La Loma is an area of the city of Medellin, Colombia, which is divided into small neighbourhoods controlled by gangs known as “combos”. Each combo is loyal to one or other of the country’s organised-crime groups. La Loma is also a main route for trafficking drugs, narcotics and weapons to different parts of the country....
The United States and Brazil have much in common when it comes to the coronavirus. Both are among the world’s hardest-hit countries, where hundreds die daily. Their like-minded presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, have both been widely criticized for their poor handling of the pandemic. And in both countries the virus is disproportionately affecting...
ta Rica is known around the world over for its rainforests, coffee and beaches. But despite Costa Rica’s reputation for safety and its recent economic growth, criminals use its strategic location for smuggling activities. A team of U.S. forensic science experts, led by two West Virginia University professors from Costa Rica, aim to fix that. A new...
A group of researchers, led by a University of New South Wales (UNSW) sustainability scientist, have reviewed existing academic discussions on the link between wealth, economy and associated impacts, reaching a clear conclusion: technology will only get us so far when working towards sustainability – we need far-reaching lifestyle changes and different economic paradigms. In...
Campaigns to plant huge numbers of trees could backfire, according to a new study that is the first to rigorously analyze the potential effects of subsidies in such schemes. The analysis, published on June 22 in Nature Sustainability, reveals how efforts such as the global Trillion Trees campaign and a related initiative (H. R. 5859)...
The large-scale planting of new forests in previously tree-free areas, a practice known as afforestation, is hailed as an efficient way to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – a so-called natural climate solution. But a new study led by a Colorado State University biology researcher finds that the carbon-capture potential of afforestation may...
As China upgrades pangolins to the highest protected status level, an alternative approach to using long standing forensic methods is helping wildlife crime investigators disrupt poachers and animal traffickers in an effort to bring them to justice. A team of scientists and experienced investigators from the University of Portsmouth have joined the battle to stop...
Today’s modern cities, from Denver to Dubai, could learn a thing or two from the ancient Pueblo communities that once stretched across the southwestern United States. For starters, the more people live together, the better the living standards. That finding comes from a study published in the journal Science Advances and led by Scott Ortman, an archaeologist at...
Editor’s note: The Supreme Court voted, 5-4, on June 18, 2020 that the Trump administration can’t immediately end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. Sayil Camacho, a Vanderbilt University postdoctoral fellow who studies immigrants, answers four questions about how the decision will affect undocumented students and higher education. 1. What’s...
When it came down to it, the fate of 700,000 immigrants brought to U.S. as children hung on a simple question: Does the White House have to tell the whole truth in justifying its move to deport them? On June 18, the Supreme Court said “yes.” In a 5-to-4 decision that came as a major...
