• OPINION

  Nike shoes aren't performance-enhancing drugs

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 24/10/2023

  » World records in marathons have toppled like track hurdles in recent weeks. Tigst Assefa, the new women's record holder, beat the old one by more than two minutes. Kelvin Kiptum, the latest men's record holder, took 34 seconds off his predecessor's time. These are astonishing accomplishments. But not everybody is crediting the athletes. Instead, critics argue that Assefa and Kiptum couldn't have run at top speeds without a new generation of high-performance "super shoes". Some go so far as to equate the souped-up shoes to performance-enhancing drugs.

• OPINION

  Video game competitions should be in Olympics

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 30/09/2023

  » The hottest sports ticket in the Asia-Pacific right now isn't for a soccer match, an NBA exhibition game or even a swim meet. It's for the medal event debut of competitive video gaming, or esports.

• OPINION

  'Insect apocalypse' coming to your neighbourhood

  Oped, Adam Minter, Published on 03/08/2023

  » An unusually large influx of tiny insects called aphids have been sucking on Dallas-area pecan trees in recent weeks. After they've had their fill, they "excrete" the waste out their back ends and onto cars, driveways and sidewalks. "Texas is covered in a sticky, icky goo," declared a Dallas Morning News headline. Other news outlets offered tips on how to clean up the mess.

• OPINION

  Endangered species among virus victims

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 13/05/2020

  » Social distancing may save human lives, but it's wreaking havoc on some of the world's most threatened species.

• OPINION

  What's wrong with China's national champions?

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 05/03/2019

  » A year ago, Didi Chuxing Inc, China's largest ride-sharing company, looked like a quintessential "national champion". It had driven Uber Technologies Inc from the local market, attracted investment from Apple Inc and was contemplating a Hong Kong IPO worth as much as US$80 billion (2.5 trillion baht). State media coverage was fawning, government support was all but assured and the company's near-monopoly looked unassailable.

• OPINION

  The wrong way to deal with doping

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 04/02/2019

  » At odds over trade, technology and geopolitics, the US and China do share one thing: They both "hate" doping, in the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China reportedly plans to make the practice a crime. And last week in Washington, DC, a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers also introduced legislation to criminalise the use of performance-enhancing drugs at international sporting competitions such as the Olympics. Athletes caught doping could be subject to five years in prison, a US$250,000 (7.8 million baht) fine and a civil lawsuit from competitors bested in the final standings. They wouldn't have to be US citizens, either. The legislation is specifically designed to hold accountable foreign cheats who beat American athletes in international competition.

• OPINION

  Old phones may pose a 'security risk'

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 12/11/2018

  » That obsolete smartphone stashed away in a drawer or closet may not look like a national security risk, but the Trump administration is contemplating treating it as one.

• OPINION

  Future lies with electric two-wheelers

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 15/10/2018

  » Given recent market turmoil, it would easy to overlook the upcoming IPO of Niu Technologies, a Chinese manufacturer of electric mopeds. The US$95 million the company plans to raise is a pittance compared to the billions burnt by Tesla Inc. But the technologies developed by Niu and other pioneers of electric two-wheel vehicles will transform transportation as much as anything dreamed up by the likes of Elon Musk.

• OPINION

  How India could help in the transformation of Africa

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 09/10/2018

  » Over the last two decades, China has invested more than US$125 billion in Africa to build ports, highways, airports, railways and other infrastructure. Chinese President Xi Jinping says funds, to the tune of $60 billion, will continue to flow because "inadequate infrastructure is believed to be the biggest bottleneck to Africa's development".

• OPINION

  Interpol saga won't just hurt China

  News, Adam Minter, Published on 11/10/2018

  » The last message that now former Interpol president Meng Hongwei sent to his wife was an emoji depicting a knife. Soon after, he disappeared into China's feared and opaque Ministry of Public Security, the subject of a corruption investigation about which no details have been revealed.

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