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Andrew McCartor, Pure Earth’s director of global policy and planning, traveled to Madagascar to lead a meeting organized by UNICEF that brought together over 66 representatives from more than 34 agencies, organizations and businesses to discuss the country’s pollution challenges and solutions. The people of Madagascar are ready to solve pollution. Their passion, determination and drive will take them far, as Drew recounts: I landed in Madagascar at an extraordinary moment in the nation’s history. One minister remarked to me that it was the first time the nation was truly united since gaining independence from France in 1960. For the entire week I was there, tens of thousands of people were dancing in the street every night. The excitement was for the national football team, which was in the middle of a fairytale run in the Africa Cup of Nations. Just five years prior, the Madagascar national team was ranked nearly dead last in the world by FIFA. On the day I arrived, … [Read more...] about Madagascar: United in Soccer and Pollution Cleanup

After a gunman murdered at least nine people and wounded more than 20 early Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, assistant chief of police Lt. Col. Matt Carper told reporters, “Police believe the suspect acted alone and that there is no remaining threat to the community.” With the gunman shot dead by responding officers, those are supposed to serve as words of comfort, a sign that we can now exhale: The threat is over. We’ll mourn, but we’ll be OK. The bloodshed, as Carper said, was “quickly put to an end.” Of course, if we understand anything about this nation we recognize this is a lie meant to pacify jostled nerves and psyches. The threat is never over. We’ll mourn again, but we’ll never be OK again. In America, bloodshed is a world without end. So long as there is an aggrieved man with easy access to guns, and unchecked anger about immigrants, women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, Jews, or his own failings, there will always be a … [Read more...] about Two mass shootings in 24 hours — this is how we live

The most complete skull of a duck-billed dinosaur from Big Bend National Park, Texas, is revealed in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology as a new genus and species, Aquilarhinus palimentus. This dinosaur has been named for its aquiline nose and wide lower jaw, shaped like two trowels laid side by side. In the 1980s, Texas Tech University Professor Tom Lehman (then a Master's student) was conducting research on rock layers at Rattle Snake Mountain and discovered badly-weathered bones. He and two others from the University of Texas at Austin collected them, but some were stuck together making them impossible to study. Research in the 1990s revealed an arched nasal crest thought to be distinctive of the hadrosaurid Gryposaurus. At the same time, the peculiar lower jaw was recognized. However, the specimen spent additional years waiting for a full description and it was not until recent analysis that the researchers came to realize that the specimen was more primitive than Gryposaurus … [Read more...] about Strange new species of duck-billed dinosaur identified

IPH Faculty and Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance research fellows Upendra Bhojani and Pragati Hebbar attended the 9th Annual Fellows’ Meet in Bengaluru from June 13 – 15th 2019. The annual fellows meet serves as a platform to bring together India Alliance Fellows and other grant recipients from prestigious research institutes together to foster collaboration, support and exchange of ideas across a wide range of research areas. Both Pragati and Upendra presented their work during the first year of their fellowships through scientific poster sessions. Upendra Bhojani was invited to present his work and research supported by India Alliance during this meet. Upendra gave a talk titled “Commercial Determinants of health: the political economy of tobacco in India”, available for viewinghere. Given the present focus on and the growing concern of the role of corporations in promoting products and choices that are mass produced and are in general detrimental to health, … [Read more...] about India Alliance Fellows Meet 2019

Summer break traditionally means fun and relaxation for students, but it also can be a challenging time for low-income families who rely on school meal programs to help make ends meet.Feeding San Diego’s annual Fuel for Summer campaign is helping fill that need and has raised more than 1.2 million meals by hosting 26 summer meal sites thoughout the county.A barbecue and other events planned by summer’s end are expected to feed even more children.An estimated 120,000 area children, or one out of six youths in San Diego County, face hunger throughout the year while thousands lose access to nutritious school meals over summer, accordgin to Feeding San Diego. Besides hosting summer meal sites, the organizationalso hosts Summer Fun Café sites in partnership with San Diego Unified School District and holds regional food distributions once a month during summer.Three upcoming events will raise funds for the summer meals program, beginning with a July 13 all-you-can-eat … [Read more...] about Food drive feeds students during summer months