Worldcrunch
After a five-year break, Victoria’s Secret is once again putting on a lingerie fashion show. But are women still willing to buy push-up bras as a way to empower themselves? Claire Beermann, style editor for Germany’s Die Zeit, says the time for polyester lace is now over.
The decision is yet another example of how Iran’s laws since the 1979 revolution have restricted women’s rights both inside and outside the home.
Millions of people could die from antibiotic-resistant germs in the near future. But there are very few new antibiotics in the research pipelines of the big pharmaceutical companies, which are focused on developing more profitable drugs. What is behind this blatant injustice — and what can be done about it?
Founded in the United States in 1971, Heartbeat International has grown into one of the largest anti-abortion networks in the world, with more than 3,250 affiliated centers in 89 countries, including 288 in Latin America. But it uses misleading advertisements, inaccurate information and sketchy data collection to achieve its goals.
Setting mountaineering speed records is a way for trail runners to add their names to history books to stay in the spotlight now that almost all the world’s mountains have already been climbed. But this desire to push limits is not ecological — even for a man who recycles or foregoes airplane travel.
Many people want to sleep better, but available solutions either have little effect or severe side effects. Ultimately, there’s really only one approach that seems to work.
The nation’ deputy health minister, concerned about declining birth rates, wants more young brides, and expects them to start procreating as soon as possible.
Nowhere is loneliness celebrated as much as in literature and music. For centuries, this celebration of proud or penitent solitude was an artistic luxury, but it has also inspired a powerful political concept.
Invented 100 years ago in Germany, the Pilates Reformer is the most sought-after piece of fitness equipment at the moment. But the hype around this expensive training reveals what we are really striving for.
Packed full of Russian culture, the children’s cartoon Masha and the Bear is a very popular cultural export. But does that make the little girl and her furry friend pro-Putin propaganda? Reflections from a conflicted parent in Germany.
In China, stand-up comics must submit their sets to a state censor. Plus, there are self-appointed wannabe censors online (like on all social media!). How do would-be professional standup comedians handle this blatantly gray zone?
Robust winter babies? Allergic autumn infants? Researchers are finding increasing evidence that the month and season of birth can have an influence on our health. For Die Zeit, health editor Andrea Böhnke explores how light, weather, mother’s diet and other factors linked to the time of the year we are born shape us throughout our lives.
Since Nessa Sosa posed for a magazine to talk about what it’s like to be a trans woman in El Salvador, she has become a leading figure for the LGBTQ+ community in the country and a figure shaking up TikTok in a country that discriminates against sexual diversity.
A new generation of coca leaf growers and pickers is posting video content on social media. They show their life in the fields, how the crops grow, the laboratories where they create the coca paste, and even the exit routes for drug trafficking. And while they used to be stigmatized, and threatened by armed groups, their content is escaping censorship and violence.
An increasingly positive era of post-Holocaust Jewish life in Germany ended one year ago — the sense of progress and confidence gave way to a new, age-old fear, writes Sascha Chaimowicz in Die Zeit.
Life is a constant transition — and so is parenthood. How do we find balance and meaning in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, asks journalist Ignacio Pereyra in the latest iteration of his “Recalculating” newsletter on parenthood.
For a long time, the VO2 Max value was only of interest to competitive athletes, but today it can be found on many fitness watches. So what can it tell us about our overall health, and how can we improve it?
End-of-life doulas support grieving families, from connecting with those nearing death to managing funeral arrangements. Their work helps humanize death in a community where talking about it is still taboo.
After more than 30 years, the “Golden Owl” has been found, ending frantic quests by thousands of players from around the world that involved wild excavations, low blows and even lawsuits. Based on mysterious clues from a book, this treasure hunt turned into a flourishing business, while keeping thousands of hunters hooked over decades.
In Colombia, the possibility of integrating insects to our diets is gaining traction, with a little help from former FARC members. Some of the critters have a higher protein percentage than beef and cost less to produce. Not to mention that their consumption could help mitigate the environmental impact of eating conventional animal protein.
With increased aggression from clients, police repression and a sudden decrease in their livelihoods, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is impacting this already-vulnerable group of women.
When was the last time you called your cousin? As people have fewer siblings — and fewer cousins — research shows it might be a good idea to keep close all the ones that you have.
Advances in the fight against direct and indirect censorship have forced the enemies of freedom of expression to seek other, more subtle methods to distort and weaken public debate.
Have you ever been torn between two emotions and don’t know why? Research is uncovering how your brain can cause you experience two conflicting emotions at the same time.
Many young Vietnamese pay huge sums to get a training position in Germany. Only very few of them have any idea what they are getting themselves into. It’s a troubling twist to the eternal struggles of the immigrant journey.
After the killing of Georgia’s best-known trans woman Kesaria Abramidze, and a harsh new anti-LGBTQ law, Holod spoke with another well-known Georgia-based trans woman, Sofi Beridze, about homophobia in the country, as well as her birthplace, Moscow.
Though mainly associated today with Islamic countries, underage marriage is increasingly being reported in Colombia, and other places in Latin America, often with a financial motivation pushing poorer families to effectively “sell” their daughters to older men.
The prize-winning García Márquez library in Barcelona has joined the ranks of the Catalan city’s designer buildings, showing with its runaway popularity the enduring appeal of civilizing, communal spaces.
The country’s Constitutional Court ruled on Sept. 20 in favor of maintaining the death penalty, in line with the position expressed by an overwhelming majority of the population. Yet, capital punishment remains controversial for a country that sees itself as East Asia’s model democracy.
Whether they’re Mafia bosses or strongmen on the run, there’s a long history of discovering unusual items in the secret lairs and bunkers of the world’s Most Wanted bad guys.
Earlier this year, Darya Trepova was sentenced to 27 years in prison for the attack that killed pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky — the harshest sentence a woman has received in modern Russia. Holod‘s Marina Kiryunina spoke with her husband Dmitry Rylov, who is still trying to get Dasha, as he calls her, out of jail.
Discrimination and misdiagnoses are common for overweight patients in the country, which has the world’s second-highest obesity rate. The results can be life-threatening.
Debate over Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying law shows the need to rethink the biological model of mental illness.
More and more schools around the world are starting to implement four-day weeks, in a variety of ways. But will this be a short-lived experiment, or the beginning of a new approach to education that can reduce stress for students, help recruit teachers and rethink learning altogether?
Since a military junta seized power in 2021, Burmese youth started fighting alongside established ethnic militias to free their country. To them, there is no such thing as the future, but only a present made of war and its horrors.
For a long time, contemporary art was the rage room of a conformist society. Now, it is filled with educational purposes. Where have all the angry artists gone?
Need a break from the hustle and bustle or the doom and gloom? From zebras in their natural habitat to remotely blowing bubbles in a Florida garden, there’s bound to be something for you in the thousands of livestreams available on Earth — and even in orbit.
Along with much of central Europe, Poland has experienced large scale flooding that has impacted the country’s infrastructure, budget, and sense of safety. Will this tragedy change the way Poles view climate change?
Has social media become a breeding ground for racism ? Elon Musk has turned Twitter (now called X) into his own opinion platform, giving free rein to disinformation and weakening fact checking and user moderation. Meanwhile, the AI feeding the platform’s algorithm is built on harmful, racist bias, writes Cem Say for independent Turkish daily Oksijen.
From a 91-year-old fitness influencer in Canada to fashion grannies in China, elderly influencers are taking social media by storm, fighting back against ageist stereotypes while they inspire millions.