Latest from Ryan Biller
The Butterfly Effect of Mexico’s Cartel Violence
Drug cartels in northern Mexico are extorting locals and pushing illegal logging and avocado plantations. One victim is the country’s population of monarch butterflies, which migrate there by the millions in the winter and are at risk of losing a critical ecosystem.
How a Sufi Saint’s Coffee Recipe Took Senegal by Storm
Senegal’s cafe Touba, a spicy, milkless coffee, was created by the Sufi saint Sheikh Amadou Bamba as spiritual fuel while he was exiled by French authorities. More than a century later, it has become a national symbol that is giving major corporations like Nestle a run for their money.
How the Tiger Became an Indian National Symbol
In India, while tigers symbolized courage for Rajput kingdoms, Mughal emperors like Akbar and Jahangir saw a slain tiger as proof of dominance over nature. The British emulated Mughal tiger hunts to assert imperial control — a symbolism now reversed by the country’s conservationists.
The MAGA Battle Over the Epstein Files
The White House is haunted by the scandal-infested legacy of billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Once described by Donald Trump as a man who “never dies,” Epstein’s shadow now looms over the presidency, even from the grave. And it’s thrown the Trump administration into deep disarray.
Superman Was Always a Social Justice Warrior
Superman’s real power has perhaps never been X-ray vision or being faster than a speeding bullet. It may rather have been the character's overall consistent penchant for social justice. Even when it wasn’t — or isn’t — popular.
Syria’s Druze Grapple with Israel and Militancy
After the fall of Assad, Syria’s Druze community is grappling with new anxieties, from Israel’s encroachment to the rise of anti-government militants.
The Congo’s Dinosaur of Discord
Mokele-mbembe is the Congo Basin’s bigfoot. Or that’s what it’s become, anyway — a cryptid. The myth was originally a kind of spiritual metaphor, but a confluence of European colonial exploration and early paleontology warped it into what it is today: a living dinosaur, hidden deep in the jungle.
Could Vaccinating Gorillas Be Our Best Shot To Stop a Pandemic?
After a wave of Ebola devastated the Congo Basin’s gorilla population in 2002, one American ecologist embarked on a quest to vaccinate the great apes and, he hoped, stop animal-borne diseases from spreading to humans. Could he convince the vaccine skeptics among his colleagues that it would be worth it?