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Total number of posts: 24028
Nigeria bans female genital mutilation
Globally, an estimated 100 to 140 million women and girls from nearly 30 countries have undergone genital mutilation, with the highest rates concentrated in Africa and the Middle East. They are about 20 million in Nigeria alone, or 27 percent of the female population. Last Friday outgoing Read More...
Deaf children may receive the gift of sound from a brain stem implant
An FDA-approved clinical trial to give the gift of sound and speech to children who were born deaf is already yielding encouraging results. Read the story of Jiya Bavishi, a six-year-old girl who received an auditory brainstem implant. The implant is a microchip that receives sounds picked up by a Read More...
Solutions to clean up the palm oil industry
Palm oil is as ubiquitous in processed foods as it is controversial for its disastrous ecological and social impacts. Transparent supply chains, regulations, strict third-party verifications, alliances of companies and civil society are some of the necessary approaches to clean up the palm oil Read More...
Riding a bike connects urban dwellers the world over
Here is a crowdsourced world tour of the most cycle-friendly cities, brought to you by The Guardian. It's a global movement! One that speaks volume about the fossil fuel-free world that we're growing into. Travel, discover, learn… and enjoy the Read More...
How to be your own mentor
When faced with a tough decision, tapping your own wisdom may well be the way to go. The key? Take the time to slow down and breathe, then enjoy a guided visualization to visit an older version of yourself with whom to have that conversation. It isn’t as weird as it may sound. In fact, it just Read More...
Federal judge upholds GMO ban in Oregon to protect organic farms
A legal decision which goes against the powerful agribusiness lobby is enough of a rare occurrence to be worth mentioning—celebrating even. The Monsanto-backed plaintiffs were non-organic farms who sought to overturn a 2014 ordinance passed by Jackson County voters, banning the use of genetically Read More...
How Columbia has been turning ex-guerillas into useful members of society
The bloody civil war that has gripped Colombia for over fifty years has claimed 220,000 victims, affecting 6.7 million people in all—most of them civilians. In 2003 president Álvaro Uribe entered peace negotiations with the country’s largest paramilitary group. The Colombian Agency for Read More...
Meditation physically changes the brain, says Harvard neuroscientist
The beneficial effects of meditation, such as increased compassion and overall quality of life, together with reduced stress, depression, anxiety, pain and insomnia, are getting better and better understood by science. Neuroscientist Sara Lazar has conducted several studies, finding that the brain Read More...
Latin America leads the world in reducing hunger
In the matter of hunger, as with any protracted issue, we choose to focus on encouraging developments with the hope that useful lessons can be learned from what works. According to The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 report, released last week by the FAO, Latin America has met the target Read More...
4 tips to make your job more meaningful
Any job can be made more meaningful, says Tom Rath, whose new book Are You Fully Charged? explores what makes people more engaged at work. Meaning is a very practical concept, according to him. And it can be easily uncovered in any given day through practicing these four simple Read More...