19 must-read stories for the weekend

Europe’s twin growth challenges. A fragile economic recovery is threatened by this toxic twosome.

Growing US inequality. Not only showing up in wages but also in premature deaths.

Digital doppelgangers. Researchers are working on digital copies of human memories to help Alzheimer’s sufferers. Next step: the mind clone?

Carmaking is set for the biggest revolution since the Model T assembly line. But regulation is a stumbling block.

An AI system has learnt English from scratch. It can match a four-year-old but lacks a youngster’s curiosity, creativity and intuition.

The UN’s global goals: Where will we find the $37 trillion dollars they’ll cost?

Fossil fuel companies in a zero-emissions world. We’ll still need them for a variety of reasons.

Climate change and terrorism. A cycle of environmental degradation, economic failure, and Islamist extremism disfigures much of the Middle East. How to break it.

Decarbonizing economies requires capital on a scale only the private sector can supply. Hence the need to make climate finance a no-brainer for business.

Network your best teams. Because productivity growth is contagious.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will be battery powered. Nanotechnology will electrify your self-driving car.

Education doesn’t fix poverty. The big drivers of poverty for adults are unemployment, having children, disability and getting old. Credentials can’t cure those.

America is turning its back on entrepreneurship. The US economy is getting fewer jobs from startups and fast-growing new firms.

Innovation is slowing as a driver of China’s GDP growth. From 1990 to 2010, it powered nearly half the annual rise. But since then, it’s been less than a third, the lowest level since 1980.

The economics of Star Wars. Researchers conclude that destroying Death Stars is very bad for the galaxy’s economy.

The digital battlefield. In Davos last year, leaders called on tech companies to join the war on terror. Here’s how they’re responding. (CBS)

Double-duty drink. Buy a bottle of this booze and help end the water crisis. Cites the Forum’s Global Risks Report. (Forbes)

Geopolitical risk: On the rise and hard to price. Draws on Forum research. (Reuters)

The Davos 2016 agenda. A look back at last year and what to expect in January. (European CEO)

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Author: Adrian Monck is Managing Director and head of Public Engagement at the World Economic Forum.

Image: A man walks near giant globes displayed outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City April 17, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun