Warren Buffett advised that you should never invest in a business you can’t understand. But that hasn’t stopped many investors.

New research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin might help them better understand the complications of companies they’re investing in. The study offers the most precise and comprehensive tool yet for measuring business complexity.

The tool, devised by Sara Toynbee, associate professor of accounting, simplifies the measurement by using artificial intelligence. It also finds that in areas such as structuring debt, complexity can sometimes be a good thing.

A new Concordia study presents a simplified way to estimate how reflective surfaces, such as light-coloured roofs and pavements, can offset carbon dioxide emissions. Building on earlier research, the method uses widely available weather data to make calculations easier at regional and national scales. The approach could help planners and policymakers better assess climate benefits and support wider adoption of reflective materials as a practical climate mitigation strategy.

Europe's droughts are challenging its clean energy ambitions — with considerable social and environmental costs. There's a solution – but it's not quite what you might expect.

Mobile phone data on 13 million people in Spain—more than a quarter of the population—show that hot days reduce individual mobility, thereby reducing social mixing and making city centers less vibrant.