The personal care industry has mastered the art of marketing eco-consciousness— evolving beyond familiar labels like “green,” “clean,” and “natural”—into a new wave of sea-inspired branding that claims to champion ocean conservation. ...

The Trump administration’s July 2025 decision to have the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigate Brazil’s “attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices,” followed by the launch of 50 percent tariffs, drew immediate headlines and...

Despite the diversity of government and social structures, every country today faces social and political tensions tied to concentrated and unaccountable power in the hands of national elites. The modern sociological concept of elites emerged in the early 20th century, introduced by Vilfredo Pareto,...

The stench of decay announces death—but Rafflesia plants turn it on like a neon sign. Forty-two parasitic species exude the smell of rot to lure insects, thriving under the guise of death. From a distance, the flowers could be mistaken for something long...

Power in human societies is often viewed as hierarchical, meaning that it’s tiered and ranked. This view doesn’t fully capture the complexity of how power is managed in different cultures. Some societies are not strictly hierarchical but heterarchical, where power is distributed among various groups...

The way we build our structures and organize our cities can have a significant impact on the way we live, interact, and even survive these complex times on our planet. As the realities of climate change increase the frequency and scale of natural disasters in...

With oceans, countries, populations, and governments inundated by a plague of plastic worldwide, it may be useful to focus on the single-use plastic bag choices made by two cities, in the same U.S. state, located at a distance of only 64 miles (104 km) from...

Agricultural workers in the United States currently use more than 400 different pesticides on their crops to ensure “higher yields and improved product quality.” These pesticides, however, threaten the health of people who work with them on farms or agricultural land and of those...

For advocates of cryptocurrency, the promise of an economic future that is managed by a blockchain (a decentralized database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network, as opposed to being held in a single location, such as a central bank) is compelling....

Despite industry rhetoric, hydropower is high-cost and high-risk. There are better options for a post-pandemic recovery and a renewable energy future.