Science & Technology Archives - The World from PRX

​​​​​​​Entire neighborhoods have been leveled in northwestern Syria, where an earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday morning. This region of Syria is home to millions of people displaced by years of civil war. Even before the quake, they had been living in already dire conditions.

The death toll has surpassed 5,000, with thousands of others injured after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck large parts of southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. Rescue teams are trying to find people buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

They’re tiny, they’re toxic, they’re everywhere. Cigarette butts are a huge source of pollution in Spain and lawmakers have said, enough. They're ordering cigarette makers to pay for the cleanup, but smokers worry they’ll end up footing the bill.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made good on a series of campaign promises to defend the Amazon and empower Indigenous peoples. He already signed an executive order to relaunch a billion-dollar Amazon fund, where foreign governments can contribute to forest protection, among six other orders.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made a promise to roll back illegal mining in the Amazon. But he has a more complicated relationship with legal mining. Indigenous activists continue to battle over a new gold mine project managed by a Canadian firm.

Brazil’s new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to promote sustainable development for the Amazon — stopping deforestation while keeping agribusiness thriving. This is not an easy task.

Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is the most-repeated goal in the fight against climate change. But as each new year is among recorded history’s hottest, is it still a viable one?

Chinese farmers plant the largest amount of potatoes in the world, and the country produces about 20% of the global potato output. But while fresh potatoes are a traditional part of the Chinese national diet, they’re viewed as a vegetable rather than as a staple, and China’s per capita consumption of potato is below the global average. In 2015, the Chinese government decided to try and change that.

The North American leaders will be discussing immigration and the recapture of the son of drug cartel kingpin “El Chapo.” But also high on the agenda: a dispute over energy.

Zimbabwe has had to import maize, a staple food, for the past several years. Experts blame droughts and erratic rainfall resulting from climate change. The government is now urging farmers to grow more small grains like sorghum and millet, which are more drought-resistant.