Weekly Snapshot: Monkeying Around

Welcome to LNGenZ’s round up of the week’s top news stories.

The Power of Playtime

Howler monkeys use play to keep the peace, according to scientists.

What is your favorite part of the school day? Many would likely answer recess or gym class. But why? For animals and humans alike, playtime is a crucial part of development, exploration, and education – not to mention, it is fun! Animals use play to practice real-life situations like hunting and surviving against predators. Studying why and how animals play gives insight into why it is beneficial to human growth and interaction.

The howler monkey is one animal that uses play as a powerful tool, a recent study found. The research showed that the monkeys play together as a way to reduce fighting in their communities.

The researchers noticed that the primates engaged in playful activities when there was conflict within the group. The active creatures hang from trees and even make silly faces at each other. Read more…

 

Fare Evaders Beware: New York Mayor to Tackle Subway Crime?

Eric Adams wants to crack down on turnstile jumping to make NYC safer.

Crime has become a real problem in big cities across the US – but one mayor is brainstorming ways to fix it. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is new to the job of running a city, but he might be planning to copy an old idea to reduce crime.

Do you ever take public transport? It can be a handy way to get around, especially in a big city, where traffic can clog the roads. The New York subway system is one of the world’s oldest, longest, and busiest public transit systems. Unfortunately, this underground train network is also famous for being a dangerous place. Over the years, efforts to reduce crime on the subway have been made off and on. Now, Mayor Adams is keen to stop one transit crime: fare evasion.

Adams recently told reporters that he wants to start cracking down on people who ride the New York subway system without buying a ticket. While turnstiles are in place to prevent people entering the subway without paying the fare, some people just jump over the barriers. This might seem like a minor crime, but according to Mayor Adams, letting people get away with something small may encourage them to commit worse crimes later. Read more…

 

Supply Chain Crisis: Are Pop-Up Sites the Answer?

US cities are trying new ways to get goods on the move once again.

Thanks to the supply chain crisis left over from the COVID-19 pandemic, people are seeing the cost of goods rising while also waiting longer to receive them. There are shortages of everything from foods to computer chips and automobiles. Cargo containers wait at shipping yards for ships to become available, and other modes of transport are backed up, too. Can anything be done to get items on the move again? The city of Seattle may have found a solution to help ease the traffic congestion and supply shortage – pop-up sites.

When was the last time you ate a vegetable grown in your state? Or bought a pair of shoes made in your town? In the modern world, many items are no longer made in the same area where the customer will buy them. Things are grown or manufactured and then shipped across the world to a customer far away. This creates a very complicated “supply chain,” where an object is first made, then transported, then eventually gets to its final destination.

Since the system is so complex, even a small problem can cause major delays. Read more…