The price of progress in China: 'We traded our lives for development'
For four years at the turn of the century, Wang Zhaohong worked on a demolition crew in Shenzhen, clearing the way for the once-tiny border village to become a bustling...
The hobby that helps you live to 100
Many of the world's centenarians share one common hobby: gardening. Could you extend your life and drop your stress by taking up the pursuit, too?Dan Buettner has studied five places...
What’s the best way to define Africa’s middle class?
Yomi Kazeem The “Africa Rising” narrative has been hinged on the continent’s middle class—but the methods used to defined the size of that population has been inconsistent to say the...
Losing just two hours of sleep makes you angrier
Losing just two hours of sleep each night can make you angrier, a new study has revealed. It is the first time a direct link has been proven between irritability...
How learning to say 'no' allowed me to build a life that I love
Jessica Thiefels Learning to say "no" in your work and life can change your life for the better. Author Jessica Thiefels describes how saying "yes" to the wrong opportunities can...
Nigeria's medical brain drain
Paul Adepoju Each week, at least 12 Nigerian doctors are employed in the United Kingdom. More than 4,000 are already practicing in the United States, while Canada continues to attract...
Why do you keep dreaming you forgot your pants? It’s science
Where your brain goes when you’re asleep helps you when you’re awake. One muggy Saturday last summer, I went on a date with a man who seemed entirely fine. We...
Coffee is bitter and horrible: Why do we like it?
Our ability to detect bitterness evolved as a natural warning system to protect the body from harmful substances. So why is coffee—a bitter-tasting drink—so popular around the world? In evolutionary...
Nigeria battles enduring problem: Rigging
Dulue MbachuNew legislation tightens controls before February elections As Nigeria heads toward general elections in February, it’s in a race to stamp out the bane of the voting system in...
Why half of America panics when this woman falls ill
Earlier this week, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to hospital. Why did the news send many Americans into a tizzy? On Wednesday evening, Justice Ginsburg fell in...
Why the French don’t show excitement
Not only is ‘Je suis excité’ not the appropriate way to convey excitement in French, but there seems to be no real way to express it at all. When I...
10 countries with the most natural resources
Craig Anthony Natural resources, or commodities, are the raw inputs that are used to manufacture and produce all of the products in the world. Commodities themselves, which include those extracted...
Silver: The colour of betrayal?
Silver has represented the devious actions of Judas and gleaming armour that’s now rusted. Kelly Grovier looks at the complex history of a shade that can bedazzle as well as...
Stone throwers face different fates around the globe
President Donald Trump’s recent assertion that U.S. troops should respond to rock-throwing migrants — a hypothetical scenario — as if they were armed has sparked a debate about the appropriate...
Sex before marriage won’t make you happy - Study
Ben Shapiro This week, Institute for Family Studies released a new study. Its key finding: married people are happiest if their spouses are the only people with whom they have...
5 reasons why this world doesn’t need equality
The world today needs fairness more than equality. Although the words equality and fairness are often used interchangeably, they have slightly varied meanings. While equality is treating everyone the same,...
Recruited from Nigeria to be a computer technician—then forced into prostitution in Italy
When Blessing Okoedion arrived in Italy from Nigeria, she met a woman she was told to call Madam Faith, who explained to her the work rules. First, she described the...
Nigeria: A young country for old men
In our series of letters from African journalists, editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper Mannir Dan Ali looks at why a country where more than half the population is under...
How to be happy: Stoic lifestyle could be key to a good life - John Sellars
What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, obviously the roads—the roads go without saying. How about guidance for how to live in the 21st century? That seems less...
'The food supplement that ruined my liver'
Jim McCants took green tea capsules in a drive to get healthy in middle age. His doctors now say they left him needing an urgent liver transplant, writes the BBC's...
Fela @ 80: A lost provocateur
Decades after his death, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the Afrobeat impresario remains a revered icon among his teeming devotees worldwide, Yinka Olatunbosun reports TRIBUTEFela was a legend of strong music pedigree. His...
Why Finnish people don’t like to chat
Their desire for avoidance is a predisposition so common that it’s become hard-baked into Finnish culture. I met my now best friend Hanna a few years ago during my first...
Execution of Hauwa, enslavement of Leah, confound insurgency weary nation
Many Nigerians were shocked yesterday as news of the execution of an aid worker with International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Miss Hauwa Leman, and the enslavement of kidnapped Dapchi...
How to spot when anyone is lying
How to spot a liar: Behavioural psychologist expert reveals the tell-tale signs of a bluffer - from your partner to someone you've just met Nobody likes to feel they've been...
Nigeria is set to stay the world’s poverty capital for at least a generation
Nigeria is making little progress in eliminating poverty. New reports by global development institutions show that human capital spending in Nigeria—the poverty capital of the world after recently overtaking India—is...
‘Why we faked our Facebook wedding
To her friends and family, Arlène Agneroh has it all. Well, nearly.She is successful, educated and attractive. They call her a leader - she coaches entrepreneurs and offers personal development...
Sense of impunity emboldens autocrats to get rid of enemies
The disappearance of a prominent Saudi journalist raises a dark question for anyone who dares criticize governments or speak out against those in power: Will the world have their back?...
This is what a great book does to your brain
The neuroscience of deep reading will make you want to curl up with a great book. Books can make us smarter, more informed, even more intellectually humble. But one of...
Why you have (probably) already bought your last car
I'm guessing you are scoffing in disbelief at the very suggestion of this article, but bear with me. A growing number of tech analysts are predicting that in less than...
Sexual violence, a savage feature of conflict over centuries
Through the ages, sexual violence has been a savage feature of armed conflict, often systematically inflicted by combatants on girls and women in what the world today defines as a...
4 things newly promoted leaders need to do right away
So you're called in to the boss's office for a meeting. There, you get the happy news that you've been tapped for a new role at your company, possibly with...
Secret life of rare antelope revealed
The world's largest forest antelope has been caught on camera in Uganda for the first time. The elusive striped antelope, known as the lowland bongo, was snapped in dense forest...
Why does Nigeria keep flooding?
Heavy seasonal rains are a regular feature of life in Nigeria and towns close to the country's main rivers are particularly vulnerable. This year floods have killed at least 100...
Why Sweden and China have fallen out so badly
It's a diplomatic spat no one saw coming, but tensions have over the past few weeks been escalating between China and Sweden. It all started earlier in September when Chinese...
10 reasons you aren’t growing as a leader (and why you should still try)
If you aren't getting better at leadership, you shouldn't give up just yet. There's no shortage of leadership content available. As you're reading this article, millions of other people around...
Eating junk food tied to higher risk of numerous cancers
You probably already know that junk food, though delicious, is bad for you. It can have negative health effects such as increasing your risk of heart disease, metabolic disease and...
The link between earth tremors, God and Nigeria's elections
In our series of letters from Africa, Nigerian writer and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani considers why some earth tremors in Nigeria's capital caused such a stir. Sometime in the early...
I consumed fresh ginger daily for 1week, and these are the results
I've always loved the flavor of ginger. Spicy and pungent, it is delicious in tea form and almost completely cuts the bitterness of vegetables in fresh juices and smoothies (adding...
'Just Do It': The surprising and morbid origin story of Nike's slogan
Before Colin Kaepernick and “Just Do It,” there was Gary Gilmore and “Let’s Do It.” In a plain T-shirt with a bag over his head, Gilmore was strapped into a...
How pidgin English became voice of international media in West Africa
Yomi Kazeem As global media brands push to expand their reach and audience, Pidgin English—a language spoken by millions across West Africa—is gaining currency. The language, a mix of English,...
