Nurith Aizenman

As life under climate change grows more difficult, one group says cash aid can help

Nurith Aizenman

Many of the world's poorest places are getting even more difficult to live in as climate change fuels an upswing in natural disasters. One group says cash aid can help.

The aftermath of a mudslide that ripped through villages on the foothills of Mount Elgon in 2012, killing at least 18 people. The slopes of this extinct volcano in eastern Uganda have become increasingly prone to such disasters as a result of climate change. The looming question: How do you help people find a safe new place to live?

Why villagers haven't left mudslide-prone mountain — and how a novel plan might help

Nurith Aizenman

On an extinct volcano in Uganda, hundreds of thousands face disaster due to climate change. The charity GiveDirectly is trying a surprising approach to help them get out of harm's way.

Joyce Mutisya, 71, outside her home in Wote, Kenya. For years she's struggled with symptoms of dementia. But she didn't realize it was a condition for which she could seek professional help.

What if you had dementia — and didn't know it?

Nurith Aizenman

In Kenya, someone with symptoms of dementia may not be able to get a diagnosis — leaving both patient and family with no idea of what is going on. A program is trying to change that.

A project in rural Kenya aims to help those with dementia

Nurith Aizenman

Dementia is a largely overlooked health problems in Africa. A new effort is trying to change that, sending volunteers house to house in a rural part of Kenya to identify people with signs of dementia.

The successful anti-AIDS program PEPFAR is under threat in Congress

A Martínez

The AIDS relief plan PEPFAR is in the crosshairs of abortion politics in Congress. It has widely enjoyed bipartisan support, until now, and a key re-authorization may lapse.

Gerhardt Boukes, chief scientist at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, formulates mRNA for use in a vaccine against COVID-19. The company — based in Cape Town, South Africa — is the linchpin of a global project to enable low- and middle-income countries to make mRNA vaccines against all manner of diseases.

Whatever happened to the project to crack the wealthy world's lock on mRNA vaccines?

Nurith Aizenman

Lower-income countries did not get the COVID vaccines they needed. So the World Bank and other partners tapped a South African company to cook up the (undisclosed) recipe for the Moderna mRNA vaccine.

In a hot room, you're told to play a vicious game. Will heat make you behave badly?

Nurith Aizenman

The study assigned subjects to one of two rooms: 68 degrees or a sweat-inducing 86 degrees. They played a computer game that can bring out the worst in human nature. What are the real-world lessons?

Does heat make us more aggressive? Researchers put it to the test

Nurith Aizenman

Periods of sweltering temperatures like the current global heat wave seem to drive up civil conflicts. But why? To find out, researchers put thousands of people in hot rooms - with surprising results.

How scientists are using fish music to protect coral reefs

Nurith Aizenman

Questioning if fish bay at the moon could lead to ways to protect the ocean's damaged ecosystems. (Story first aired on All Things Considered on June 15, 2023.)

A group of young women from the Awa people in Brazil hold their bows and arrows as they return from a hunt. A new reexamination of ethnographic studies finds female hunters are common in hunter-gatherer societies.

Men are hunters, women are gatherers. That was the assumption. A new study upends it.

Nurith Aizenman

The implications are potentially enormous, says history professor Kimberly Hamlin: "The myth that man is the hunter and woman is the gatherer ... naturalizes the inferiority of women."