Handcuffed and squatting on the floor, Abdullah Zahra saw smoke rising from his cellmate’s flesh as his torturers gave him electric shocks. Then it was Zahra’s turn. They hanged the 20-year-old university student from his wrists until his toes barely touched the floor and electrocuted and beat him for two hours. They made his father watch...
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U.S. Suffers from Low Social Mobility. Is Sprawl Partly to Blame?
Using Census data, researchers untangle interplay between urban development patterns and socioeconomic outcomes. Urban sprawl is not just unsightly. It could also be impeding intergenerational mobility for low-income residents and reinforcing racial inequality, according to a series of recent studies led by a University of Utah geographer. One analysis of tract-level Census data co-authored with...
Tequila Industry Innovator Responds to U.S. Surgeon General’s New Advisory on Link Between Alcohol and Cancer Risk
Editor’s Note: On January 3rd, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk. The following is a commentary from Cynthia Bernal, Head of Wellness and Innovation for San Martin de Hidalgo Tequila, in response to the report. On behalf of San Martin de Hidalgo Tequila, we acknowledge the U.S. Surgeon General’s...
U.S. Surgeon General Issues New Advisory on Link Between Alcohol and Cancer Risk
Alcohol Consumption is the Third Leading Preventable Cause of Cancer in the United States Today, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk, outlining the direct link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United...
Stimulant Users Are Caught in Fatal ‘Fourth Wave’ of Opioid Epidemic
In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, near a storefront advertising “free” cellphones, J.R. sat in an empty back stairwell and showed a reporter how he tries to avoid overdosing when he smokes crack cocaine. KFF Health News is identifying him by his initials because he fears being arrested for using illegal drugs. It had been several hours...
Study Reveals Oldest-Known Evolutionary “Arms Race”
Hundreds of punctured shells from the Cambrian illuminate unique predator-prey interactions in the ocean 517 million years ago A new study led by researchers at the American Museum of Natural History presents the oldest known example in the fossil record of an evolutionary arms race. These 517-million-year-old predator-prey interactions occurred in the ocean covering what...
A Rising Trend of ‘Murderous Verbs’ in Movies Over 50 Years
The amount of murdering and killing in movies has increased overall over the past 50 years, according to a new study that analyzed a massive database of film dialogue. Researchers used machine learning to search a database of subtitles from more than 160,000 English-language movies produced from 1970 to 2000. They calculated the amount of...
Mexico to Investigate a Town That Thanked a Drug Lord for Holiday Season Gifts for Children
Mexico’s president said Monday that prosecutors are investigating officials in a town where a sign was posted thanking a drug lord for holiday season gifts for children. In the past, drug cartels in Mexico have often handed out gifts or bags of food to local people around the holidays, to try to improve their image or build...
Argentine Judge Charges 5 People Over Death of Former One Direction Star Liam Payne
An Argentine judge confirmed charges against five people in connection with the death of Liam Payne, a former member of musical group One Direction, and ordered preventive prison for two of them for having supplied him with drugs. A judicial officer confirmed Monday the judge’s decision and said that one of the two people ordered to...
A River Route for Food and Crime: The Dual Nature of a Major South American Waterway
From its headwaters in Brazil, the Paraguay River flows hundreds of miles (kilometers) south to where it joins the Parana River to form a single 2,100-mile (3,400-kilometer) waterway that carries much of the agricultural and mineral wealth of South America to the Atlantic. The riverine waterway connects Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and carries...