The dual force of climate change on sea level rise
By Kelly Calagna Sea level rise – a direct impact of a warming climate and melting ice – threatens island nations and coastal communities across the world. [vimeo 192673914 w=640 h=360] What Causes Sea Level Rise? from Medill Reports on Vimeo. Photo and video by Kelly Calagna.
Fear and coping in Muslim America
By Muna Khan and Shahzeb Ahmed The third floor of the Downtown Islamic Center in Chicago fills quickly with men of all races and ethnicities—Arabs sit next to South Asians who sit next to African Americans. They have come for the obligatory Friday congregational prayer. Most sit cross-legged with their heads bowed in silence, listening […]
Long-awaited elected school board bill down — but not out
By Meredith Francis and Emily Olsen Lawmakers are no strangers to the waiting game, but the public is getting antsy. In a packed education committee room in the Springfield state house, parents, students and Chicago community organizers mobilized Nov. 16 to make a fundamental change to the way the nation’s third-largest school district is led — […]
Tackling global warming by exploring the ebb and flow of the ice ages
By Lakshmi Chandrasekaran “Don’t get old if you can help it,” climatologist George Denton joked at the Comer Abrupt Climate Change Conference in Wisconsin this fall. But he must have been proud. As one of the earliest and premiere veterans of climate change research, the University of Maine professor had three generations of students in […]
Vulfpeck’s Theo Katzman breezes through Evanston’s SPACE ahead of second album
By Grant Rindner Ahead of the January release of his second album, Heartbreak Hits, singer and funk-rock free spirit Theo Katzman took the stage at Evanston’s SPACE this month. Katzman plays guitar and drums in the successful band Vulfpeck and was joined onstage by bassist Joe Dart of Vulfpeck and independent singer-pianist Joey Dosik and […]
Parasites, pathogens and politics
By Mariah Quintanilla Donald Trump is president-elect of the United States, and a popular question these past two weeks has been, “How did we get here?” While the media have done some collective soul-searching in an attempt to answer this question, one possibility that we’ve all failed to recognize is biology. Psychologists and biologists have […]
Hiding in plain sight: Chicago neighborhoods fight modern day slavery
By Duke Omara In the grand scheme of things, it was a small victory but for impoverished neighborhoods like Chicago’s Englewood, it was a triumph. After a protracted and sometimes acrimonious City Council battle in March, a bill to allow city strip clubs to sell liquor on their premises was shelved after its sponsor admitted […]
Revolutionary weather satellite to aid in earlier warning of severe storms
By Kelly Calagna CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NOAA’s revolutionary weather satellite successfully launched Saturday from Cape Canaveral at 6:42 p.m. EST. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) means earlier warnings, expected to save lives from severe weather situations. GOES-R, called GOES-16 as soon as it detached from the booster, is the first in a series […]
Innovation on the launch pad: How media capture a NASA rocket launch
By Kelly Calagna KENNEDY SPACE CENTER – Duct tape, bubble wrap, aluminum foil, plastic bags, ground stakes, bungee cords, squares of plywood and plastic storage containers are just some of the sophisticated tools adapted by journalists and photographers as they set up their remotely activated cameras at Saturday’s GOES-R weather satellite launch site at the […]
Energy and power company leaders meet in Chicago to call for a clean energy surge
By Puja Bhattacharjee It’s time. Energy leaders are calling for a shift to renewable power sources to meet future needs for utility companies, including for Commonwealth Edison Co. “How do you take the systems we have built into smart systems and turn it clean?” asked Anne Pramaggiore, president and CEO of ComEd. You build up […]