A monarch butterfly lands on a milkweed plant in a neighborhood park in Staten Island, New York. | Benji Jones/Vox BROOKLYN, New York — When people imagine what nature looks like, this probably wouldn’t be it. On an overcast afternoon in August, I stood next to a strip of plants between the sidewalk and the…
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An earthquake in Afghanistan killed over 2,200 people last Sunday, with some rural villages still unreachable by rescuers. | Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images By the time the earthquake struck, flattening mud-brick homes across Afghanistan’s eastern mountains last week, many nearby health clinics had already been shuttered for months. Mushtaq Khan, a senior adviser for…
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Blame for layoffs lands on Johnston Re: “Denver’s layoffs hurt 171 families, not just the Gilmore’s,” Aug. 31 editorial The editorial attacked the wrong elected official. We ought to praise Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore for serving as the canary in the coal mine for the mayor’s bizarre behavior. She has long asked for facts and figures,…
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There are over 200 types of mosquitoes in the US — but there are seven that are the most dangerous. There are more than 200 species of mosquitoes in the United States, but only a handful are known to be dangerous to humans because of the diseases they carry. When the conditions are right, swarms…
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BROWNSVILLE, Texas — How do you capture the deadliest animal on Earth, one that has been responsible for the death of more people than any other species in history? Here at America’s southern border, it’s not with high-tech weaponry, but with a black plastic tub of stinky water tucked under a bush. Surrounded by tall,…
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More people on the planet is not the solution we should be seeking Re: “Why dads, not ‘duds,’ are important for the baby bust,” Sept. 3 commentary The commentary about the worldwide declining birth rate misses a fundamental point: Population cannot continue to expand indefinitely. Global resources are finite, and population levels eventually must follow. …
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Pueblo’s hidden bodies case is why we need to ditch elected coroners Re: “24 bodies, ‘multiple containers’ of bones and tissue found at coroner’s mortuary,” Aug. 27 news story The recent Pueblo case raises an old issue. Why is the technical job of determining cause of death relegated to individuals who can be elected with…
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Protests: Where are our leaders Re: “Thousands march on Labor Day,” Sept. 2 news story We just witnessed another Denver protest — vibrant in spirit, modest in size. Where are our state and national leaders? In March, Bernie Sanders and AOC drew 34,000 people in Denver. A march on May 31 drew what I’d estimate…
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We can bridge the rural-urban divide in our state Re: “Why rural Coloradans feel ignored — a resentment as old as America itself,” Aug. 24 commentary Years ago the Colorado Humanities Council (as it was then called), sponsored a marvelous program called the Five States of Colorado. The divide we have is a regional one,…
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It’s easy to assume, as many people do, that our planet is well explored. In the last few centuries, humans have summited Earth’s highest peaks, dived its deepest ocean trenches, and trekked to the North and South poles, documenting the diversity of life along the way — the many birds, butterflies, fish, and other creatures…
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