Science & Technology Archives - The World from PRX

India's first female comic superhero has previously tackled issues like masking up during COVID-19, surviving assault, trafficking and acid attacks. On Earth Day, Priya has returned — astride her faithful flying tiger — to show young children the power of collective action in tackling air pollution.

Surging oil prices are hurting everyday consumers in Africa, but some oil-producing countries have seen a windfall with higher revenues — boosting investment spending in other areas.

Today, there’s only one glacier left on Mexico’s tallest mountain. It’s called Jamapa. And scientists say that as much as 60% of it has melted. Until recently, experts estimated that it had maybe just 40 years left. But now, they say it will disappear within the decade.

When it comes to speaking out against Russian aggression in Ukraine, India has largely remained silent. Defense and energy needs are key factors, but a "heavy dose of nostalgia" is also playing a role.

In recent months, top federal courts in Mexico have canceled controversial mining concessions near Indigenous communities in two regions of Puebla state. About 100 Indigenous activists are now on a monthlong caravan to defend land and water rights across southern Mexico.

Somalia is facing a devastating drought after two years without rain. It's the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 40 years. And it's pushing many people to leave their hometowns in search of better sustenance.

The United Nations is warning that a famine looms in Somalia’s future. The country has not seen rain for the past three consecutive rainy seasons, over a two-year period.

Human-made fertilizers boost crop production, making it easier to feed more people with the same land. But chemical fertilizers made from ammonia and other chemicals can cause pollution. Beetle poop is cleaner and helps farmers reduce their carbon footprint.

The horrors of Russia’s war in Ukraine are funded in large part by the fossil fuels it sells to the world. Climate activist and writer Bill McKibben says the US should rapidly manufacture electric heat pumps and send them to European homes as a way to permanently weaken Vladimir Putin’s oil-and gas-fueled war machine — and fight climate change, too.

If climate change continues on its current trajectory, over 200 million climate refugees could be displaced worldwide by the year 2050.