In a historic finding, scientists employing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have made the first definitive detection of crystalline ice water in a distant young star system. While ice water is widespread in our solar system, this is the first time that frozen water has been detected outside of it. The discovery gives important…
On the last day of March, surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital began an operation that they hoped might lead to a permanent change in how kidneys are transplanted in people. That morning’s patient was not a person. It was a pig, lying anesthetized on a table. The pig was missing one kidney and needed an…
What is the I.C.C.? The I.C.C., established under a 1998 treaty, is the world’s highest criminal court. It has the jurisdiction to investigate and try people for what it describes as “the gravest crimes of concern” to the world: war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. But the court cannot enforce…
With U.S. support for Ukraine in doubt, Kyiv’s European allies are weighing whether to seize $300 billion in frozen Russian assets and use the money to compensate Ukraine, support its military and help rebuild shattered homes and towns. For now, the assets are still on ice, with opponents of seizure warning that the move could…
After the fall of Communism, Russia ushered in capitalism by selling off billions of dollars in state assets. Now, 30 years later, the Russian government is stepping up a wartime campaign to do the opposite: seizing private businesses, this time in the name of national security. In the last month, courts have ordered Russia’s largest…
Funds for vital health programs around the world remain frozen and their work has not been able to resume, despite a federal judge’s order that temporarily halted the Trump administration’s dismantling of the government’s main foreign aid agency. Interviews with people working on health initiatives in Africa and Asia found that parents in Kenya whose…
Asanda Zondi received a startling phone call last Thursday, with orders to make her way to a health clinic in Vulindlela, South Africa, where she was participating in a research study that was testing a new device to prevent pregnancy and H.IV. infection. The trial was shutting down, a nurse told her. The device, a…
Bangladesh authorities have ordered the freezing of bank accounts of 17 people associated with the Hindu spiritual organisation Iskcon, including the recently arrested monk Chinmoy Krishna Das. The bank accounts have been frozen for 30 days on the orders of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), and directives have been issued to various banks, news…
A team of NASA scientists made a remarkable discovery while surveying the Greenland Ice Sheet in April 2024. During their attempt to map the ice, they stumbled upon something entirely unexpected—Camp Century, an abandoned U.S. military base buried beneath the ice. The discovery, which occurred as part of a routine survey, marked an unprecedented look…