Mind melt: Watch glaciers disappear before your eyes

When it comes to U.S. transportation infrastructure, we'd rather build new roads than deal with the old ones -- or the bigger questions about how we get around.

Zen and the art of bridge maintenance

By Claire Thompson

21 hours ago

Benzene levels soared in a Colorado creek after a natural gas facility spilled hundreds of barrels of natural gas liquid. So why haven't those responsible been fined?

Fracking accident leaks benzene into Colorado stream

By John Upton

23 hours ago

With an emergency rescue underway, Russia's 70-year tradition of placing research stations atop floating chunks of Arctic ice could be over.

Arctic base evacuated as ice dissolves beneath researchers’ feet

By John Upton

1 day ago

Business & Technology

This pedal-powered contraption can run a computer, split logs, or churn butter

Of course, you have to do the work of pedaling.

By Sarah Laskow

1 day ago

Eugene and Mollie Griswold Christian make a lot of the same arguments for healthy living and raw food that you hear today. Only they make them in turn-of-the-century style.

Awesome old cookbook shows that the 1904 raw food movement was really into meat and cream

By Sarah Laskow

1 day ago

Three-fourths of all tornadoes worldwide touch down right here in the U.S. of A. Why are we so lucky?

Tornadoes — another argument for American exceptionalism

By Daniel Penner

1 day ago

According to a new study from the Brookings Institution, big city lights may be growing brighter by the day, but the 'burbs are broke.

Poverty moves to the suburbs

By Susie Cagle

1 day ago

Well, probably not any time soon. But these theoretical Cousin Itt skyscrapers, covered in energy-collecting hairs, still look sweet as hell.

Could hairy buildings be the future of green architecture?

By Jess Zimmerman

1 day ago

Most Americans support efforts to boost green energy and combat global warming, though exuberance for climate action numbed a little over winter.

Support for climate action is the new normal in U.S.

By John Upton

1 day ago

You're about to get a whole lot of information about where your meat came from. Which displeases the Canadians, who say Americans discriminate against their livestock.

American meat labeling laws bolstered; Canadians indignant

By John Upton

1 day ago

Living

Idiots try to eat dinner on iceberg, get blown out to sea

Four American tourists were rescued after trying to have a picnic on an iceberg.

By Jess Zimmerman

1 day ago

Here are the places we’ll all be running to as the rest of the world goes to hell.

Spared by climate change: The 10 best cities to ride out hot times

By Jim Meyer

1 day ago

As the crop-ravaging rootworm grows immune to Monsanto's Bt corn, farmers go back to spraying pesticides to protect their crops.

Chemical creep: Farmers return to pesticides as GMO corn loses bug resistance

By Claire Thompson

2 days ago

The electricity system is currently set up as a dumb commodity system to provide cheap power. What we need is a smart system to provide energy services. To get there, we have to change utilities.

Utilities for dummies, part 2: Why we need competitive electricity markets (with fennec foxes!)

By David Roberts

2 days ago

MJ cruises around town on her bike-courier owner's shoulder.

We love this bike-riding hipster cat

By Jess Zimmerman

2 days ago

As Zimmerman's law of fast food states, gross food can only get grosser and weirder.

McDonald’s Mega Potato is three-quarters of a pound of fries, the highest-calorie item on the menu

By Sarah Laskow

2 days ago

Living

This secret, invite-only bar was built inside a NYC rooftop water tower

N.D. Austin, the organizer, describes this project as "transgressive placemaking."

By Sarah Laskow

2 days ago

Connecticut Senate passes GMO-labeling bill

By John Upton

2 days ago

The EPA and its buddies in agribusiness just quietly upped your recommended daily allowance of Roundup. This could be seriously bad news for your belly.

Gut punch: Monsanto could be destroying your microbiome

By Tom Laskawy

2 days ago

Efficiency needs to move "way, way up in our priorities," Moniz said in his first speech as secretary. He's also been meeting with lawmakers to advance energy-efficiency legislation.

New Energy Secretary Moniz is all about energy efficiency

By John Upton

2 days ago

Business & Technology

Federal officials hampering Texas fertilizer explosion investigation

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is trying to figure out why a fertilizer plant exploded last month, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is getting in the way.

By John Upton

2 days ago

We’ll all feel the heat, but some more than others. Here’s our salute to the cities most at risk as temperatures rise.

Screwed by climate change: 10 cities that will be hardest hit

By Jim Meyer

2 days ago

Politics

House votes to take Keystone decision out of Obama’s hands

The GOP-dominated House has passed yet another bill to speed up approval of the Keystone XL pipeline -- but it'll never become law.

By John Upton

2 days ago

Rep. Lamar Smith is calling for "thoughtful" discussion of climate change, but his main thought is just that we should approve Keystone XL. Here's what he and other Republicans are missing.

In GOP-run House, has science left the building?

By Ed Markey

2 days ago

China has proposed firm limits on greenhouse-gas emissions, seriously weakening one of the U.S.’s go-to excuses for climate inaction.

Could a Chinese carbon cap pave the way for a global climate deal?

By Claire Thompson

3 days ago

Politics

Climate activists to protest at Obama group’s climate events

Organizing for Action, the president's advocacy group, should be doing more on climate change, activists say. Fighting Keystone XL would be a good start.

By John Upton

3 days ago