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| Are plants conscious? Author Michael Pollan has been searching for scientific evidence that could unlock this mystery. He joins Alok Jha, host of The Economist’s science podcast Babbage, to discuss new research on plant intelligence. They examine how plants sense and respond to their environment, whether they feel pain, how they store and process information without a brain and whether they possess a form of consciousness. 00:00 - Can plants be conscious without brains? 00:38 - How plants see, hear, and mimic their environment 02:03 - What anaesthetics reveal about plant awareness 04:22 - Can plants learn and remember? 07:26 - Do plants feel pain or have desires? Links: Listen to the full episode: https://econ.st/42k3GSP Subscribe: https://www.economist.com/subscribe Download the App: https://www.economist.com/get-the-app Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeconomist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist/ X:https://x.com/TheEconomist #TheEconomist #Science #Plants |
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Anthropic’s new AI model, Mythos, can identify–and exploit—security holes in everything from operating systems to cryptographic software. The Economist’s deputy editor Tom Standage and AI writer Alex Hern explain how the time between a vulnerability being identified and being weaponised has shrunk from a number of years to just a few hours.
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Has the world economy been saved by this pipeline?
2026-04-16
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has trapped an estimated 136m barrels of oil in the Persian Gulf. But Saudi Arabia has a partial workaround—the East-West pipeline. Can it help keep the world economy moving?
What’s going on inside Iran? | The Economist
2026-03-07
Internet blackouts are making it hard to know what is going on inside Iran. Nicolas Pelham, The Economist’s Middle East correspondent, reports from the Iranian border with Iraq on whether there could be a Kurdish uprising.
#iran #iraq #kurdistan
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Are Gulf states running out of interceptors? | The Economist
2026-03-05
Are Gulf countries running out of interceptor missiles? The Arab states have repelled hundreds of Iranian ballistic missiles and drone attacks, alongside American forces. But if the current pace of Iranian strikes continue, a crisis could soon develop.
#iran #missile #trump
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America’s massive military build-up near Iran | The Economist
2026-02-27
Donald Trump has been amassing American forces across the Middle East, as he seeks to pressure Iran to limit its nuclear programme. The president is apparently “curious” as to why Tehran has not capitulated.
But where are his troops? And what are the forces capable of?
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Are America’s tariffs here to stay?
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A year into Donald Trump’s second term, global trade has been transformed. America has abandoned its role as guardian of the post-1945 order, instead wielding tariffs to punish political foes and pressure friends. Jamieson Greer, America’s trade representative, joins David Rennie, The Economist’s geopolitics editor, to defend Team Trump’s approach to America First trade. He explains why tariffs are permanent and reveals his plan if the Supreme Court tariff ruling doesn’t go his way.
00:00 – Are tariffs the new norm?
02:21 – The philosophy behind Trump’s tariffs
03:21 – Tariffs as a geopolitical tool
03:52 – How America’s allies have reacted to the levies
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Why Trump’s Venezuela oil gamble won’t pay off
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Has Trump just pulled off the most brazen oil heist in history? Vijay Vaitheeswaran, The Economist’s Global Energy and Climate Innovation Editor talks to Ethan Wu and Mike Bird, co-hosts of The Money Talks podcast, about why America might never benefit from Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
00:00 – Why Venezuela’s vast oil reserves are so difficult to use
02:29 – Heavy vs light crude: why Venezuelan oil is different
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08:41 – Why this oil strategy feels outdated today
Listen to the full episode: https://econ.st/4sxjAVK
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#TheEconomist #Venezuela #oilandgas
Why are cigarette companies’ profits soaring? | The Intelligence podcast
2025-11-16
People are smoking less so why are cigarette companies’ profits soaring? Jason Palmer, co-host of The Intelligence podcast, and Callum Williams, our senior economics writer, discuss why the tobacco industry is thriving despite the number of American adult smokers falling by around 20m people in the past decade.
Listen to the full episode: https://econ.st/3LABV3i
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