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The African nation of Mauritania was a land of pastoral nomads when it gained independence from France in 1960, but it has since become a nation of fishermen as well, with hundreds of pirogues lining the beach of the capital of Nouakchott. George Steinmetz hide caption

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George Steinmetz

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PHOTOS: A drone's eye view of 'foodscapes,' from cattle to soybeans to shrimp

November 27, 2024 • Traveling to 36 countries and 5 oceans, George Steinmetz (and his drones) take us on a food tour in his new book Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World's Food.

Women stage a silent protest against the rape and killing of a trainee doctor at a government hospital in Nagaon District of Assam, India, on August 24, 2024.

Women protest against the rape and killing of a trainee doctor at a government hospital in India this August. Anuwar Hazarika/NurPhoto via Getty Images/NurPhoto hide caption

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Anuwar Hazarika/NurPhoto via Getty Images/NurPhoto

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U.N. report: 85,000 cases of femicide in 2023. And that's likely an undercount

November 25, 2024 • These are women murdered by an intimate partner, a family member, a rapist, a stranger randomly assaulting females. Laws do not always offer protection and justice. What needs to be done?

British singer and songwriter Edward Christopher Sheeran aka Ed Sheeran performs on stage during the BRIT Awards 2022 ceremony and live show, in London, on February 8, 2022. Fuse ODG performs at Indigo at the O2 on November 26, 2015 in London, England.

The musicians Ed Sheeran and Fuse ODG have issued strong criticism of a new version of the fund-raising-for- Africa song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" In a statement, they noted: "They perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa's economic growth, tourism and investment." From left: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images; Robin Little/Redferns hide caption

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From left: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images; Robin Little/Redferns

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Ed Sheeran and Fuse ODG rebuke Band Aid charity song. We ask Kenyans to weigh in

November 25, 2024 • The singers have criticized "They Don't Know It's Christmas" for perpetuating "damaging stereotypes" of Africans as a charity case. Bob Geldof defends the song. We went to Kibera for comments.

Pandiarajan's students in various stages of preparing and examining slides of specimens they have collected. They use the natural light in the courtyard outside the classroom and sometimes, find specimens here, too.

Students at Eden School in northern India prepare specimens they've collected to examine in the Foldscope. The paper microscope, invented a decade ago, is given for free for schools in lower resource countries, giving students a different perspective on specimens from ants to pollen. Viraj Nayer for NPR hide caption

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Viraj Nayer for NPR

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Fold paper. Insert lens. This $2 microscope changes how kids see the world

November 24, 2024 • The Foldscope brings a powerful science tool to schools that can't afford microscopes. Scientists use it too. Its creators have handed out 2 million units, including a new mini-model for younger kids.

SAMANGAN, AFGHANISTAN - OCTOBER 22: Khalida Nazari, centre, stands with other family members by an outdoor stove in the village of Maqsood in Lower Darisuf on October 22, 2023 in Samangan, Afghanistan. Because of the drought, water for agricultural lands and for drinking water has dried up in most of the villages across the area; no one has been able to grow wheat or other crops for the past three years, and most have sold their animals to survive. After roughly 3500 families fled this village of Maqsood to a nearby town in search of more sustainable living conditions, the Taliban government returned them back to the area, and began trucking drinking water to the remote area daily to prevent people from leaving. Afghanistan is one of the top ten countries affected by climate change, and is suffering from an ongoing drought in a majority of the country.

Family members gather by a stove in Afghanistan, which has been hit by droughts over the past three years. The country is ranked one of the most vulnerable and ill-prepared nations in coping with climate change. Global support for projects to address climate-related issues has been largely on hold since the Taliban took power. Lynsey Addario/Getty Images/Getty Images Europe hide caption

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Lynsey Addario/Getty Images/Getty Images Europe

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For the first time ever, Taliban reps were invited to the big U.N. climate conference

November 22, 2024 • Since the Taliban took power 2021, Afghanistan has not been invited to big climate conferences. And money for projects addressing climate-related issues has been frozen. Are things about to change?

A health worker fumigates the basement of a building in Havana as Cuban health authorities launch small-scale efforts to fight the spread of the oropouche virus, which is transmitted by midge and mosquito bites. Norlys Perez//Reuters hide caption

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Norlys Perez//Reuters

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It's a virus you may not have heard of. Here's why scientists are worried about it

November 20, 2024 • Case counts for Oropouche virus are still low but rising dramatically. What's going on? And then there's a study that raises the possibility that insect bites aren't the only way the virus can spread.

A magnification of the anterior of the larva of the pork tapeworm, showing hooks and suckers. Colors of this image have been manipulated. Parasitic worms made the news after the press reported on a past deposition by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that he had been infected by a parasitic worm. RFK Jr. did not specify the type of worm but worm researchers believe it could have been a pork tapeworm. Garry DeLong/ Science Source/\ hide caption

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Garry DeLong/ Science Source/\

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RFK Jr. isn't the only one. More than a billion people have parasitic worms

November 15, 2024 • Earlier this year, a surprising story emerged about RFK Jr. — the newly named nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services — and a parasitic brain worm.

A technician works on sweet wormwood breeding at a pharmaceutical company in Rong'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 27, 2024. Located in a remote, mountainous area experiencing severe rocky desertification, Rong'an County covers largely barren land that makes traditional farming difficult. However, its harsh conditions are ideal for growing sweet wormwood, which thrives in arid environments and can withstand drought. Once dried, the plant is processed to extract artemisinin, which is then made into medicine and shipped to Africa to help local communities fight malaria. Rong'an is a major production base of artemisinin at home and abroad. The annual production of artemisinin exceeds 100 tonnes, accounting for a quarter of the global total. In recent years, companies, planting bases, scientific research institutes, cooperatives and local farmers in Rong'an have been coordinated to develop sweet wormwood planting to advance rural revitalization.

A technician at a Chinese pharmaceutical company works on breeding the plant sweet wormwood, used in creating artemisinin, the go-to medicine for killing the malaria parasite. Huang Xiaobang/Xinhua via Getty Images hide caption

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Huang Xiaobang/Xinhua via Getty Images

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What's going on with the 'magic' drug for malaria?

November 15, 2024 • The anti-malarial drug Artemisinin is highly effective. It's critical for kids, who are especially vulnerable. A new study comes to an alarming conclusion.

An anti-malaria drug that’s saved millions of lives may be losing its effectiveness

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Mahamat Djouma is happy when he gets a chance to play soccer, but mostly he is busy taking care of his siblings, trying to earn money making bricks, and going to school.

Mahamat Djouma is happy when he gets a chance to play soccer. But most of the time this teenage refugee he is busy taking care of his five-year-old twin brothers and trying to earn money for food. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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He's 14. He loves soccer. He's the sole caregiver for his little twin brothers

November 15, 2024 • Mahamat Djouma is one of the millions displaced by the civil war in Sudan. He is part of an especially vulnerable group — unaccompanied minors. Here is his story.

Pedestrians walk along a road engulfed in thick smog in Lahore on Nov. 11, 2024. Lahore, a city of 14 million people stuffed with factories on the border with India, regularly ranks among the world's most polluted cities, but it has hit record levels this month.

Pedestrians walk along a road engulfed in thick smog in Lahore, Pakistan, on Nov. 11. Lahore, a city of 14 million people and stuffed with factories, regularly ranks among the world's most polluted cities. It's hit record levels this month. Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images

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Pakistan's smog is visible from space. This activist is 'frustrated' but won't give up

November 13, 2024 • The government in Lahore has closed schools and public spaces and shut down factories. Environmental lawyer Ahmad Rafay Alam shares his perspective: "frustrated" but still fighting.

Mahamat Djouma, 14, fled the fighting in Sudan without parents; his mother had died and his father disappeared. He came with his 5-year-old twin brothers, whom he now cares for. Entesar, a 21-year-old college student, also fled to escape the violence -- and was raped by three soldiers. She asked to be identified by her middle name only since she has not yet told close family members about the attack.

Mahamat Djouma, 14, fled the war in Sudan without parents; his mother died in 2023 and his father subsequently disappeared. He came with 5-year-old twin brothers, whom he now cares for. Entesar, a 21-year-old student, also fled to escape the violence -- and was raped by three soldiers. She asked to be identified by her middle name since she has not yet told close family members about the attack. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

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Remarkably resilient refugees: A teen on his own, a woman who was raped

November 12, 2024 • Sudan's civil war has displaced 10 million citizens. Here are profiles of two young people from the most vulnerable groups: an unaccompanied minor caring for twin brothers, a woman who was raped.

In this picture taken on March 22, 2022, Gautam Kamble, who is diagnosed with tuberculosis, holds chest x-rays during a routine consultation with a doctor at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic, which treats people with drug-resistant tuberculosis, in Mumbai. - When Covid-19 ripped through India in 2020-21, several million people are thought to have died. Desperate efforts to stem the pandemic hurt the battle against another huge killer: tuberculosis. - TO GO WITH India-Health-tuberculosis-vaccine,FOCUS by Glenda KWEK

A patient who was diagnosed with tuberculosis holds his chest x-rays while consulting with a doctor at the Médecins Sans Frontières clinic in Mumbai, which treats people with drug-resistant tuberculosis. Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images

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TB reclaims title of deadliest infectious disease. That's an 'outrage' says WHO

November 7, 2024 • DIslodged by COVID early in the pandemic, tuberculosis is once again the infectious disease that takes the most lives each year. And the number of cases set a new record. What's going on?

Palestinian children queue outside a tent for the second phase of polio vaccination at Abdel Aziz Rantissi hospital in Gaza City's Nasr district on Saturday. Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

Middle East crisis — explained

Thousands of children in Gaza receive 2nd dose of polio vaccine, with others cut off

November 3, 2024 • Health workers say they won't be able to vaccinate all the children they had planned to reach because of ongoing fighting.

Marburg is an incredibly deadly virus. An outbreak in Rwanda is being handled with an "unprecedented" rate of success, say public health experts. In this photo from a 2014 outbreak in Kenya, a medical worker in protective gear carries a meal to a man quarantined in an isolation tent after coming into contact in Uganda with a Marburg carrier.

Marburg can be an exceptionally deadly virus. An outbreak in Rwanda is being handled with "unprecedented" success, say public health experts. In this photo from a 2014 Marburg outbreak in Kenya, a medical worker in protective gear carries a meal to a man quarantined in an isolation tent after coming into contact with a virus carrier. Ben Curtis/AP hide caption

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Ben Curtis/AP