Nigeria’s female political candidates are contesting next year’s presidential elections like never before.

Eunice Atuejide’s face dripped hot sweat as she gesticulated toward a group of other female politicians gathered before her. They stood still, their face muscles taut with determination, as they chanted in unison: “No women, no nation!” It was a call to arms for Nigeria’s female politicians gathered at the 2018 General Elections Aspirants Summit (GEAS) in Abuja in August, held to support them in the country’s national polls next year. And it’s a call that’s resonating like never before.

For decades, Nigerian politics has remained a male stronghold, often snuffing out challenges from women even before they can seriously contest for top political posts. But as Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy heads toward its 2019 national elections, Nigeria’s women are making an unprecedented push to upturn a political system that has so far denied them.

Sarah Richardson is training bacteria to break down the tons of waste accumulating on planet Earth.

Genuine concern shadows Sarah Richardson’s face when the topic turns to bacteria, though not for the reason you’d expect. “I feel bad for them,” she says in the closetlike conference room of her biotechnology startup in Berkeley, California. “I’ve worried about the bacteria for so long now.” Tired of fretting over microbes, Richardson founded MicroByre so that she could finally put those poor bacteria to good use.

Less than two years after launching the company, Richardson, 36, is inching toward her goal: domesticating bacteria. Bacteria are incredibly useful at breaking down waste, and they’re a critical part of the food chain — if they stop doing what they do best, we stop eating. Right now, though, we have no way to control how bacteria use their superpowers. That’s where MicroByre comes in. Richardson wants to “train” bacteria, the same way humans train animals to be useful — and with good reason. If we can control when bacteria break down biomass and what it turns into, we can greatly reduce the estimated 11.2 billion tons of solid waste collected worldwide each year. Richardson believes she can accomplish this in the next two years.

This job is harder than ever. That doesn’t faze Baltimore’s C.J. Mosley.

As he metaphorically brushed his shoulders off while working the press circuit during NFL Hall of Fame induction festivities in August — shoulders that would soon don a signature gold jacket — former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said something that turned a few heads.

That’s not unusual for the outspoken former player turned broadcaster, but this time Lewis was singing a current Raven’s praises. “I would love for you to show me a better middle linebacker in the game than C.J. Mosley,” Lewis told ESPN that week.

The Carolina Panthers’ Luke Kuechly and the Seattle Seahawks’ Bobby Wagner — the Nos. 1 and 2 highest-paid inside linebackers in the league — would likely raise their hands. But, as it turns out, the numbers support Lewis’ statement. Since 2014, C.J. Mosley is the only NFL player with 500-plus tackles, 8-plus sacks, 8-plus interceptions and 6-plus forced fumbles.