Studies of how global change is impacting marine organisms have long focused on physiological effects–for example an oyster’s decreased ability to build or maintain a strong shell in an ocean that is becoming more acidic due to excess levels of carbon dioxide. More recently, researchers have begun to investigate how different facets of global change...
Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency has taken a lot of criticism from Western government officials and media commentators – but it’s not meant for them. A major target market for the Libra is users in developing countries. From researching cryptocurrency, blockchain and other technologies in the context of developing countries, I can see that digital payment systems...
Understanding how people use and experience important places for living nature is essential for effectively managing and monitoring human activities and conserving biodiversity. In a new article published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, a team of researchers assessed global patterns of visitation rates, attractiveness and pressure to more than 12,000 Important Bird and...
Involuntary staying, a type of housing trap, is a common experience among people living on housing estates, since around one in three residents feel that they are trapped in their current residential arrangements. More than half of them would like to move away from their current neighbourhoods. According to the residents own estimation, the most...
The narratives we tell about the past often feature a cast of familiar main characters: kings and rulers, warriors and diplomats — men who made laws and fought wars, who held power over others in their own lands and beyond. When women enter our stories, we rarely afford them much agency. But across the globe...
Truffles and caviar have traditionally been delicacies of the upper class, but a new study by University of British Columbia (UBC) sociology professor Emily Huddart Kennedy and colleagues from the University of Toronto finds that free-range and fair-trade foods are becoming increasingly important among the elite. “Our culture’s understanding of what counts as elite taste...
Researchers from the University of Missouri and University of Essex in the United Kingdom say a new way of measuring gender inequality is fairer to both men and women, and presents a simplified but more accurate picture of peoples’ well-being than previous calculations. The new Basic Index of Gender Inequality (BIGI) focuses on three factors...
Tyrone Lavery, postdoctoral researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago, traveled nearly 8,000 miles to find two species–a giant rat and a monkey-faced bat–in Malaita, one of the Solomon Islands’ largest provinces. The search for these mammals isn’t over yet–but in partnership with the Kwaio, an indigenous people in Malaita, and fellow Australians Tim Flannery...
Immigration policy has been a central focus of President Trump’s administration since he announced his candidacy in a speech in which he said, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime....
A global shift towards healthy and more plant-based diets, halving food loss and waste, and improving farming practices and technologies are required to feed 10 billion people sustainably by 2050, a new study finds. Adopting these options reduces the risk of crossing global environmental limits related to climate change, the use of agricultural land, the...
