Yanin (Proud) Tangkaravakoon. Image Credit: The Nation At just 17, Thai student Yanin ‘Proud’ Tangkaravakoon has turned a concern for endangered hornbills into a unique conservation project that gives discarded waste plastic a new purpose. Her initiative, ‘Homes for Hornbills’ creates artificial nests designed to provide breeding spaces for hornbills as natural tree cavities become…

In the late 19th century, a young seminarian battling a life-threatening bout of pneumonia made a promise that would eventually transform a small Iowa town into the home of one of the world’s largest man-made grottos. If he survived, Father Paul Matthias Dobberstein vowed to build a shrine in honour of the Virgin Mary. He…