Spanning eight South American countries and 2.6 million square miles, the Amazon Rainforest has the world’s greatest biodiversity and holds the world’s largest collection of plant and animal species, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Accounting for 10 percent of the world’s carbon storage, Amazonian trees also keep the atmosphere clean, making the rainforest crucial to global ecology. Deep in...

According to a 2010 report by the Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project, there are one million undocumented immigrants under the age of 18 living in the United States whose fates are in jeopardy due to the ever-present threat of deportation. While the majority of the United States seems to be taking a stagnant approach to immigration reform, California's current advance,...

The federal government reopened last Wednesday after nearly two weeks of being shut down. The inability of the House and the Senate to come to consensus on how to fund a bill, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), started the shutdown. Although the United States' government escaped a potential financial crisis and things are "back to normal," the shutdown had virtually...

A 15-minute phone call between President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and President Barack Obama is already being noted as one of the most salient moments in Iran-United States relations. President Rouhani shines as a golden opportunity for thawing the ice between the West and the Middle East. Although there are several reasons to remain jaded, Obama would be foolish to...

As part of its Alcohol and Other Drugs Policy, Occidental employs an amnesty policy that comes into effect when a student seeks medical attention for his or herself or on behalf of another student. This policy exempts students from disciplinary action for both personal possession or use of illicit substances, including consumption of alcohol by minors. While the administration asserts...

Tens of thousands of people gather every other Saturday in downtown L. A. for a free, self-guided tour of art galleries. Governor Jerry Brown signed a slew of hugely progressive bills last week, including one that will allow illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses and another allowing children to have more than two legal parents. The United States government has...

It seems ridiculous to need a sweatshirt in class in Los Angeles on a 100-degree summer day, but it is necessary as a result of the blasting air-conditioning in the college's buildings. Los Angeles is hot most of the year, meaning Occidental must frequently toe the line between too hot outside and too cold inside. Yet it seems as if...

"At 372 miles above the Earth there is nothing to carry sound, no air pressure, no oxygen. Life in space is impossible." Space is extreme, a dark, empty tomb that stretches lightyears away from Earth. This is the setting of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity.” The stressful, beautiful sci-fi Oscar chaser stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock)...

Water is essential. To some, access to it is a human right; to others, it is a limited resource; and to a few, it is an economic good. Its fluidity is profound and far-reaching. The droplets of water that rain upon the dusty desert hills around Los Angeles could have once composed a wave crashing into the shores of southern...

Highland Parkers are chomping at the bit to get a gourmet donut from the new shop Donut Friend on the corner of Ave. 51and York. Prior to their soft opening Wednesday, they were so inundated with calls asking when they would open that they set their phone to roll straight to voicemail. Entering Donut Friend is strikingly similar to entering...