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Fires burnt through much of the Amazon rainforest earlier this year. The fires emitted vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, threatened communities who live in the forest, and destroyed vital habitats for plants and animals found nowhere else. But you probably know all this. What you may not know is that soot from fires in the Amazon is also blown westwards and settles on glaciers high in the Andes mountains. The soot makes the ice darker, which means it absorbs more heat – and melts faster. Matthew Harris reports on a new study linking Amazon fires to melting Andean glaciers.
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3523studio / shutterstock
Matthew Harris, Keele University
'Black carbon' from rainforest fires is settling on glaciers and making them melt faster, according to new research.
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Politics + Society
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Nicola de Jager, Stellenbosch University
Objections raised about the school syllabus by parents, schools and civil society point to a bigger problem with the state.
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Alicia Izharuddin, Harvard University
If we acquiesce to the ban of the niqab, what makes the banning of other types of women's clothing any different?
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Environment
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Diane Orihel, Queen's University, Ontario
Scientists have a new approach to understanding how pollution threatens species-at-risk in Canada.
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Robert Musundire, Chinhoyi University of Technology
There needs to be more awareness of the benefits of insects as food, and support for farming and markets.
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Science + Technology
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Verity Mathis, University of Florida
An animal's poop may seem like something to avoid, but it's full of information about the creature that left it there.
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Philip Marcus, University of California, Berkeley
Little bits of Jupiter's Great Red Spot seem to be flaking off. Is it a sign of the demise of this enigmatic red cloud, or just a consequence of atmospheric chaos we can't see from above?
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Health + Medicine
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Jarryd Bartle, RMIT University; Nicole Lee, Curtin University; Paula Ross, Australian Catholic University
Few teens use MDMA and scare tactics, like those we've seen recently, are unlikely to reduce existing drug use further.
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Cosby Stone, Vanderbilt University
A form of vitamin E could be behind recent vaping illnesses and death, as the vitamin was not meant to go into the lungs. Lax oversight of products and supplements only worsens the situation.
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