as police lose control of the city -- and of themselves
Jul 18, 2017 13:53 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy Life
On June 30, a baby was shot in his mothers belly in Rio de Janeiro. After the rifle fire hit 29-year-old Claudinéia in the hip in the Favela do Lixão neighbourhood, her son Arthur was delivered via emergency...