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My Parents’ Dementia Felt Like the End of Joy. Then Came the Robots
Forget the crappy caregiver bots and puppy-eyed seals. When my parents got sick, I turned to a new generation of roboticists—and their glowing, talking, blobby creations. This article first appeared in the January, 2024 edition of Wired. Her research was supported by an
The Allure and Dangers of Experimenting With Brain-Dead Bodies
For scientists who perform medical research on the recently deceased, there are few regulatory or ethical guardrails. This article, written by Jyoti Madhusoodanan, is based on her 2023 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellowship research on human experiments and greater openness behind clinical trials. It
In Kosovo, War Survivors Turned Homes Into Their Own Museums
This article, by APF fellow Nina Strochlic, first appeared in the Washington Post on February 21, 2024. It was supported by her research for her APF fellowship. POKLEK, Kosovo — Fadil Muqolli has spent more than two decades trying to rebuild his life.
A Country Shaped By Poetry
This article, by APF fellow Nina Strochlic, first appeared in the Noēma Magazine on February 21, 2024. It was supported by her research for her APF fellowship. Hargeysa, the capital city of Somaliland. (Mustafa Saeed/Noema Magazine) Somaliland’s poets have toppled governments and ushered
How a controversial US drug policy could be harming cancer patients worldwide
Illustration by Karol Banach In August 2021, Amol Akhade, an oncologist at Nair Medical Hospital in Mumbai, India, received an e-mail from the Swiss drug manufacturer Roche recommending the use of a drug named atezolizumab to treat a specific kind of breast cancer.
US push to turn farm manure into renewable energy draws concerns
AMES, IOWA – In a gathering that drew the attendance of both farmers and Wall Street financiers, US regulators joined with oil giant Chevron at a November conference here to promote what backers promise will be a monumental breakthrough – systemic changes that
Where is the Future of the Catholic Church? Watching Young Adults Drop Out
The Catholic Church in the United States is split over the role of women, and whether Joe Biden should receive Holy Communion, but these divisions pale in comparison to the gap between the hierarchy and many young Catholics. They are dropping out in
Pope’s Environmental Stand Splits Catholics
The ecological concern Pope Francis has sparked among Catholics –and resistance to it– reflect how the faithful are split over the climate emergency, the role of capitalism, and where 1.3 billion global Catholics should put their money and clout. Powerful detractors say Pope
Fractured Worship
The small congregation of Roman Catholic women gathered for Mass not in a church but a living room, with a woman presider rather than a male priest. After the homily, each of the women offered a brief reflection. They took Holy Communion in
Sign of Catholic Divide – Women Want a Bigger Role in the Church
The small congregation prayed, sang, and listened to readings from scripture as any other Roman Catholics might do at Mass, rendering particular reverence at the moment of consecration, when the faithful believe bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ
The Inside Story of How Trump ‘Kept the Oil’ in Syria and Lost
This article, by APF fellow Kenneth R. Rosen, first appeared in The Daily Beast on May 21, 2021. It was supported by his research for his APF fellowship. Delil Souleiman/Getty The mind-blowingly ambitious plan would have seen Delta Crescent, a tiny Delaware company,
The American Wildcatters Who Sought Syrian Oil
This piece, written by APF fellow Kenneth R. Rosen, ran in Esquire Magazine, on November, 15, 2022. It was supported by his research for his APF fellowship. Amidst a global energy shortage, the three men behind Delta Crescent Energy figured that even oil
How Government and Private Firms Shaped California’s Devastating Floods
In a land gripped by its history of drought, the Central Valley has planned poorly for its floods, threatening the lives and livelihoods of thousands. A few days after the flooding in California’s Central Valley began in March, George Wurzel, the president and
Historic Wet Year Highlights California’s Water Management Crossroads
Barriers to capturing and storing flood water may threaten the Golden State’s ability to adapt to a hotter, drier climate. Not so long ago, the dry western expanse of Madera County in California’s San Joaquin Valley was a prime example of shortsighted western
Discrimination Has Trapped People of Color in Unhealthy Urban ‘Heat Islands’
People of color, more than other groups, live in neighborhoods prone to excess heat and the illnesses that go with it Credit: Chiara Vercesi On a July day in 2021 that would become blazing hot, dozens of community volunteers gathered before sunrise at
California’s Dual Water Crisis
Record-breaking storms are wreaking havoc – compounding, not erasing, the difficulties of multi-year drought. The renter’s home in Sanger, just outside Fresno, went dry in the spring. The well at one house in Madera has been on and off since January 2021. The
Bad Witness: What I Didn’t Say About Reporting on Chinese Christians in Kenya
I was born into Christianity as I was born into America. In my childhood, there was the church and the diaspora, and I could not imagine one without the other. I grew up in Chinese immigrant churches, where the vast majority of members
They were 2 Chicago pizza delivery guys. Then, they ran a Mexican drug cartel, feds say
By Oscar Lopez and Frank Main The Guerreros Unidos cartel that authorities say brothers Adan and Mario Casarrubias Salgado led fueled Chicago’s appetite for heroin. It’s also blamed for the massacre of 43 students in Mexico. Adan Casarrubias Salgado (left), known as El Tomate, and
Agriculture Evades Accountability, Responsibility for America’s Worst Water Pollution
Law, Policy, and Power Insulate Crop and Livestock Producers In 1990, following intensive field trials, a respected agronomist at Iowa State University named Fred Blackmer formally introduced an inexpensive tool to accurately measure how much nitrogen farmers actually require to produce abundant harvests
How an Indigenous community in Panama is escaping rising seas
The Indigenous Guna people of Gardi Sugdub have plans to move to Panama’s mainland this year Many of the homes on the island of Gardi Sugdub, in Panama’s Guna Yala province, sit right at the edge of the sea. MICHAEL ADAMS In pictures
The Allure and Dangers of Experimenting With Brain-Dead Bodies
In Kosovo, War Survivors Turned Homes Into Their Own Museums
A Country Shaped By Poetry
How a controversial US drug policy could be harming cancer patients worldwide
US push to turn farm manure into renewable energy draws concerns
Pope’s Environmental Stand Splits Catholics
Fractured Worship
Sign of Catholic Divide – Women Want a Bigger Role in the Church
The American Wildcatters Who Sought Syrian Oil
California’s Dual Water Crisis
The Secret to Getting What You Need in Ghana
New Dominion
Is Natural Gas a Fossil Fuel with a Great Future Behind It?
The Limits of Disturbance
No Justice in Veracruz, as Journalist’s Death is Unsolved
The House Over Hades
Death by Dust
Coachella Valley Farm Workers
Arctic Treaty Nears 100 in Heated Climate
Methane: Arctic Promise and Peril
Dying Inside
On The Edge: Reindeer and Climate Change
BOOM: North America’s Explosive Oil-by-Rail Problem
Meltdown: Vanishing Polar Ice
Losing Sparta
Will All African Rhinos be Dead in Twenty Years?
Immigration: The Pain and Reward
The Scientist Who Explored the Skies
Saving the American Buffalo by Killing It
The Death of a Black Nursing Home
