What are we reading? April 2, 2020

Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.

Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:

From today's COVID-19 digest: good news and bad news

Good news – for robots – the pandemic is accelerating automation initiatives all over the shop. – Robotics Research

https://www.roboticsresear.ch/articles/20265/mobile-robots-coronavirus-pushes-logistic-automation-up-the-agenda?stv1=1%3A413393%3A17283

Bad news for retailers: the four horsemen of the apocalypse have just pulled up in the parking lot. – Seeking Alpha

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4335340-retail-apocalypse-is-knocking-door?

Good news and bad news: good news for global climate futures; bad news for global gas and oil futures. – The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/01/the-fossil-fuel-industry-is-broken-will-a-cleaner-climate-be-the-result?

Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:

Economists have been sounding the alarm for years about Canadian consumer debt, worrying it was setting the stage for a downturn worse than the Great Recession. A new poll shows that fear runs deep among Canadian households with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. – Financial Post

https://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/debt/half-of-canadians-say-they-are-on-brink-of-insolvency-as-coronavirus-threatens-to-burst-countrys-consumer-debt-bubble

This story, about the utility of baking as a stress fighter, confirms my own experience in baking simple brown bread on lazy Sunday afternoons, with the satisfaction it brings in doing something really useful. – Yahoo.com 

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/baking-best-way-alleviate-stress-123000104.html