explainer
No Market: Why Some Diseases Never Get a Drug
1,393 drugs were approved between 1975 and 1999. Thirteen were for diseases affecting 1.7 billion people. Here's the mechanism, and what fixes it.
explainer
explainer
Ten Lakes: Why Glacial Floods Come Without Warning
15 million people live in the path of glacial lake floods. About ten Himalayan lakes have been properly studied. Here's why the warning never comes.
explainer
The Case for War: What Counts as an Act of War?
No treaty defines an act of war. Not the UN Charter, not NATO's Article 5. Here's the history of that silence, and who it serves.
explainer
The Severed Line: Why one wage stopped being enough, and who decided that
The most common second job is the same job again. Here's what happened to wages after 1979, why nobody believes you, and who decided it.
explainer
How Much of Your Fuel and Power Bill Is Tax?
Taxes are 52% of the EU petrol price, but only 29% of the electricity bill, down from 41%. Here's why, and why the tax is the only part you can see.
History
After the Wall: How 15 Border Walls Became 70
How many border walls are there, when were they built, and do they work? Six in ten people now live behind one. Almost all were built after 2000.
History
The Free Sea: How Safe Passage Became a Right
Can a country charge ships a toll to pass? The history of freedom of navigation, from privateering to the Declaration of Paris to UNCLOS, and who pays.