How a Harvard polymath thinks people think

A world with fewer people would not be all bad

How the president presents himself as America’s protector

The party is trying to talk less about pronouns, more about prices

And how scientists are scrambling to stop it

People move to the sunbelt for affordable homes. But it is getting harder to build there

What should replace it?

Economics is a useful tool for understanding conflict, as a new book shows

Why fluffy, glossy K-dramas tempt North Koreans to brave the firing squad

Millions of girls were aborted for being girls. Now parents often lean towards them

Provisions in the Republican budget are a dangerous step

The bloody history of fatherhood bends towards co-parenting

J.D. Vance was right

The greatest civilisations of the past 3,000 years were the opposite of MAGA

The 15-70-15 rule and other ways to prise powerful fingers from the public coffers

The rule of law is at stake

First get your facts straight, argues Kenneth Roth, a top human-rights campaigner

He is Silicon Valley’s favourite economist. Does his lust for knowledge have a place in the age of AI?

To understand the seizure of Goma, consider a parallel with Ukraine

Less than 3% of the world’s power is internationally traded—a huge wasted opportunity

And in Donald Trump, an imperialist president for the first time in over a century

His first immigration executive orders range from benign to belligerent

After a ceasefire in Gaza, they may continue their Red Sea racket

The imperilled app hopes for help from an old foe

The world’s poorest continent should embrace its least fashionable idea

Donald Trump’s threat of force is unwise. Instead, he should name a price

Baby-boomers are keeping their bad habits into retirement

As heat, floods and drought get worse, people are getting creative

What happens to an oil town when the drilling stops?

The humble peanut farmer who went to the White House died on December 29th, aged 100

India’s most consequential finance minister, who later rose to PM, has died aged 92

What we don’t know about human sexual behaviour is scandalous

The world craves polar minerals. But who wants to work in a frozen wasteland?

The astonishing tale of an unlikely merchant of miracles

The Economist tries “slow journalism” with Paul Salopek

Xenophobia, disputed elections, indictments: the story of Sidney Catts is eerily familiar

Also on the daily podcast: Spain’s economic resurgence and Harold Palmer, the Northumbrian hermit

A tale that unites Alexander von Humboldt, Diego Rivera and Pokémon

Each incarnation of Godzilla reflects the fears of its time

Your answer determines not just how you should live, but how you should invest

How a car crash in Los Angeles rewrote the law on helping strangers

The best sashimi chefs on the planet rely on Japan’s Wall Street of seafood