The proxy war in Ukraine is heading to a denouement with the US and Russia dividing the spoils while the European powers stand bewildered by events they have been wilfully blind to, says KEVIN OVENDEN
Earthquake deaths: the dividing line on fault lines
The low death toll and damage from a recent earthquake in Taiwan highlights global inequality in preparing for natural disasters, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
One can only imagine what would happen if 2.2 million Palestinian refugees were pushed into Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries, per Trump’s proposal, writes RAMZY BAROUD
This is the most anti-migrant government in decades, argues RAVISHAAN RAHEL MUTHIAH
VICTOR GROSSMAN reports, with a little chuckle, on how US readiness to work with Russia, not just on peace for Ukraine, has thrown a spanner into the German electoral machine
SOLOMON HUGHES probes the finances of a phoney ‘charity’ pushing the free schools and academies agenda
Freedom now for former PM Mir-Hossein Mousavi and other political prisoners
VIJAY PRASHAD examines why in 2018 Washington started to take an increasingly belligerent stance towards ‘near peer rivals’ – Russa and China – with far-reaching geopolitical effects
IN a video taken just after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Taiwan on April 3, the Taipei 101 skyscraper is shown oscillating lightly. Despite the fact that tall buildings are particularly susceptible to seismic damage, the building only experienced minimal swaying during the earthquake.
Elsewhere in Taiwan, 28 buildings collapsed and at least 125 experienced some form of damage. It wasn’t simply luck that protected Taipei 101; the 1,670-foot tall building has been specifically designed to minimise damage from natural disasters that are endemic to the region, such as earthquakes and typhoons.
When an earthquake happens, its energy is dissipated in the form of seismic waves, which have a variety of frequencies (rates of vibration). These seismic waves cause the ground to shake.
Buildings have a natural rate at which they will vibrate, referred to as their resonant frequency, like the natural frequency of a child going back and forth on a swing. When seismic waves of this resonant frequency shake the ground beneath a building, the wave will be amplified, causing stronger shaking and more damage.
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Fraud in Alzheimer’s research raises difficult questions about the current state of science, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
The new US administration’s policy decisions are already having seismic effects worldwide, argue ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Natural hydrogen gas could be a replacement for fossil fuels, but its extraction could see developing nations face familiar patterns of land loss and resource theft, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
Despite miraculous trial results showing new treatment could halt transmission, corporate greed and patent laws condemn millions to preventable infection and death, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
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