In The News

Keepin' It Cool: How the Air Conditioner Made Modern America

Rebecca J. Rosen July 18, 2011
The world’s wealthiest can easily ignore rising temperatures by turning up their air conditioners. “But the effects of air conditioners reach far beyond atmospherics to the ways we build our houses, where in the country we live, and how we spend our time,” explains Rebecca J. Rosen of the Atlantic. “Air conditioners are the enablers of modern American life.” The 1902 invention transformed...

BC Eyes Ban on Home Use of Pesticides

Randy Shore July 8, 2011
Flawless lawns without insects are unnatural, but that does not stop homeowners from striving for that goal. Canada’s British Columbia government is preparing legislation that would ban homeowners’ use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes, reports Randy Shore for the Calgary Herald. Lawn chemicals have been linked to leukemia and other cancers, with children especially susceptible. Nearly 40...

Obama Tries to Stop Execution in Texas of Mexican Killer

Chris McGreal July 6, 2011
Article VI, Paragraph II, of the US Constitution designates international treaties signed by the federal government as “the supreme Law of the Land,” which individual US states cannot override. The 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that foreign nationals charged with crimes are entitled to meet with their consular officers and arrange for legal representation. That detail was...

Megafires May Change the Southwest Forever

Brandon Keim July 1, 2011
Fires sweeping through remote areas is a natural occurrence. But the same can’t be said about the record-setting megafires raging in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The megafires, large and intensely hot, more regular in occurrence and more destructive, could permanently alter the ecology of that region of the United States, writes Brandon Keim for Wired. Drought has exacerbated fires, and...

Asia Matters for America

Satu Limaye June 28, 2011
US workers and politicians rail about jobs lost to Asia. But Asian-US interactions in education, immigration, investment, tourism and trade produce US jobs and income, explains Satu Limaye, director of the East-West Center in Washington. He created Asia Matters for America, an online map that relies on US government data to show exports, as well as their growth and percentage of total trade,...

Latin America Ponders Role of the Renminbi

Joe Leahy June 23, 2011
Latin America anticipates China’s rise as the world’s top economy, but is uncertain about the Chinese currency. During the last decade, trade between the two regions increased fivefold and Chinese direct investment into Latin America increased by twentyfold, reports Joe Leahy for the Financial Times. Many Latin American firms are unfamiliar with the renminbi, Leahy writes, adding “For Brazil’s...

Costa Rica’s Pineapple Boom Unhealthy, Warn Experts

Will Ferguson June 7, 2011
Costa Rica is one of the world's top five pineapple-producing nations. With growing demand for the healthy fruit, farmers expand their fields. Concern is emerging among growers in Costa Rica as “the industry has been associated with the deterioration and erosion of soils, the destruction of ecosystems and the contamination of water supplies,” writes Will Ferguson for the Tico Times. Farmers...