Funding terror: how west Africa’s deadly jihadists get the money they need to survive: The west Africa–Sahel region has seen a proliferation of militant Islamist groups since the 1990s. One of the most vicious groups operating in the region is Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (Support Group for Islam and Muslims). The militant group emerged in …
Europe’s microstates: the medieval monarchies that survive in our midst: San Marino is one of four microstates with very distinct constitutional arrangements. Shutterstock/kavalenkava Continental Europe is home to four microstates with populations of between 30,000 and 80,000 people: Andorra, on the border between France and Spain; Liechtenstein, nestled between Switzerland and Austria; Monaco, which sits …
Can the Olympics survive the climate crisis?: The 2024 Olympic Games opened on the same week Earth recorded its hottest day ever. A different kind of record-breaking will be animating competitors in Paris, but the climate crisis is making it hard for organisers to keep the tournament on track. A deluge that dumped a month’s …
African wild dogs will soon have their own sperm bank – how artificial breeding will help them survive: Scientists from the Institute for Breeding Rare and Endangered African Mammals have been working in southern Africa for over 15 years to protect endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus). They’ve now decided to freeze sperm from as …
How to survive being a guest at another family’s Christmas: Rawpixels/Shutterstock Welcome to the holidays, a time for families coming together. It’s exciting to visit your partner’s family and experience new relationships and rituals – it’s also potentially mortifying. Holidays are a crucible for surfacing relational histories – and conflicts – as well as highlighting …
Wild animals that survive limb loss are astonishing – and a sign of the havoc humans are wreaking on nature: Estharix/Shutterstock It might seem astounding that a wild animal could survive a limb amputation and still thrive in the wild but videos from social media and research show this may be more common than people …
Playgroups are are struggling to survive – here’s why we need them: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock Playgroups can be a lifeline for new parents. Run by volunteers, they give young children a space to explore and interact with others, and parents a chance to have a cup of tea and a chat. This was certainly the case for …
Businesses that address social or environmental problems often struggle to survive: 3 things that can help them: Social entrepreneurs play an important role in alleviating poverty. Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images Social enterprises are organisations that promote social or environmental issues as their core business. They are useful to societies in lots of ways. They can help …
How traditional Indigenous education helped four lost children survive 40 days in the Amazon jungle: The discovery and rescue of four young Indigenous children, 40 days after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in the remote Colombian rainforest, was hailed in the international press as a “miracle in the jungle”. But as an anthropologist …
Reintroducing top predators to the wild is risky but necessary – here’s how we can ensure they survive: Collared leopard being released into North Ossetia, Russia in 2022. Pavel Padalko, CC BY-NC-ND Large carnivores are critical to the balance of an ecosystem. In Yellowstone National Park in the western US, grey wolves keep elk populations …
How wildlife in ponds has evolved to survive frozen water – and how you can help more animals stay alive: "Great!" Mabel Amber/Pixabay, CC BY-SA When filled with ice-skaters or a clumsy Bambi on a Christmas card, a frozen pond is a merry sight. But spare a thought for the living things trapped below. The …
‘Still here’: Welsh world cup song Yma o Hyd and how the language is adapting to survive: The official Wales song for the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2022 is “Yma o Hyd” (“Still here”), a protest song first released by Dafydd Iwan and Ar Lôg in 1983. Its unashamedly patriotic verses describe the adversity that …
Worker organisations can survive the digital age. Here’s how: Is a food courier who owns one scooter a worker? Getty Images There is a widespread view that labour has become irrelevant as a force for change. The argument goes that the proliferation of digital labour platforms – and the rise in job insecurity this brings …
Energy crisis: how to help small businesses survive and become more sustainable: adam winger / Unsplash The number of companies in financial distress has spiked in parts of the UK to the highest level since the 2007-8 global financial crisis laid waste to the global economy. The latest government figures show that in August more …
Gig economy: ride-hailing and takeaway app firms may not survive the cost of living crisis: Writing on the wall? MikeDotta They rose to great heights but have been falling back hard. The share prices of companies in the so-called gig economy have been performing abysmally, even compared to the woes of stock markets in general. …
LGBTI refugees seeking protection in Kenya struggle to survive in a hostile environment: An activist leaves Kenya's high court after a 2019 ruling refused to scrap laws criminalising homosexuality. TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images Kenya is now the second biggest refugee hosting country in Africa. Of its over half a million refugees, over a thousand …
How to survive a heatwave: On colour-coded temperature charts, the Indian subcontinent is currently a sickly mauve. With summer still months away, an unusually intense heatwave is threatening millions of people there. Temperatures are expected to exceed 48°C on the border between Pakistan and India this week. A month ago, the heat broke a 122-year-old …
Here’s how we proved that tropical birds are more colourful – and why colour helps them survive: Green headed tanager in Ubatuba, Brazil Lars Falkdalen Lindahl, CC BY-SA 3.0., CC BY For many of us, the tropics conjure up thoughts of lush vegetation teaming with vibrant and strikingly colourful birds, insects and other creatures. It’s …