The Ogalalla Aquifer is a vast underground lake that irrigates farms across the US Great Plains. It took thousands of years to fill, but human use could drain it in roughly a century.

An incident in which a Smith College employee called police on a black student who 'seemed out of place' is just the latest in a string of cases of racial 'profiling by proxy,' three scholars argue.

Many cities are removing their Confederate statues. But pioneer monuments represent a racist past, too. There are at least 200 of them, and their future is now being debated.

Abortion support is high in Argentina, even among Catholics. That puts the church, which opposes an abortion bill up for vote on August 8, in the awkward position of fighting a law its members demand.

Global travelers are being increasingly asked if they want to pay for local purchases in terms of their home country currency. Here's why you should resist the strong temptation to do so.

Greek philosopher Pythagoras argued against eating animals on grounds of their having souls like humans. Others spoke about their suffering. What is the moral case against consuming meat?

Armadillos and humans are linked in the strangest of ways. Armadillos are the only other species known to get leprosy. A surge in cases in Brazil gives reason for concern there and in the US.

Basic research can be easy to mock as pointless and wasteful of resources. But it's very often the foundation for future innovation – even in ways the original scientists couldn't have imagined.

And how long before such extreme heatwaves become the 'new norm' across the region?

Translocations have become more frequent in Africa. Elephants are the biggest animals to be moved.

Neil Sedaka's song “The Immigrant” was a top hit in 1975, but today it seems even more relevant, as debates rage in the United States over immigration, repatriation and racism.