Confiscating personal belongings during government-led dismantling of tent cities in Vancouver inflicts immediate harm and further destabilizes people already struggling to meet their basic needs, according to a new study from Simon Fraser University.

Published in the journal Public Health, the study found nearly one in four people experiencing homelessness reported having their personal belongings confiscated by city workers between 2021 and 2023. These confiscations—often part of street sweeps to remove tent cities—were significantly associated with non-fatal overdoses, violent victimization, and barriers to accessing essential services.

A new IIASA-led study for the first time maps safe areas that can practically be used for underground carbon storage, and estimates that using them all would only cut warming by 0.7°C. The result is almost ten times lower than previous estimates of around 6°C, which considered the total global potential for geological storage, including in risky zones, where storing carbon could trigger earthquakes and contaminate drinking water supplies. The researchers say the study shows geological storage is a scarce, finite resource and warn countries must use it in a highly targeted way.

Researchers from the HSE Institute of Education conducted a sociological study at four small, non-selective universities and revealed, based on 135 interviews, the dual nature of student care at such institutions: a combination of genuine support with continuous supervision, reminiscent of parental care. This study offers the first in-depth look at how formal and informal student care practices are intertwined in the post-Soviet educational context. The study has been published in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.