1.5 billion people, living with soil too salty to be fertile
Between 20 to 50 per cent of irrigated soils in all continents have grown too salty to be fully fertile, creating significant challenges for more than 1.5 billion people trying to grow their own food. Read the...
Humanitarian assistance stepped up on Yemen’s west coast, amid clashes
Humanitarian assistance has been ramped up on Yemen’s west coast where ongoing violence has increased the needs of communities displaced by years of conflict,...
Four children killed on their way to school in northwest Syria
Four children – three boys and a girl – were killed on Monday morning while travelling to school in northwest Syria, along with a...
Fair Tax Plan Could Prejudice Global South
BRATISLAVA, Oct 20 (IPS) – An agreement between 136 countries aimed at forcing the world’s biggest companies to pay a fair share of tax...
Vikings lived in North America by at least the year 1021
Vikings inhabited North America exactly 1,000 years ago, a new study finds. Counting tree rings reveals that wooden objects previously found at an archaeological...
Scientists found modern domestic horses’ homeland in southwestern Russia
Much of human history was made astride, or beside, a horse. The animal’s stolid speed and strength powered massive migrations of people, pulled plows...
Here’s the physics of why ducklings swim in a row behind their mother
There’s physics to having your ducklings in a row. By paddling in an orderly line behind their mother, baby ducks can take a ride...
Fossil fuel production ‘dangerously out of sync’ with climate change targets
Despite increased climate ambition and net-zero commitments, governments still plan to produce more than double the amount of energy from fossil fuels in 2030, than the...
Young people in South Africa changed their attitudes significantly and adopted safer sexual behaviour, after watching a TV show called Down South – which the UN initiative behind it describes as a tribute to the power...
Forests & Climate: We Need to do Much, Much More
NEW JERSEY, USA, Oct 20 (IPS) – Governments agree that saving the climate means saving forests – but ambition and action fall short of...
A new treatment could restore some mobility in people paralyzed by strokes 
What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars? 
This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces 
Greta Thunberg’s new book urges the world to take climate action now