Coronavirus
Global economic prospects are the worst in decades but investing in the future could be the answer
The World Bank released its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects Report on 10 January, and it reads like a warning shot across the bow for the world’s economies.
Global…
The Fix: On the origin of species
We’re asking contributors to put together their own collected observations like this one – and as always, if you’ve got an idea to pitch for The Interpreter, drop a line via the…
Haunted by a plague
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has this week become the first Australian leader to visit China in seven years. The collapse of Sino-Australian relations is a well-known story now…
Learning the right lessons from Australia’s Covid response
Australia’s Albanese government recently announced an inquiry into the Commonwealth government’s Covid-19 response. While such an inquiry is welcome, the announcement was…
Managing risk: Pandemics and plagues in the age of AI
Once a recurring scourge that blinded, scarred and killed millions, smallpox was eradicated by a painstaking public health effort that saw the last “natural” infection occur in…
The surprising link between piracy and Covid-19
The Singapore Strait is experiencing a spike in maritime piracy attacks, with the incidence increasing from 12 attacks in 2019 to 38 in 2022, and an upwards trend continuing into…
It’s no surprise Australia shrugged off China’s campaign of trade coercion
It has been clear for some time that China’s campaign of trade coercion against Australia has been rather ineffectual, either in imposing significant economic costs on Australia…
Existential risk is a whole-of-society challenge
Existential risks have been in the news recently. In May, a group of prominent artificial intelligence experts and industry leaders warned that “Mitigating the risk of extinction…
Why the WHO needs Taiwan
In late 2021, just outside Taipei, a highly pathogenic coronavirus leaked from a lab.
It happened in a high-containment…
Covid-19: from crisis to closure?
Covid-19 is still making people sick. As of December 2022, according to the World Health Organisation, there had been more than 645 million cases and 6.6 million deaths from the…