News
People in New Orleans are used to preparing for hurricanes and floods. So when they learned of a new threat — an infusion of salty water creeping slowly up the Mississippi River, threatening municipal drinking water supplies — they did what comes naturally: strip bottled water from grocery store shelves. But this is a crisis…
The world spends at least $22 billion every year to kill mosquitoes that spread malaria, dengue and other devastating diseases. That money buys billions of liters of insecticides, millions of kilograms of larvicides and 75 million insecticide-treated bed nets. Hundreds of millions more dollars are poured into research each year on new ways to kill…
On a muggy evening in July on the island of Príncipe, part of a volcanic archipelago 200 miles off the West African mainland, 11,000 mosquitoes dusted in fluorescent green powder flew together into the heavy equatorial air, tiny volunteers in the service of science. Over the next 10 nights, another group of volunteers, human ones,…
The narrow wooden benches in the student health clinic at Dire Dawa University in Ethiopia’s second-largest city began to fill up in March last year: feverish students slumped against their friends, cradling aching heads in their hands. Helen Asaminew, the presiding nurse, was baffled. The students had the hallmark symptoms of malaria. But people didn’t…
Along hundreds of miles of Lake Victoria’s shoreline in Kenya, a squadron of young scientists and an army of volunteers are waging an all-out war on a creature that threatens the health of more people than any other on earth: the mosquito. They are testing new insecticides and ingenious new ways to deliver them. They…
Try to imagine Saturn without its signature rings. Now picture two large icy moons shifting closer together little by little until — boom. Chaos. What was solid is now fluid. Diamantine shards scatter into the darkness. Many icy fragments tumble close to Saturn, remain there and dance around the gas giant in unison, ultimately forging…
Online shopping and e-commerce have revolutionized the way we shop and live. They have transformed the landscape of many neighborhoods, both big and small, leaving many malls empty and abandoned. Yet, online shopping is not all doom and gloom. It has also brought us many benefits and conveniences. However, sometimes shopping online can feel like…
The list of individual companies that have a meaningful impact on global greenhouse gas emissions is relatively short, and dominated by oil and gas producers. Think Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP. But there is another company that belongs in that conversation: JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, which has annual revenues of more than $50…
Have you ever wondered what to do if your identity is stolen and sold on the dark web? Many people face this scary situation every day, and they don’t know how to deal with it. That includes Mary of Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania. “I have a major issue with my Motorola Android cell phone. Motorola’s tech…
Tens of thousands of climate protesters who filled Midtown Manhattan last week directed their anger at President Biden, who has done more to combat climate change than any of his predecessors. But in their view, he has failed in one important way: Mr. Biden has not stopped oil and gas drilling on public lands and…
