Aishwarya Jagani

Humans have been leaving their homes and migrating to different countries or continents for millennia.

Why do people migrate, leaving behind community ties, the ease of living and working in one’s own country, their language, their culture, wealth, property, and often, their families? Sometimes this move is caused by a push: conflict, famine or persecution might drive people to a new location. Other times it’s a pull — when people move for better economic prospects or quality of life.

Multiple experiments and studies have established that virtual reality (VR) experiences can reliably impact behavior and psychological reactions beyond the virtual realm. VR-based programs like these are used widely in unconscious bias training. These kinds of programs can be effective in reducing implicit racial bias, ethnic profiling, age-related discrimination, and creating and increasing empathy. Research shows us that time spent in VR can, under certain conditions, im...

The ability to erase or suppress trauma could unlock hope for future mental-health treatments.

Despite how easy movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Men in Black, and Total Recall make it seem, memory manipulation or erasure in humans is still a distant dream in the real world—and for good reason. While many researchers agree it could revolutionize things like PTSD and other mental-health treatment—not to ment...

Since the onset of the pandemic, global education levels — already low in 2019 — have plummeted to crisis levels. The global economic crisis halted, and in some cases reversed, a trend of increased government spending on education.
Simultaneously, school closures and remote learning made education less accessible to children from disadvantaged households. Experts predict the long-term losses for the pandemic generation could equal a 10% drop in lifetime earnings in low- to middle-income count...

As the world’s second largest carbon emitter and one of the top consumers of coal, India has a huge role to play in meeting global climate goals. Transitioning to renewable energy is one of the most important parts of the puzzle, and a village in western India is trying to lead the way.
Around 80 kilometers from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, Modhera went from being a little-known tourist spot to becoming India’s first fully solar-powered village in October last year.
In Modhera, no one...

Cybercrime that targets businesses, nonprofits and even governments is on the rise. In 2022, cyberattacks increased 38% globally compared to the year before, according to Check Point Research.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received about 800,000 complaints in 2022, a 5% decrease from 2021, but total losses grew from $6.9 billion to more than $10.2 billion. In the first half of 2022 alone, there were an estimated 236 million ransomware attacks worldwide.
Payroll is on the fro...

Financial inclusion is on the rise around the world, but 24% of people in the world remain unbanked in 2022, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex 2021.
To understand better how real people around the world interact with banks and manage their money, we talked to eight workers from eight countries, all with unique experiences and preferences.
Lebanon
Lebanon is considered an upper-middle-income country, but political instability and high inflation have sent it into a significant economi...

Higher levels of bank account ownership have been linked to poverty reduction and higher savings. Financial inclusion also helps build resilience — the ability to cope with an unexpected or emergency expense without falling into debt or financial exploitation.

Increased access to bank accounts also results in greater financial autonomy for women, allowing them to save and access business loans and insurance. A study of over 100 million people in India found that women were more likely to part...

Despite its failings, Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs are quickly becoming an essential part of many industries, especially financial services like lending, where large amounts of data need to be processed quickly and fairness is crucial.
Yet AI often amplifies and perpetuates human racial biases. In 2018, MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini proved facial recognition programs are racist. A 2021 investigation by The Associated Press and The Markup found lenders using mortgage approval algorith...

2022 has been a great year for advances in cybercrime and increased sophistication in hacking attempts. With attackers using AI (artificial intelligence) to boost their hacking prowess, organizations relying more heavily on cloud services (and opening the floodgates to cloud vulnerabilities), and remote work posing a security threat, there have been many advancements in cybercrime. Organizations need to be more wary than ever, and preparedness is key.
Here is a look at the biggest cybersecuri...

Keeping company data and systems safe has grown to become the #1 priority for most C-suite executives and CIOs globally. Advances in technology mean they are in a constant battle against hackers to come out on top. But, for most organizations, staying safe from external threats comes down to mundane considerations such as good security protocols.
Plugging all existing gaps, and ensuring your organization stays on top of security best practices, is the first step. What comes next, but is equal...

Snacking is an integral part of Kerala’s social dynamic and the strong community-based culture of the southern Indian coastal state.

Stopping in unannounced to a neighbor's house for a late afternoon cup of coffee is common, and homes in Kerala tend to always have crunchy, deep-fried snacks on hand to offer visitors - from the wildly popular raw banana chips, to the lesser-known pappada vada (pappadams coated in a second layer of rice flour batter and deep fried). But no other snack evokes a sense of warm nostalgia...

On a frigid, remote island that used to import 100% of its fresh vegetables, one American chef set out to keep it local.
Just over 800 miles from the North Pole lies the world’s northernmost settlement, the town of Longyearbyen on the Svalbard archipelago. With average summer temperatures of 3 to 7 degrees Celsius, and more than three months of complete darkness, surrounded by freezing fjords and glaciers, the town is not what most people would think of as hospitable.
None of Longyearbyen’s 2...

Rocket launches are massive energy guzzlers.
Tons of pounds of fuel are required per launch, and over 50 tons of carbon dioxide is typically emitted. But Edinburgh-based private space company Skyrora is working on a novel solution to minimize the environmental impact of the space industry while tackling one of the world’s biggest environmental issues — the disposal of plastic waste.
The world produces about 400 million tons of plastic waste per year,...