Behind the Paper
The real stories behind the latest research papers, from conception to publication, the highs and the lows
Filtered by: Social Sciences
What happened when China randomly assigned people to farm rice or wheat
The rice theory argues that the irrigation and high labor demands of rice farming gave southern China a more interdependent culture than the wheat-farming north. But how can we test whether rice really shapes culture? Two state farms started in the 1950s give us a rare natural experiment.
Shock-proofing conservation: are community forests in Madagascar resilient to a political crisis and its aftermath?
We explored the impacts of the 2009-2014 Madagascar political crisis and its aftermath on the performance of community managed forests and protected areas. In under-resourced nations like Madagascar, community forests need external support to avoid forest clearing and associated biodiversity loss.
