According to many, downturns in the U.S. and European markets are primarily the result of unsustainable behaviors in the financial industry. But, some critics are asking – was declining energy quality a major contributor to these negative turns? …
Happy Monday. See what great stuff the bloggers posted over the weekend and today: – Davide Castelvecchi – On the Physics Nobels, The Atlantic Gets Dark Energy All Wrong and `We Hate Math,’ Say 4 in 10 — a Majority of Americans [More]
…
The bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra last month has left many people wondering about the future of solar industry in the U.S. That turn of events didn’t stop the U.S. Department of Energy from sponsoring its biennial Solar Decath…
I’m upset with Barack Obama for his soft treatment of bankers and other potential campaign donors and his callous treatment of civilians killed in U.S. drone attacks . But President Obama has done a few things right, notably making Steven Chu …
Last month MIT’s Technology Review reported on a new development that the energy efficiency of computers doubles roughly every 18 months: [More]
When oil started spewing from BP’s Macondo well in April 2010, there weren’t too many options for cleaning it up. Concentrated slicks on the ocean surface could be set ablaze. Booms kept oil off the shores, as long as the waves stayed calm. And chemi…
– Scott Huler – Protest Infrastructure: How Much Trouble Are Protesters, Really? [More]
AP Photo/Andrew Burton In the staring contest between the Occupy Wall Street protesters and New York City, Mayor Bloomberg blinked first , deciding that the occupiers didn’t represent the kind of safety crisis Brookfield Office Properties, the…
Plants mastered chemistry a long time before humans, billions of years actually . In fact, we humans and most of the rest of the life on Earth can thank tiny cyanobacteria for mastering/evolving the molecule known as chlorophyll. Chlorophyll–a pigm…
The wind tosses Gaby Nava’s hair as the small fishing boat skims across the glassy water just off the port of Veracruz, Mexico. She smiles at the shallow bay and the Gulf of Mexico sprawling across the horizon."We are very lucky today. Hardly any …
Editor’s Note: The following is an edited and expanded excerpt from Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World by Emma Marris. Copyright © 2011 Emma Marris. Jessica Hellmann, an ecologist at Notre Dame University in Indiana…
Are we looking at Asia’s first pheasant extinction? The endangered Edwards’s pheasant ( Lophura edwardsi ) has not been observed in the wild since 2000, and now surveys conducted by the World Pheasant Association (WPA) in the bird̵…
Off to NASW/CASW Science Writers meeting tomorrow. Will catch up with you all tomorrow night. And for today – here it is: – Glendon Mellow – Scratching into Canine Ancestry: Lori Dunn [More]
For years artificial muscles have promised to deliver a more flexible, more durable alternative to electric motors and hydraulic systems. These lab-made actuators are usually created by putting an electrical charge into a piece of polymer or into an…
The chemical elements–the varieties of atoms existing in nature and even some that are manmade–are an endless source of fascination . But something about them remains mysterious to most people, perhaps even to a lot of chemists. [More]
…
As it usually happens on Wednesdays, we have a new Video of the Week for you to watch… [More]
The world’s population will cross the 7 billion mark this month and is projected to reach more than 9 billion by 2050. So many more people, plus rising living standards, mean that global agriculture will have to double food production by mid-c…
BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. — Who killed Dunkard Creek?Was it coal miners whose runoff wiped out aquatic life in the stream where locals have long fished and picnicked? Or was it Marcellus Shale drillers and the briny discharge from their wells that created a …
Right now about one billion people suffer from chronic hunger. the world’s farmers grow enough food to feed them, but it is not properly distributed and, even if it were, many cannot afford it, because prices are escalating.But another challenge …
If petroleum-based fuels are not the future for the transportation industry, what will take their place? Today, biofuels play a significant role, moving a portion of the nation’s energy supply away from traditional gasoline and diesel. But, conc…
Subscribe via RSS Feed stay updated with blog articles