From war elephants to cheap electronics: modern globalisation has its roots in ancient trade networks

• But globalisation isn’t new. Archaeological research shows it began in antiquity.
• A global economy, with luxury consumerism and global interconnectivity, linked Europe, Africa and Asia at least 5,000 years ago and was widespread 2,000 years ago.
• The Roman and Han empires – and everyone in between – were directly connected through outposts across the Indian Ocean some 2,000 years ago, foreshadowing our globalised world.

Data science drives new maps to predict the growth of cities over next century

• How cities might grow in 100 years?
• Most individuals do not realize how changes to the landscape, such as buildings and roads, may affect their lives. In Delaware, for example, second homes being built near the coast often come at the cost of agricultural farmland. While these developments may increase an area’s economic prosperity, they can have other unintended consequences, such as increased potential exposure to coastal flooding and sea level rise.

• This is original

Boom, Bust, and Bitcoin: Bitcoin-Bubbles As Innovation Accelerators

• In this paper, we examine the role of speculative bubbles in the process of Bitcoin’s technological adoption by analyzing its social dynamics.
• Based on our analysis of Bitcoin, we test and further refine the Social Bubble Hypothesis, which holds that bubbles constitute an essential component in the process of technological innovation.