Automation

More and more tasks are being handled by specialized machines. There’s the autopilot for flying planes, automated mail sorters at the post office and, perhaps soon, even a self-driving car. But all this automation comes at a price.

You’ve got a college education, maybe a higher degree and a professional job. Surely you aren’t threatened at work by technology, right? Think again, say two scientists at the MIT Center for Digital Business. But they also predict a coming golden age of free time and creativity.

HFCs were supposed to be the way we saved the ozone. And they did. But at a new cost: climate change. These gases, which are used in refrigerators and air conditioners to produce cool air, trap heat in the atmosphere at a greater rate than carbon dioxide, as much as 1000 times, leading to climate change.

It may be hot, but air conditioners are robbing people of the ability to withstand heat. One man wants to stop it.

Your ATM card won’t work in Myanmar. The latest-edition travel books travel websites, and the US Embassy will tell you that. As you may have heard, though, things here are changing.