Perhaps you've already heard it, but here are the sounds of crying migrant children as they're separated from their families at the US-Mexico border. Right now, my six-year-old is excited to see what the tooth fairy will leave him for one of his bottom front teeth when he wakes up tomorrow. Last week, he was planning his Halloween costume. He's always asking how long it is until Christmas. Like so many of us, he lives for the future. Hope for the future is the reason these families are at the border at this moment, desperately trying to escape terrible ends in their home countries. Listen to that audio, and hear the sounds of the Trump administration, a cynical caricature of American leadership that rewards the haves, dismisses the have-nots, and thrusts hopelessness in the faces of the hopeful. Don’t listen to the spin from the media or politicians, listen to the children. —Andrew Womack

The trick is forgetting they are children. How to sleep at night when families are being separated at the border.

Nine books to read to understand what life is like for present-day immigrants in America.

Even if the Human Rights Council was reformed in the way the Trump administration wanted, the US wouldn’t have much to contribute. This is the right time for the US to leave the UN Human Rights Council, because America is in no position to "perform the role that the world needs it to."

One victim of Trump's trade war: rural and community newspapers in the US that depend on Canadian newsprint.

Wilbur Ross co-owned Chinese and Russian companies even after becoming Sec. of Commerce—then gave them to family.

Four years ago, a professor warned that Cambridge Analytica intended to use its data to swing a US election.

With digitization, however, capitalism starts to eat reality itself. It becomes an imperialism of everyday life—it begins to consume moments. Data is the new oil—an extractive industry. How would you nationalize it?

Mayor de Blasio directs NYPD to stop arresting people smoking marijuana, and to issue summonses instead.

The US housing market is strong, but supply is so limited that many first-time buyers can't afford to break in.

A report predicts poor middle-age health for UK millennials, due to a lack of affordable housing and adequate jobs.

Country by country, when people around the world retire.

There are nearly one billion guns in the world, and American citizens own nearly 40% of them.

Global warming is on the rise, and so is US homelessness—which could mean more heat-related deaths and illnesses.

McDonald's says it can't ditch plastic straws in the US without diverting money from other sustainability efforts.

“When around 70% of your 1,500 to 2,000-year-old trees died within 12 years, it certainly is not normal. It is difficult to come up with a culprit other than climate change.” Some of the world’s oldest trees are dying, and you can guess why.

As the world warms, by 2050 energy use from air conditioners will have tripled; the solution: more efficient ACs.

Artists offer designs for the flag that should be planted on Mars.

In the late 19th century, a biologist experimented with underwater photos, taking some of the first clear images.

Deeming the videos "vulgar and pornographic," China pries ASMR content from citizens' cold, tingly hands.

Video: A-Ha's "Take on Me" video recreated by an AI using archival footage.

Beautiful, close-up photos of Alaska's frozen swamps and ponds, by Ryota Kajita.

A Virginia elementary school named after a Confederate general will rename itself Barack Obama Elementary School.