Agents for Change Apr 19 How a volunteer surgical team in Rwanda chooses which patients to save Rheumatic heart disease develops when strep throat goes untreated. It causes an estimated 275,000 premature deaths per year, mostly youth in developing countries like Rwanda, where antibiotics are rarely available. Surgery is the only treatment option for advanced cases. Special…
Health Apr 16 How drones are delivering lifesaving medical supplies in Rwanda Getting medical supplies to where they are needed fast can mean the difference between life and death outcomes, but moving them efficiently across long distances to remote and rural areas can be difficult for traditional transportation. Special correspondent Fred de…
Science Mar 20 Can Uganda block Ebola’s spread from neighboring Congo? Eastern parts of Democratic Republic of Congo are suffering from the second-worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in history, with more than 500 dead so far. Neighboring Uganda is watching with concern as the crisis unfolds, wary of allowing…
Economy Nov 22 On Thanksgiving, a look back at colonial capitalism Similar to today’s immigrants, the pilgrims journeyed to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in search of reprieve from the economic, political and religious hardship they faced in Europe. In order to survive, these settlers worked the land and sent profits back to investors…
Making Sen$e Oct 11 Loss of Chinese export market drives new ideas for repurposing recyclables China’s decision to buy less recyclable material from the U.S. has prompted major questions about how we handle waste in America. What will we do with our abundance of plastic bottles and pizza boxes, if exporting them is no longer…
Making Sen$e Oct 04 Why your recyclables might have no place to go Until this year, China had been America's -- and the world's -- number one recycling market. But China has shut its doors to plastic waste, which could result by 2030 in more than 100 million tons of trash with nowhere…
Making Sen$e May 28 Does a basic guaranteed income decrease the need for social services? The idea of a basic guaranteed income is getting a trial run in a Canadian province for three years. Four thousand randomly selected Ontario residents will get thousands of dollars a year, and in exchange, they give up some social…
Economy Jun 01 Has urban revival caused a crisis of success? Attract members of the "creative class" to a city and they will create jobs and spur urban renewal. But that idea, championed by noted urbanologist Richard Florida, has a double-edged downside: increased economic segregation and less affordable housing. Economics correspondent…
Economy Dec 01 Is crumbling infrastructure inhibiting American productivity? In recent decades, American productivity growth has slowed. Yale University's Jacob Hacker has a possible explanation: the country’s outdated and deteriorating infrastructure. Hacker, co-author of “American Amnesia,” argues the U.S. has forgotten the role government plays in engineering prosperity, and…
Education May 12 What quality do the most successful people share? True grit What makes a person successful? For Professor Angela Duckworth, the answer is grit, an intangible trait that motivates passion and perseverance. In a study at West Point, Duckworth found that grit mattered more for success than leadership ability, intelligence and…