No one raised an eyebrow when Mark Zuckerberg bought tiny Instagram in 2012 for US$1 billion. Now regulators want to unwind the deal, by forcing Facebook to sell Instagram, and WhatsApp. This move may spell the disintegration of the Facebook empire.But this is not only about Facebook, or Amazon, Google, and Apple. It is a global shift of the bounda...

COVID-19 has prompted reflection on many previous pandemics, above all the outbreaks of plague in the 17th century and the Black Death in the 14th. I want to go still further back to the great plague of Athens in the fifth century B.C., which hit the Athenians shortly after they began the great Peloponnesian War against Sparta and her allies in 431...

EPFL startups raised CHF 293 million in 2020 – the highest they've achieved so far. Four of the young firms, including Kandou and Sophia Genetics, brought in over CHF 20 million each. The pipeline of new businesses also looks solid, as 25 new EPFL spin-offs were launched last year.The pandemic-related uncertainty doesn't seem to have dampened inves...

Skylo, co-founded by an MIT alumnus, is transforming fishing, farming, and shipping with an inexpensive network for transmitting data through satellites.On Nov. 26, seven fishermen aboard a small fishing boat off the coast of Maharashtra in western India were struck with panic when their vessel was damaged and began to sink. The panic was warranted...

 Each seismic wave that travels through the Earth's crust slightly changes this layer. Cutting-edge sensor technology now allows us to reevaluate risks such as landslides or the stability of bridges and buildings. Prof. Dr. Céline Hadziioannou of Universität Hamburg coordinates the European-wide development of new methods for observing the Ear...

 The year's popular research stories include astronomical firsts, scientific breakthroughs, and engineering milestones addressing Covid-19 and other global problems.Although 2020 has been a year most of us would prefer to forget, it still featured a number of research breakthroughs worth celebrating. Despite the new challenges brought on by Co...

The Council of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has decided today that Bonn will be a new location for the European authority from 2021. This is a forward-looking decision for the University of Bonn and its partners in the region.Only recently, the University of Bonn, the University of Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jül...

New research shows that conservation efforts in the Atlantic Ocean may be working for one of the most popular — and endangered — species that ends up in the global shark fin trade. Diego Cardeñosa — an FIU postdoctoral researcher in the Institute of Environment — led a new study in collaboration with scientists in Hong Kong that uses DNA analysis t...

The yellow passion fruit is the most consumed by Brazilians, presenting a sour and acid flavor. However, depending on the genetic improvement research at USP, the sweet passion fruit (Passiflora alata) will soon be occupying more spaces in the stands of the fairs, grocery stores, and supermarkets. Studies conducted since 2005 have now reached promi...

Increasingly frequent heat waves are reducing the supply of surface water in the European Alps, according to a study involving UdeM geographer Christoforos Pappas. Increasingly frequent heat waves in Europe are benefiting the vegetation at high altitudes in the Alps. But this unusual plant growth - which could become more common with climate c...

 According to a new Finnish study the overall impact of Nordic cooperation in renewable electricity policy is seen positively, with the most tangible benefit being the possibility to use Nordic cooperation as a tool for voicing a common position both on the EU level and the international level.However, a further institutionalization of Nordic ...

Data Science. It is one of the fastest growing professions in the nation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And with the sheer increase in technology able to track our every move—both physically and digitally—the amount of information for these professionals to utilize is growing by the second.To cultivate more of these minds in the...

 Even in the age of digital cash transactions, the coin is a universal medium of monetary exchange. But where did the idea of coinage come from? A major new project in Oxford University's Faculty of Classics seeks to investigate its origins and development.The CHANGE Project is led by Professor Andrew Meadows, a Fellow and Tutor in Ancient His...

Over time, prediction algorithms become specialized for an increasingly narrow slice of the population, and the average quality of their predictions declines.Companies like Netflix and Hulu compete for subscribers to make sure their businesses thrive. But there's another type of competition at work that receives far less attention – the competition...

 Africa's global importance is growing. This is one of the reasons why the University of Helsinki is investing in cooperation with the continent. The University published its Africa programme for 2021–2030 on 14 October.Global action, sustainability and responsibility – these three themes receive particular emphasis in both the Strategic Plan ...

QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Previously known as Times Higher Education–QS World University Rankings, the publisher had collaborated with Times Higher Education (THE) magazine to publish its international league tables from 2004 to 2009 before both started to announce the...

 Do people shop more when it's sunny? How do people spend in their silver years?Three National University of Singapore (NUS) professors have launched Kiasunomics 2, a light-hearted read that answers these questions and more. Co-authored by Distinguished Professor Sumit Agarwal and Associate Professor Ang Swee Hoon from NUS Business School...

The challenge of creating safe classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a creative solution: beaming a professor into the classroom as a hologram.The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin has contracted with Austin-based Contextual Content Group to create a new 3D immersive video solution that combines in-person,...

 The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 include more than 1,500 universities across 93 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution's performance across four areas: teaching, researc...

 Scientists from all EU countries and beyond say that the European Commission's proposal for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020 must be 'drastically improved' in order to stop harming the environment. They propose ten urgent actions to reform the CAP for long-term food security, biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation. If ...