COVER STORY This issue: Every year, TIME highlights inventions that are making the world better, smarter and even a bit more fun. To assemble our latest list, we solicited nominations and evaluated them on key factors, including originality, effectiveness, ambition and influence. This is the result…To understand the world we live in, read TIME.

A siege in Hong Kong heralds a new phase. For almost six months, the unrest in Hong Kong has followed a rhythm. On week-ends, the Chinese-ruled enclave would convulse with pro-democracy protests. During the workweek, the acrid haze of tear gas would clear and life moved on, though the revolutionary graffiti haranguing the Communist Party of China lingered. But in November, the struggle took a sudden and dangerous new turn. After a student demonstrator died on Nov. 8 of complications from a fall during a protest, the weekly schedule surrendered to daily urban warfare. The demonstrators say normality cannot be restored…

As the destabilization of our planet becomes clear, many are experiencing eco-anxiety. Under the bright white lights of a London exhibition space, an instructor asks those who identify as extremely anxious about climate change to go to the far side of the room. Those who don’t should stay closer to her. Soon, she is mostly alone; 30 ft. away, a few dozen strangers cram together, signaling that they suffer “eco-anxiety”. This workshop, hosted by King’s College London, is one of several events organized in the British capital this fall to help people work through the feelings that arise…