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Raise a toast, you monkey

Today is the 198th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 148th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. So take some time out today to celebrate Darwin Day and the body of scientific work from him and others that makes up what we know about evolution.

If your knowledge of Darwin and his work is skimpy, consider picking up David Quammen's The Reluctant Mr. Darwin for a highly enjoyable and insightful introduction. Or if you are in the Boston area, consider visiting the excellent Darwin exhibit that will open February 18th at the Museum of Science.

And freedom of speech wins big

Dreamy Al made a surprising appearance at the Grammy Awards last night, presenting the award for Best Rock Album along with Queen Latifah (who acknowledged that most of the cheers coming from the audience were for the Oscar-nominated supa-star). Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to win Melissa Etheridge the Grammy for her Inconvenient Truth score "I […]

Gets into it

Clearly nobody slipped this guy the memo on the necessity for bipartisanship on climate change:

Bush rewrites history again

An ABC reporter asks President Bush the long-overdue question: you’ve said the “fundamental debate” is about whether global warming is natural or man-made. Scientists overwhelmingly say it’s man-made. Do you still doubt that, and if so, based on what? Bush says: “I don’t know where you got that quote from.” President Bush, March 29, 2006: […]

Watch Obama’s video

Tomorrow morning, Barack Obama will officially kick off his presidential run. Here’s a preview video:

Rub-a-dub-dub, there are toxins in my tub

In a study released today by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and written up in the L.A. Times, 18 of 18 bath products tested contained traces of 1,4-Dioxane, a suspected carcinogen. Three of the products -- Clairol Herbal Essences Rainforest Flowers Shampoo, Olay Complete Body Wash With Vitamins, and Hello Kitty Bubble Bath -- contained levels higher than those recommended by the FDA. Goodbye, Kitty.

Dead sea turtles wash ashore

We've heard of whale beachings before, but it seems as though endangered sea turtles have recently followed suit. Hundreds of olive ridley turtles have been found dead along Bangladesh's coast in the past two weeks. Could it be something in the water? Yes. Most likely pollution and nets.

A new green portal

I have been remiss in failing to direct your attention to Green Options, a new green portal put together by, among others, Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog fame. Here’s the description: Welcome to Green Options, your online hub for all things Green. We try to focus on giving you the knowledge and resources you’ll need in […]

Sir Richard to the Rescue?

Virgin founder Branson offers $25 million atmosphere-scrubbing prize Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson is dangling $25 million for anyone who can figure out how to scrub vast amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The Virgin Earth Challenge — which Branson announced today with the ubiquitous Al Gore by his side and which we’re pretty […]

Can greed get us out?

Billionaire Richard Branson will announce today in London a prize of $25 million to the inventor of a device that effectively reduces greenhouse gas concentrations. Although the participants are under a media embargo, American climatologist James Hansen -- who will serve as a judge of the potential inventions, along with English scientist James Lovelock and Australian author Tim Flannery -- did discuss the topic of geoengineering a solution to global warming this week in front of a large crowd at U.C. Santa Barbara, as part of a lecture he gave on the dangers of human-caused climate change.