1)
WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR BRAINS AS WE AGE
What happens to our
brains as we age is of crucial importance not just to science but to public
policy. By 2030, for example, 72 million people in the US will be over 65,
double the figure in 2000 and their average life expectancy will likely have
edged above 20 years. However, this demographic time-bomb would be much less
threatening if the elderly were looked upon as intelligent contributors to
society rather than as dependants in long-term decline.
A. The
idea that we get dumber as we grow older is just a myth, according to brain
research that will encourage anyone old enough to know better.
B. It
is time we rethink what we mean by the ageing mind before our false assumptions
result in decisions and policies that marginalize the old or waste precious
public resources to re-mediate problems that do not exist.
C. Many
of the assumptions scientists currently make about ‘cognitive decline’ are
seriously flawed and, for the most part, formally invalid.
D. Using
computer models to simulate young and old brains, Ramscar and his colleagues
found they could account for the decline in test scores simply by factoring in
experience
2)
THREATS TO INSURANCE INDUSTRY
The better behaviour
resulting from smart devices is just one threat to the insurance industry.
Conventional risk pools (for home or car insurance, for example) are shrinking
as preventable accidents decline, leaving the slow-footed giants of the
industry at risk. Business is instead moving to digital-native insurers, many
of which are offering low premiums to those willing to collect and share their
data. Yet the biggest winners could be tech companies rather than the firms
that now dominate the industry. Insurance is increasingly reliant on the use of
technology to change behaviour; firms act as helicopter parents to
policyholders, warning of impending harm—slow down; reduce your sugar intake;
call the plumber—the better to reduce unnecessary payouts.
The growing
mountain of personal data available to individuals and, crucially, to firms is
giving those with the necessary processing power the ability to distinguish
between low-risk and high-risk individuals.
Cheap sensors and the
tsunami of data they generate can improve our lives; blackboxes in cars can
tell us how to drive more carefully and wearable devices will nudge us toward
healthier lifestyles.
Yet this sort of
relationship relies on trust, and the Googles and Apples of the world, on which
consumers rely day-by-day and hour-by-hour, may be best placed to win this
business.
The uncertainty that
underpins the need for insurance is now shrinking thanks to better insights
into individual risks.
3)
THE DEATH PENALTY
The expenditure of
time, money and sparse judicial and prosecutorial resources is often justified
by claims of a powerful deterrent message embodied in the ultimate punishment-
the death penalty. But studies repeatedly suggest that there is no meaningful
deterrent effect associated with the death penalty and further, any deterrent
impact is no doubt greatly diluted by the amount of time that inevitably passes
between the time of the conduct and the punishment. In 2010, the average time
between sentencing and execution in the United States averaged nearly 15
years.
A.
A single federal death penalty case
in Philadelphia was found to cost upwards of $10 million — eight times higher
than the cost of trying a death eligible case where prosecutors seek only life
imprisonment.
B.
The ethics of the issue aside, it is
questionable whether seeking the death penalty is ever worth the time and
resources that it takes to sentence someone to death.
C.
Apart from delaying justice, the
death penalty diverts resources that could be used to help the victims’
families heal.
D.
A much more effective deterrent
would be a sentence of life imprisonment imposed close in time to the crime.
4)
A POOR MONSOON
The Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD) has come out with the dismaying prediction that
the southwest monsoon this year will be below normal. If this prognosis holds
true, it may mar the prospects of redeeming the rabi crop output losses through
bumper harvests in the later kharif season. India's farm sector has certainly
acquired a degree of resilience when it comes to the monsoon - as reflected in
the positive growth numbers in all the weak monsoon years since 2009. However,
monsoon rainfall and its distribution still remain crucial.
A.
They impact supplies and prices of
most farm commodities, especially coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables,
fruit and livestock products, as well as the rural sector demand for consumer
goods.
B.
A poor monsoon and subsequent food
inflation might well throw off the Reserve Bank of India's schedule for rate
cuts.
C.
Nevertheless, the first stage
monsoon forecast of the IMD should normally be taken with a pinch of salt, as
the weather agency's accuracy record on this count is none too inspiring.
D.
The monsoon’s behavior this year
seems to bear out the notion that climate change is affecting the Indian
monsoon and altering its rainfall calendar.
