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African Wildlife: Darkness Falls World

Jeffrey Gettleman | New York Review of Books | 15th August 2016

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Wildlife experts speak of an “elephant holocaust” in Africa. The Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania has lost 90% of its elephants in the past 40 years. The last comparable slaughter was in the late 1800s when Europeans ransacked Africa for ivory to make billiard balls and piano keys. This century’s market is China. Demand there may have peaked thanks to government regulation and celebrity-led public-opinion campaigns, but ivory still commands higher prices than cocaine or gold (1,900 words)

Tolerance Troubles Science

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A doctor wonders why the body adjusts to some drugs but not to others; and why tolerance to a drug can vary radically from person to person. “Benzodiazepines are a special offender here. Some people can take Xanax once a day for anxiety, and it’s a perfect solution – it suppresses their anxiety, it never stops working, and they never become addicted. Other people will lose all effect after a couple of weeks, up the dose, up the dose some more, and end up as total wrecks” (2,025 words)

There’s No Such Thing As An Economic Miracle Money

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East Asian countries from Japan to China, by way of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and others, achieved “economic miracles” in the late-20C by sustaining growth of 8-10% a year, vaulting in a single generation from developing to developed world. They did this by adopting technologies, ideas and models created in the rich West. This catch-up phase is now over. The low-hanging fruit has not merely been picked, it has been eaten. There will be no more miracles (660 words)

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African Wildlife: Darkness Falls World

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Tolerance Troubles Science

There’s No Such Thing As An Economic Miracle Money

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