Science & Technology

facade of one-story home

New project seeks to solve housing crisis using mushroom byproduct and troublesome weed

The Big Fix

In Namibia, MycoHAB is hoping to solve two issues for the price of one: make use of a pesky plant known as the encroacher bush and deal with the country’s housing crisis. By harvesting the water-intensive weeds that encroach on farmland and combining them with a mushroom byproduct known as mycelium, MycoHAB founder and architect Chris Maurer creates bricks to build homes. The World’s Carolyn Beeler spoke to Maurer to learn more.

Meet Antibot4Navalny: the mysterious researchers exposing Russia’s war on truth

Cybersecurity

This club in the Netherlands offers a much-needed break from technology

Internet

Meet the guy who single-handedly took down North Korea’s internet

Hacking

A wrinkle in time: GPS jamming in Ukraine and its ripple effects

Cyber warfare

The company man: US glacial response to Nigeria’s detention of former IRS crypto investigator rankles federal agents

Cybersecurity

In a move that could send a chill among business people working overseas, a Nigerian court ruled on Friday that a former American IRS investigator, Tigran Gambaryan, could stand trial on behalf of his employer, the crypto currency exchange Binance, and denied his request for bail. Gambaryan has been held in Nigeria since February. Dina Temple-Raston, host and managing editor of the Recorded Future News podcast “Click Here,” has been following the story for months and explains.

Mazatlán draws a lot of tourists — mainly from Mexico —  who come for the beaches, great food and a party scene. But thanks to the April 8 total eclipse, thousands came from all over the world, including many scientists and astronomy enthusiasts. 

A total solar eclipse in Mazatlán draws thousands of international tourists 

Science

A total solar eclipse made its way across Mexico, the US and Canada on April 8. The city of Mazatlán, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, was the first place in continental North America on the path of totality, and more than half a million people traveled there to see it. The World’s Tibisay Zea reports on how residents and visitors have experienced the celestial event. 

Screenshot from Rapémathematiques

What rhymes with isosceles triangle? This French math teacher has the answer.

Education

Antoine Carrier, a middle school teacher in Bordeaux, southwest France, stays up late many nights, pen in hand, crafting math rhymes. Online, tens of thousands of kids know him as A’Rieka, the rapping math teacher. 

Illustration by Megan J. Goff

Inside the i-Soon papers and China’s secret world of hackers-for-hire

Hacking

Newly leaked files from a private Chinese hackers-for-hire company provide a fresh look into China’s “cyber industrial complex” — and it appears to be bigger and more mature than observers had previously imagined. Dina Temple-Raston, host and managing editor of the Recorded Future News podcast “Click Here,” has the story.

a student stands with her arms crossed in front of a domed building on MIT's campus

On campus, Jewish and Muslim students fear for their safety

Education

A new report finds Jewish and Muslim students “fear personal danger” related to their positions on the war.