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Drawing shows men making shoes at the Philadelphia Almshouse, circa 1899. Alice Barber Stephens/Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Alfred Bendiner Memorial Collection

Philadelphia’s 200-year-old disability records show welfare reform movement’s early shift toward rationing care and punishing poor people

Amid rising unemployment, inflation and poverty in the 1830s, Philadelphia taxpayers believed welfare scammers were bleeding coffers dry. Poor lists from 1829 show they were wrong.
Individual rules against activities such as camping or just resting on a ledge may not seem like a big deal. But taken together, they make life more difficult for people without shelter. Robert Rosenberger

Spikes, seat dividers, even ‘Baby Shark’ − camping bans like the one under review at SCOTUS are part of broader strategies that push out homeless people

Anti-camping laws are the centerpiece of the ‘hostile design’ strategies cities use to push the unhoused out of public spaces.
Rooftop construction at a high-rise building undergoing conversion to apartments in Manhattan’s financial district in New York City, April 11, 2023. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

Cities with empty commercial space and housing shortages are converting office buildings into apartments – here’s what they’re learning

Turning excess office space into apartments isn’t a panacea for the housing shortage, but it’s producing thousands of new units yearly and is more sustainable and economical than new construction.
Fertilizer is a leading source of emissions of nitrous oxide, a planet-warming greenhouse gas. pixdeluxe/E+ via Getty Images

Food has a climate problem: Nitrous oxide emissions are accelerating with growing demand for fertilizer and meat – but there are solutions

The most comprehensive assessment yet of a powerful greenhouse gas shows which countries are driving the increase, and which ones are successfully cutting emissions.
Ice on Lake Erie provides winter light for algae thriving below. Sue Thompson

Losing winter ice is changing the Great Lakes food web – here’s how light is shaping life underwater

In winter 2023-24, the Great Lakes’ ice cover was near record lows, peaking at just 16%. Researchers explain how diminishing ice could have consequences for fisheries, and how species are evolving.