Yearly, poachers shoot lots of of rhinos, fishing crews haul tens of millions of sharks out of protected seas, and smugglers carry numerous animals and vegetation throughout borders. This criminality is extremely exhausting to disrupt, because it’s backed by refined prison networks and the perpetrators know that their probabilities of being caught are slim. With an annual worth of $20 billion, in line with Interpol, it’s the world’s fourth-most-lucrative prison enterprise after trafficking in medication, weapons, and other people.
The environmental guardians dealing with as much as these nefarious networks—dispersed alliances of rangers, neighborhood teams, and regulation enforcement officers—have lengthy been sick geared up and underfunded.
Nonetheless, there may be real hope that tech might assist flip the tide—and forestall poaching on the supply. Learn the total story.
—Matthew Ponsford
This story is from the following print concern of MIT Expertise Assessment journal, which is all about crime. In case you haven’t already, subscribe now to obtain future points as soon as they land.
Peptides are in every single place. Right here’s what it’s worthwhile to know.
Wish to drop some weight? Get shredded? Keep mentally sharp? A wellness influencer would possibly let you know to take peptides, the newest cure-all within the various drugs arsenal. They’re in every single place on social media, and that recognition appears poised to develop.
The advantages and dangers of many of those compounds, nevertheless, are largely unknown. A few of the hottest peptides have by no means been examined in human trials. They’re bought for analysis functions, not human consumption, and a few are unlawful knockoffs of wildly profitable weight-loss medicines. That raises large questions on their security and effectiveness, that are nonetheless unresolved. Learn the total story.
—Cassandra Willyard
This story is a part of MIT Expertise Assessment Explains: our sequence untangling the advanced, messy world of know-how that will help you perceive what’s coming subsequent. You possibly can learn extra from the sequence right here.
