World

Finding the forests for the trees: Combating climate change through biodiversity conservation

Biology, Environment, World / /

Trees have symbolized life, strength, and connection across cultures and millennia. Recently, these silent sentinels have garnered recognition as heroes in the fight against climate change. Carbon storage, combined with reductions in fossil fuel use, is a critical component of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Trees offer an accessible, relatively inexpensive solution. Through photosynthesis, trees […]

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Blood Hakkar: Using video games to model human behavior and disease

World / /

In 2005, a pandemic wiped out cities, painting the streets white with skeletons. Those who were asymptomatic spread the disease to thousands, and within a day, the world ground to a halt. This happened in the video game “World of Warcraft.” Despite the pandemic lasting only three days and being virtual, it gave epidemiologists and

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Opinion: What the U.S. WHO exit means for global health

Health, Opinion, World / /

Hours after swearing into office, 46th President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating the United State’s intent to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) after 77 years of membership. This comes as devastating news to the agency, which serves as an international united front to address public health challenges. Out of the 194

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Necessity drives invention: How COVID-19 sparked unprecedented innovations

Health, World / /

The COVID pandemic touched almost every part of daily life. Cities became ghost towns. Schools and workplaces worldwide shut their doors. Millions of families now have an empty seat at their table.  But while COVID took a sizable toll on society, it also served as a time of profound research and innovation. It enacted change

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To be or not to be: The ethics of the deliberate extinction of Anopheles gambiae

Environment, Health, World / /

As the primary malaria vector of sub-Saharan Africa, the Anopheles gambiae mosquito is the deadliest animal in the world. In 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases worldwide. Global malaria cases have increased annually since 2015, with countries in Africa facing the majority of case increases. Recent progress has stalled, and many are

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Wildfire-spawned thunderclouds: How fire-induced clouds are creating their own weather

Environment, World / /

Do you remember the blood-red skies over Australia in the wake of the 2019-2020 new year fires? The raging wildfires produced post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-esque skylines and looming columns of smoke, dubbing this period the “Black Summer.”  These bushfires caused the formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds (pyroCbs), coined “fire clouds.” This is a fire-atmosphere phenomenon caused by

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