Did a volcanic eruption in Indonesia really lead to the creation of Frankenstein?

Jan 28, 2020 08:43 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Frankenstein abandons his monstrous creation. Frontispiece to Mary Shelleys 1831 edition of Frankenstein Mary Shelleys Frankenstein tells the tale of a monster created by an obsessed scientist. Since its inception in...

Peter Handke Nobel Prize controversy: Literature can't be judged on esthetics alone

Jan 28, 2020 08:41 am UTC| Insights & Views

Austrian writer Peter Handke received the 2019 Nobel Prize in literature. The award is for a writers life work, and Handke has written novels, travelogues, theatre plays, screenplays and poetry. Hundreds protested the...

Gay rights dispute is pulling apart the United Methodist Church, after decades of argument

Jan 28, 2020 08:39 am UTC| Insights & Views Law

The Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the United States, is headed toward a divorce. In early January, mediators from across the United Methodist Church proposed a separation plan to...

Obesity, second to smoking as the most preventable cause of US deaths, needs new approaches

Jan 28, 2020 08:38 am UTC| Insights & Views Health

The opioid crisis and deaths related to e-cigarette use among teenagers have dominated news headlines recently. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 34 people had died as a result of...

Atmospheric river storms can drive costly flooding – and climate change is making them stronger

Jan 28, 2020 08:37 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Ask people to name the worlds largest river, and most will probably guess that its the Amazon, the Nile or the Mississippi. In fact, some of Earths largest rivers are in the sky and they can produce powerful storms, like...

How CEOs, experts and philosophers see the world's biggest risks differently

Jan 28, 2020 08:35 am UTC| Insights & Views Business

We live in a world threatened by numerous existential risks that no country or organization can resolve alone, such as climate change, extreme weather and the coronavirus. But in order to adequately address them, we...

Companies target toilet breaks to improve productivity – it's wrong and it won't work

Jan 28, 2020 08:34 am UTC| Insights & Views Business

Productivity growth in the UK has stalled since 2008. The puzzle has become so tricky that toilet makers are getting in on the act of suggesting solutions. The company StandardToilet has designed a tilted toilet, whose...