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Costa Rica

A Costa Rican dance against colonialism becomes a paradoxical tourist attraction

Arts, Culture & Media

Every year, in the Costa Rican village of Boruca, men dress in garish masks and costumes to reenact their ancestors’ battle against colonizers 500 years ago. In the ritual, Spaniards are depicted as bulls, while the Borucans depict themselves as devils, to reclaim a slur the Spanish once used against them.

A view of the process on a montior as lab staff use a microscope stand and articulated hand controls to extract cells from 1-7 day old embryos that are then checked for viability at the Aspire Houston Fertility Institute in vitro fertilization lab in Hous

Why an international court struck down Costa Rica’s IVF ban

Reproductive rights
sanctuary

Costa Rica is Catholic by law, but the president is courting evangelicals

Sacred Nation
Rising poverty, unemployment, and inflation have plagued Costa Rica. Every few blocks, a person is passed out or sleeping on the street.

‘This is not a peaceful country’: Violence and poverty soar in Costa Rica

Development
A tree in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve.

Climate change is rapidly shifting Costa Rica’s sensitive ecosystems

Climate Change
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COVID-19 antigen home tests indicating a positive result are photographed in New York, April 5, 2023.

Pandemic recovery will require much focus and attention, Dr. Atul Gawande says

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed about 7 million people worldwide, ravaging health care systems and economies. Dr. Atul Gawande, head of global health at the US Agency for International Development, spoke with The World’s Carolyn Beeler about how pandemic recovery “will require as much focus and attention as it did when it first started.”

Costa Rica's president

Son of Conti: Ransomware tries its hand at politics

Cybersecurity

Dina Temple-Raston of the Click Here podcast spoke with Jorge Mora, Costa Rica’s former director of the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) and Mario Robles, the CEO and founder of White Jaguars, a Costa Rican cybersecurity company that helped the San José government respond to the ransomware attack on the country.

A babbling pup produces distinct syllables, visualized in this composite image.

Bat pups babble and bat moms use baby talk, hinting at the evolution of human language

Development

A researcher finds a remarkable link between how baby bats babble in monosyllables as they learn to speak in the same way that human infants do.

In this file photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the closing session of the US-China Climate Leaders Summit in Los Angeles, California, Sept. 16, 2015.

Paris agreement gets ‘new lease on life’ under Biden, climate advocates say

Climate Change

The US is the second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. And because the climate crisis knows no borders, who sits in the White House matters everywhere.

Health workers instruct a woman before taking a swab for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test.

IMF reassures COVID-19 support after hundreds of groups push back against belt-tightening measures

Business, Economics and Jobs

About 100 countries have asked the International Monetary Fund for emergency assistance during the pandemic. 

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