A cross-section of harvested palm oil fruits in Riau, Indonesia. Oil extracted from the orange fleshy mesocarp is used as cooking oil and in food products whereas oil from the white kernel is incorporated into detergents and cosmetics. Wudan Yan.

Wudan Yan has a new entry in her series on palm oil. If you were reassured by Wudan’s article in Nature about mitigating the ecological impact of oil palms, you can start worrying again. Just read her piece for Stat about the health of women plantation workers. @wudanyan image: Wudan Yan