The country has $24 billion dollars tied up in a fund to create a permanent storage solution for spent nuclear fuel rods. Yet plants are stuffing spent rods into already-overfull, vulnerable, sometimes leaky pools of water. What the hell? Basically, our nuclear waste is like a trust-fund kid in some wacky comedy, who can only get his inheritance if he uses it to settle down and makes something of himself. In this case, the money’s for one thing only: A permanent waste storage solution. Better temporary solutions would be easier to implement -- no state wants to volunteer to host …

Yeah, sure, if nanotechnology gets out of control it could lead to a scenario where the entire world turns into gray goo. But if it DOESN’T get out of control, it could lead to a scenario where you can charge your iPod by snapping your fingers -- or even just with your heartbeat. WORTH IT WORTH IT TOTALLY WORTH IT The secret to a iPod powered by finger wiggles -- or other body movements, like walking or breathing or heartbeat -- is nanogenerators, dinky little microchips powered by wires 1/500th the width of a human hair. Five of them would …

If you’re a climate hawk, or even a climate hobbyist, this graph should look familiar -- it’s the warming trend over the last 100-odd years. Except the guy who busted this out at the House climate science hearing yesterday was brought in by the Republicans to debunk global warming. (The black line is his data.) Haha, whoops! This graph is the result of physicist Richard Muller’s project to get maximally accurate temperature data. Climate change deniers assumed that his skepticism about existing temperature data meant he was on their side (well, that and he’s also been spreading misinformation about the …

Apparently this isn't even the first time climate blogger Joe Romm has gotten pulled into a Tea Party fantasy. Talk about drinking the Kool-Aid. (Although I don't see any Kool-Aid.) Romm speaks at about 1:29.

UPDATE: This is an April Fools' Day post, entirely made up. Your smoothies are safe. It might be time to rethink the adage "don't sh*t where you eat." Silicon Valley-based startup Advanced Recycling Concepts (ARC) announced Thursday that it will soon be offering a new line of kitchen appliances powered by poo, following a recent trend of excrement-powered homes, gardens, and streetlights. (We sh*t you not.) The company will be introducing poop-powered blenders, mixers, coffeemakers, and food processors -- which means you might want to pay a little more attention when you whip up that morning protein shake. Unlike with …

Is PETA a day early for April Fool’s, or have they simply whizzed past the point of self-parody? The group’s executive vice president has petitioned San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee to change the name of the city’s historic Tenderloin area to something that doesn’t glamorize meat. Of course, the Tenderloin isn’t actually named after a cut of meat at all, but when have facts stopped PETA? We’re looking forward to seeing them take on New York’s Meatpacking District ("Beet-packing District"?). But if it happens on March 31, 2012, we’re going to get very suspicious.

Wow, Fortean Times was right about something: Airplane contrails really are dangerous. The carbon emissions from air travel are profound, but the water vapor planes emit is just as bad, or worse. And airplane-spawned water vapor is what makes up the high, thin clouds known as contrails. Michele Bachmann would surely object -- water vapor is part of Earth’s life cycle! But water vapor that comes out of a plane’s butt actually acts like an atmospheric Snuggie, insulating the Earth and increasing warming. Contrails also inhibit the formation of regular cirrus clouds, which reduces the warming effect -- but not …

In the midst of a hair-pulling, face-scratching tussle over the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases, a number of senators are looking into reviving 2008’s bipartisan “energy gang.” The last gang crumbled under bickering about high gas prices -- but not before swelling its ranks to 20 senators, and putting forth a bipartisan plan that involved offshore drilling (boo!), but also electric car and biofuel investment (yay!) and limits on oil and gas industry tax breaks (woohoo!). Of course, given the strong environmental principles of some congressional Democrats -- like, say, the ones who are proposing amendments that merely handcuff …

That's not a joke setup, it's just Thursday. The Governator and the London mayor tooled around on two-wheelers today, looking awkward and getting hollered at by photogs, to promote Mayor Boris Johnson's new bike share plan for the city. Schwarzenegger praised bikes' ability to let you "eat a few extra wiener schnitzel and ... get away with it," and Johnson disappointingly failed to refer to Arnie as a "monosyllabic Austrian cyborg," as he has in the past. But guys ... this is nice and all, but you forgot to make it look like biking is any fun.

Obama didn’t say much about climate change in his speech yesterday, even as he laid out some ambitious energy goals. This leaves the media and activists guessing at what his next move will be -- he’s a sort of Schroedinger’s President, who can be interpreted as a climate hawk or a climate wuss. Here are some of the post-speech visions of Obama going around this morning: Mother Jones: He is -- at least potentially -- a beaten-down, defeated climate Judas. “[I]t's notable that Obama barely even mentioned climate change or greenhouse gases in his big energy speech today. This concession …