By all accounts, young people are experiencing a seemingly unprecedented level of emotional distress. Humans tend to behave in a way to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Why then would some intentionally hurt themselves?
The Conversation
Reptiles: Why One in Five Species Face Extinction
A first-of-its-kind global assessment of more than 10,000 species of reptiles (around 90% of the known total) has revealed that 21% need urgent support to prevent them going extinct. But since reptiles are so diverse, ranging from lizards and snakes to turtles and crocodiles, the threats to the survival of each species are likely to be equally varied.
It’s Not Enough to Protect Parks and Preserves in Isolation
As human development spreads ever farther around the world, very few large ecosystems remain relatively intact and uninterrupted by highways, cities or other human-constructed obstacles. Linking protected areas from Yellowstone to the Yukon shows the value of conserving large landscapes, not just isolated parks and preserves.
Weaponizing Children in Domestic Conflicts
There are approximately 5.7 million cases of domestic abuse in the U.S. each year, and in some of those, mothers and fathers use children to manipulate and harm the other parent. This behavior can include directly pressuring the child to spy on the abused parent or threatening the abused parent that they will never see the child again if they leave the relationship.
If Elon Musk Takes Twitter, Free Speech Would Lose
While making Twitter free for all “within the bounds of the law” seems like a way to ensure free speech in theory, in practice, this action would actually serve to suppress the speech of Twitter’s most vulnerable users.
French Voters’ Blank-Vote Rejection of Macron and Le Pen
France elects its next president on Sunday. The election as a whole has failed to spark widespread enthusiasm among many disappointed and often apathetic voters, despite the starkly different visions for France displayed by the candidates.
Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court’s Missing Ethics Rules
In the past, the Supreme Court of the United States has cast aside pleas to adopt an ethics code for the justices. The actions of Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, Virginia – who pushed the White House to overturn the 2020 presidential election – have once again thrown light onto this long-standing conflict: How accountable should the justices be?
How Russia Does ‘Patriotic Education’
The Russian government has launched a series of patriotic education campaigns aimed at Russia’s youth to encourage them to regard the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the second world war and to feel a personal connection to the Russian soldiers fighting there.
The Visceral Trouble with Beer
Drinking beer and spirits is linked to elevated levels of visceral fat – the harmful type of fat that is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other health complications – whereas drinking wine shows no such association with levels of this harmful fat and may even be protective against it.
Can Jaguars Make It Back to the United States?
There are only two main corridors in the western borderlands that jaguars could use to get into the U.S. Maintaining these corridors is crucial to connect fragmented habitats for jaguars and other mammals, such as black bears, pumas, ocelots and Mexican wolves.