This archive covers progress stories from North and Central America, spanning the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the nations of Central America. Readers will find reporting on health, environment, community resilience, and policy advances across the region.
In 2006, the U.S. EPA banned the agricultural use of lindane, linked to anemia, lung cancer, and lymphoma. In 2010, it began to phase out endosulfan, which experts say may damage the liver and kidneys.
The expungement is the latest byproduct of the constitutional amendment approved by Missouri voters, which legalized pot for adults and cleared the way for Missourians to have their records cleared.
For ages, caste has governed nearly every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each group maintaining a distinct position in this complicated hierarchy.
The law adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s law prohibiting discrimination based on individual characteristics in housing, employment, and public accommodation in public services and educational facilities.
Insulin costs in the U.S. are notoriously high compared to the costs in other countries; the Rand Corporation, a public policy think tank, estimated that in 2018, the average list price for one vial of insulin in the U.S. was $98.70.
REI aims to have all cookware and apparel sold in its stores free of PFAS by fall of 2024. PFAS have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
Despite being critically endangered, hammerhead sharks have been bought and sold in Costa Rica for years, with demand being driven by shark fin soup.
Spiral-welded wind turbine towers could quietly dissolve one of the biggest barriers holding back wind energy: the highway. Because conventional towers must be trucked in, U.S. road regulations cap their diameter — and therefore their height — well below what the physics of wind actually allows. Keystone’s mobile factories build towers on-site from coiled steel, removing that constraint entirely and making towers tall enough to reach stronger, more consistent winds. One tower doesn’t rewrite the industry, but it proves the concept works. If the approach scales, it could bring competitive wind energy to regions that have never had it.
Hawaii just became the first U.S. state to protect all shark species—a move that recognizes these keystone predators as both ecologically essential and culturally sacred. Sharks keep ocean food webs balanced, yet more than 100 million are killed annually and populations have plummeted 70 percent since 1970. The law allows Native Hawaiian cultural practices while penalizing illegal capture, with enforcement powers to address bycatch. This sets a template for ocean protection worldwide: when we anchor conservation in both science and culture, entire ecosystems stand a fighting chance.\n\n**Word count: 83**
Scientists have discovered a specific brain circuit that drives the emotional crash—anxiety, depression, craving—keeping people trapped in the fentanyl cycle even after they’ve stopped using. By identifying this discrete target, researchers now have a concrete mechanism to aim at rather than the broad-brush approach of current treatments. The finding matters because it fills a gap addiction medicine has long faced: understanding exactly how fentanyl rewires the brain. This precision opens a path toward tailored therapies that could ease withdrawal’s emotional weight and improve the odds of lasting recovery.\n\n**Word count: 99**
