Issue 19
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Meet Viktor
Although Viktor Zhdanov's name is little known today, he spearheaded one of the greatest projects in history. Who was he and what did he do?
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Issue 19

Spotlight
Issue 19

The magic of through running

Words by Benedict Springbett

Commuter trains often stop at the edge of cities. Short tunnels can link them up, creating metro networks for a fraction of the cost of building them from scratch.

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S-Bahn

How to redraw a city

Words by Anya Martin

Japan faced some of the world’s toughest planning problems. It solved them by letting homeowners replan whole neighborhoods privately by supermajority vote.

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Densification

How one Kiwi tamed inflation

Words by Oscar Sykes

Inflation targeting is now standard in central banking. But it began with an offhand comment and a political gamble in New Zealand – long before economists took it seriously.

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Rogernomics

The secret fast track for animal drugs

Words by Trevor Klee

Animal drugs are approved much faster than human drugs. Perhaps we could adopt the same model for humans without compromising on safety.

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FDA

The end of lead

Words by Clare Donaldson & Lauren Gilbert & James Hu

Lead has been all but eliminated in most of the developed world. Doing the same for the rest of the world might not be difficult.

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Batteries

Brain-computer interfaces

Words by Rebecca Hiscott

Brain implants are letting people move, speak, and interact with machines using only their thoughts. The first FDA approvals may arrive within five years.

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EEG

The bad science behind expensive nuclear

Words by Alex Chalmers

How a dubious theory of radiation damage based on fruit flies and a secretive weapons testing program came to be – and why its time may now be up.

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ALARA
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