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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
10 Days to Defeat 2547 Miles of Pain
MEXICO CITY, Oct 20 (IPS) – They call it the Tlaxcala-New York Route. Between one end and the other, there are 2547 miles. An...
The race to build a pandemic-proof world 
Why the UN General Assembly still matters 
UN Crime Congress: Technology is transforming crime – and the response to it 
Surviving the summer