Responding to a population seeking practical knowledge and tools, the death literacy movement is filling a much-needed void by offering clarity, comfort, and confidence. Public domain image By Caren Martineau and Sarah Parker Ward Note by Caren Martineau: Having explored the implications of America’s aging demographic in my introductory article , I wanted to follow up with a piece that continues to provide information, clarity, and encouragement in support of personal and cul

As consumers flock to “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” skincare, beauty brands are selling a vision of ocean purity that is more marketing-driven than science-based. By Kate Petty The personal care industry has mastered the art of marketing eco-consciousness— evolving beyond familiar labels like “green,” “clean,” and “natural”—into a new wave of sea-inspired branding that claims to champion ocean conservation. Terms such as “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” evoke images of cry

Humanity’s evolution into a super predator has reshaped ecosystems and instilled a primal fear in much of the animal kingdom. Representational image - public domain By John Divinagracia Hunting is considered critical to human evolution by many researchers who believe that several characteristics that distinguish humans from our closest living relatives, the apes, may have partly resulted from our adaptation to hunting, including our large brain size. Over time, however, the

Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China -- image via X By Biljana Vankovska Just days before the second round of local elections in Macedonia, everyone here seems obsessed with one question: who will control the municipalities —and through them, control us? Power in this country flows like a pyramid: from Vodno (the president’s office) to Ilindenska (the government’s building), and down to every local council. My local readers will

The Trump administration continues to escalate its threats of war against Venezuela, as millions in the US are set to lose essential benefits US Marines engaged in an amphibious training exercise, October 18, 2025 -- image via Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan on X By Manolo De Los Santos The United States government is in the grips of one of its longest-running funding gaps in history. The ongoing government shutdown has already stretched beyond 30 days and now, the food

A mural painted on the rubble of a destroyed building in Al Thawra Street in Rimal, Gaza. The mural was created by Mostafa Mehna with 25 children from Gaza. The Arabic text reads "There is hope" -- photo, February 2025 via Hla.bashbash, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Biljana Vankovska As a professor who has spent more than forty years studying questions of war and peace, international law and relations  —and above all, the human consequences of armed conflict— I once bel

Trump’s ICE forces are facing militant and organized opposition everywhere they turn. Screenshot via X By Sonali Kolhatkar A New York City woman wearing a navy blue polka-dot dress has gone viral for her defiant resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a raid in lower Manhattan on October 21, 2025. Appearing as though she was on her way from work—the woman wore a navy blue blazer and brown shoes and carried a large handbag—the “polka-dot dress wo

Washington’s unease is rising as Brazil’s Pix bypasses U.S.-dominated payment networks. The country’s digital payment revolution may soon be impossible to contain as other countries adapt their own models. By John P. Ruehl The Trump administration’s July 2025 decision to have the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigate Brazil’s “ attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices ,” followed by the launch of 50 percent tari

Image via X By Biljana Vankovska The flood of angry—and justified— reactions to this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, María Corina Machado, reveals less about the committee’s decision than about the public’s sense of shock. How can anyone still be astonished when a figure who embodies everything but peace receives this award? History shows that the Nobel Peace Prize has often gone to war criminals, opportunists, and politically “convenient” figures—honored not for moral

Simple daily practices can help us slow down, notice, and build empathy with the more-than-human world—fostering both personal well-being and planetary care. Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn NY USA -- Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bridget A. Lyons One morning, I was walking in a friend’s yard in Idaho and saw a monarch butterfly. I stopped to watch him flutter above a purple coneflower—one of his favorite sourc

Image via X By Jaime Bravo and Jorge Coulon Dina Boluarte’s removal from office is not a victory for the people, but an internal readjustment of power. Congress did not obey the clamor of the streets, but rather the need to preserve a system that is crumbling from within. The fuse was changed so that the same machinery could continue to run: the pact between plutocracy, corruption, and fear. Boluarte was useful as long as she maintained the order imposed after the fall of Ped

Modi and Trump at the White House, February 15, 2025 -- public domain image By Srujana Bodapati The last couple of months have exposed the humiliating realities of the subordinate alliance that India has been gradually sliding into with the U.S. over the last three decades. The imposition of 50 percent tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S., calls on the European Union to impose 100 percent tariffs on India, the revocation of the U.S. sanctions waiver for the operation of Iran

Our robust Paranthropus cousins thrived in Africa for a million and a half years, making stone tools and sharing the landscape with different Homo species at the dawn of human cultural innovation. The original complete skull (without mandible) of a 1.8 million years old Paranthropus robustus discovered in South Africa -- Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Deborah Barsky The first fossil hominins were discovered at the beginning

Who and where were the Proto-Indo-Europeans? Almost 450 languages spoken by 4 billion people descend from their tongue—and J.P. Mallory...

Despite claims by reform advocates of achieving success, Black children and parents continue to endure a punitive, impersonal, and...

A conversation with the legendary evolutionary thinker and archaeologist, Eudald Carbonell. Image via Matt Brown, CC BY 2.0, via...

For decades, the Americas have been the most violent part of the world outside active war zones. Many factors contribute to this, but...

Near-death experiences blend science, spirituality, and the unknown, raising profound questions about what it means to be alive, what it...

By Manolo De Los Santos The news of Assata Shakur’s death in Havana, Cuba, on September 26, was met with a deep sense of shared loss...

. US 100 dollar bills being printed -- image via video screenshot By Jaime Bravo and Jorge Coulon In August 1971, Richard Nixon announced...