Cat bonds
Jamaica will soon get a USD150 million payout from their parametric cat bond insurance as a result of Hurricane Melissa. So what is a cat bond?
Author: Jane Shearer
Being polite
Should we be polite to large language models like ChatGPT? There are good arguments on both sides of the debate.
End of a career?
Changes to the New Zealand research funding meeting may spell the end of my career but, more importantly, what do they spell for research and science?
Lawyers & Bears
What do lawyers and bears have in common? I’m not sure, but given the choice, I’ll pick the bear.
All About Toilets
Japanese toilets are something else! So were Mongolian toilets, through in a different way. Given their fancy toilets, why does Japan have such awful toilet paper?
The Japanese Rubbish Mystery
When in Japan, where do you put your rubbish, given the complete lack of public bins?
Talking about weight
Ozempic is everywhere…one of a new class of weight loss drugs promising reduced body mass and increased health. Are the claims real? And what are the downsides?
Things I Don’t Understand (2)
Why has NZ repaired a bell tower for $10 million, then fired the only person who can ring the bells? And why has Fonterra sold off all its added value products? So many mysteries in todays world…