The crash led to a slowdown of high-speed rail services, which will mean less revenue from fares, as well as a service that is less competitive with air travel.
The editors point out, sales of magazine issues that prominently feature international news stories have declined significantly, and declining sales reflect declining reader interest.
Fully developed, mature, post industrial societies, such as those in Europe, are characterised by stable or declining populations which are increasing in age.
These could reflect the declining weight of the human skeleton that seems to have accompanied the switch to settled life, which started some 15,000 years ago.
But in some places, life expectancy has leveled off or even dropped slightly - a rarity in a developed country and, public health officials say, a cause for alarm.
Heart rate tracking for three of the Alaska bears showed a drop from 55 beats per minute on average before hibernation to 14 erratic ones per minute in winter.