Lemurs in Song (Mongabay)
by Samantha Lee
Music wouldn’t be music without rhythm. And humans aren’t the only ones who can keep a beat. New research on Madagascar’s Indri indri lemurs may offer clues about the origins of human singing.

An Economic History of Rap Beefs (Public Books)
by Austin McCoy
Hip-hop battles are a creative cultural form—and a durable engine for money-making. They’ve helped build the rap industry, but sometimes at the expense of both stars and vulnerable people in the crosshairs.

How To Think About Protecting a Glacier (Eos)
by Kenneth D. Mankoff, Christina Hulbe, Sławek Tulaczyk, Francesca Marzatico, and Tiffany Morrison
Glacial melting is contributing to destructive sea level rise. Technological interventions might help. But in a world of unequal risks and unequal power, who gets to choose the path such projects will take?

What Prayer Does (Aeon)
by Eleanor Schille-Hudson
For many Christians, prayer is a way to be with God—and a way to solve practical problems. An anthropologist’s experiments suggest why it works as well as it does.

Who Are You Calling Invasive? (Sapiens)
by Gideon Lasco
Tropical parakeets have found a home in Amsterdam, where they can be regarded both as a pleasant part of the city environment and an invasive species. But which plants and animals we regard as invaders is a complicated—and political—question.

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