All Points of Progress
- Swim with dolphins? Travel companies shift away from wild animal attractions
Why TripAdvisor, one of the world's largest online travel agencies, will no longer sell tickets to attractions that invite tourists to interact with wild animals. Will this help or hurt conservation efforts?
- In African nations, will growing female political muscle drive change?
When it comes to gender parity in legislatures, Africa as a region has more than doubled the percentage of women in the past 20 years, to about one quarter.
- Why coal-dependent Poland signed the Paris climate agreement
Could Poland, whose reliance on coal had previously threatened the deal, lead the way for less-developed nations to curb emissions?
- Is California's new law a model for curbing prosecutorial misconduct?
Prosecutors in California who intentionally withhold or tamper with evidence may now face felony charges as a result of a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last week.
- How the Endangered Species Act sets species on paths to recovery
Plans set in motion decades ago to save US species are seeing results, with more delistings from the 1973 Endangered Species Act under the Obama administration than under all previous administrations since the act's inauguration.
- Why tech giants are forming an AI coalition
Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and IBM have partnered to counter fears about AI and develop industry-wide ethics for the emerging technology.
- From Estonia, lessons for the Age of Cyberwar
Attackers crippled Estonia's digital networks in 2007. Since then, it has shored up cyberdefenses while expanding connectivity to every corner of daily life.
- At last, hope that US economy has turned a corner
New Census data show that household incomes for middle- and low-wage Americans surged in 2015, along with a steep decline in the poverty rate. It raises the prospect that the economy is starting to work for everyone.
- Want preschoolers to succeed? Help their teachers.
Connecticut offers free mental health services to all preschool programs that request them. As concerns grow about suspensions of young children, the approach greatly reduces troubling behaviors, a new study finds.
- How the tides could fuel a greener future
The Shetland coast of Britain now hosts an array of tidal energy gathering turbines that are connected to the grid. Yet experts say there is a long way to go before hydrokinetic energy can really take off.
- New software can track global poverty...from space
A team of Stanford researchers have created a program that uses only publicly available satellite imagery to cheaply and efficiently find poverty indicators. The program could be a cheap and accurate new method of poverty data collection.
- Private prisons to be phased out, Obama administration seeks higher goal
The Justice Department's turn away from private prisons points to a broader effort to hold the criminal justice system to better standards.
- US veteran homelessness slashed in half: What's behind the decline?
In the past six years, the number of unsheltered veterans has been slashed by more than half, according to a report released Monday by the Obama administration.
- First LookDespite recent surge, overall police officer fatalities show sharp decline
More police have been shot to death so far this year than during the same time span last year. But officer deaths are far below what they once were.
- How Canada's Blood Tribe brought opiate overdose deaths down to zero
After a year which saw 35 people die from using opiates, the Albertan reserve has shown how a community can rally against drug abuse in the face of immense hurdles and historical trauma.
- Ozone hole on the mend, say scientists
A new study suggests that the Montreal Protocol is working, nearly 30 years later. What strategies have brought this progress?
- Employees today get more work benefits, but there's a catch
Employers offer more benefits to today's workers than they did 20 years ago, but at the same time, wages are stagnating.
- Clean skies ahead? NASA unveils electric plane.
NASA’s designs for an electric airplane can serve as a model for airplane manufacturers looking to create more efficient and environmentally friendly aircrafts.
- US smoking rate sees faster decline
The two percentage point one-year drop is the largest in two decades.
- Scientists turn CO2 to stone in just two years: a solution for climate change?
Researchers at the world's largest geothermal power plant have found a way to store carbon dioxide underground and turn it to rock.