Fracking, mining, murder: the killer agenda driving migration in Mexico and Central America

Are high levels of violence and displacement in Central America and Mexico caused by natural resource exploitation?

Bob Dylan, the protest singer and social critic, wins Nobel Prize for Literature  

Dylan has been awarded the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition"

The history of chocolate: when money really did grow on trees

Chocolate consumption continues to grow; but current trends have deep roots in chocolate’s past

Satellite data alerts help stop Africa forest cover loss: Study

Tree felling dropped by an average of 18 per cent in Africa relative to the average 2011–2016 levels

Inquiry into Quebec’s asbestos mining legacy reveals shocking findings

It has witnessed deaths, lack of compensation and safety and lower penalties in contrast to other Canadian provinces

Trees that survived California’s drought give scientists hope for climate change

What we found is that the ones that were green, like this one, were more water-use efficient than their dead counterparts: Conservation biologist …

‘The United States’ Indian Wars never ended’

Down To Earth speaks to Ruth Hopkins, writer of Dakota and Lakota Sioux origin, about various issues concerning Native Americans today in the …

Huanglongbing: Curse of the yellow dragon

As it goes global, here is a primer on what exactly is Huanglongbing, a deadly disease affecting citrus trees

Hurricane Michael confirms above-average storm season in US

2018 Atlantic hurricane season has witnessed 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes so far

Earthquake of magnitude 8.1 strikes Mexico; at least 15 killed

Its epicentre was 123 km (76 miles) southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, at a depth of 33 km

Demand for energy-dense food declines in Mexico following tax imposition

Households with low socio-economic status purchased 10.2 per cent less taxed food than expected

Why choosing the right surgeon matters even more than you know

It’s conventional wisdom that there are “good” and “bad” hospitals — and that selecting a good one can …

Lost fish

Book>> Four Fish by Paul Greenberg  • Penguin • Rs 450

Centuries before Americas hosted sophisticated agrarian civilisations

Book >> 1491, New Revelations Of The Americas Before Columbus by Charles C Mann Vintage Books 2006

Hard time for honeybees

Entomologist May Berenbaum of University of Illinois in USA has inspired a character in TV series, X-Files. The winner of this year’s Tyler …

Mining push continues despite water crisis in Neskantaga First Nation and Ontario’s Ring of Fire

It is exactly the foundation that Canada is built on. It is one of the ways that colonialism not only survives, but thrives

Saving a Caribbean Polly

Jon Paul Rodríguez, a Venezuelan naturalist, has been awarded the Whitley Fund for Nature’s gold award for his 30-year-long odyssey to save …

Climate change forces Red-tailed Hawk to skip migration

According to experts, the bird has become a year-round resident, giving up embarking on a long journey southwards

USA v World species

While the world's species pay the price for USA's extravagant consumption patterns, biodiversity in the country remains largely safe

Predators are re-colonising old habitats, finds study

Contrary to popular perception, predators moving into hitherto ‘alien’ environments are only recolonising what they had once lost

The craft of corrupt science

If there is evidence of toxicity in Monsanto’s glyphosate, then why are governments not banning it?

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake hits off Alaska coast; Tsunami warming across US west coast, Canada

It happened hours after the coast of Java in Indonesia was struck by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake

Hurricane Irma in Florida could affect food prices, cost $300 billion in cleanup

Irma is the worst single hurricane to hit Florida since Hurricane Andrew wreaked havoc in 1992

Are catastrophic disasters striking more often?

Since 1980 there have been 212 disasters in the US, which resulted in over $1.2-trillion damage

What made the rain in Hurricane Harvey so extreme?

Combination of unusually high rain rates and long duration has resulted in a very large area with 30 to 45 inches of rain in a few days