Latest Articles

Heated debate: public opinion on climate and weather

Polls show that most Americans think we should be addressing the problem of climate change somehow, regardless of whether they believe it's man-made.

Seeing cities as the environmental solution, not the problem

The best way to save wilderness is through strong, compact, beautiful communities that are more urban and do not encroach on places of natural value.

Long Island lobster catch dwindling to nothing

It really sucks to be a lobster fisherperson working in the Long Island Sound. Twelve years ago, 90 percent of the lobsters died off because of pesticides or climate change or both. The ones still there have weird-looking shells, a result of bacteria colonizing the sounds, that keep people from wanting to eat them. Things are so bad some of the lobstermen don't even bother fishing for lobster anymore, says the New York Times:

What wind turbines can learn from fish

Wind turbines are loners. They need to give each other space to be effective. But a new design for wind farms, using a different type of turbines than the giant-fan kind going up all over the place, takes a page from a very social group of animals -- schooling fish -- to create the same amount of energy with shorter turbines, in a smaller area of land.

These wind farms use vertical-axis turbines, which are often described as looking like egg-beaters.

Trade your house for a pet dinosaur

T-rex courtesy of Ryan North

Here's what the new post-crash barter economy looks like: People are trading housing for dinosaur services.

From Vancouver Craigslist:

Do you own more than one property? Do you have so many rental homes with no mortgage payments, yet you still feel unfulfilled? Tired of your illegal tenants whining that there are rats in the walls? Have you always wanted your own dinosaur? Now is your chance my friend.

Brace yourself for more stink bugs

Here's one invasive species that's never going to end up on an invasivore menu: the brown marmorated stink bug. (This is actually the most appetizing photo I could find.) They smell when you squish them, they get all up in your house, and they ruined $37 million worth of fruit crops last year. And they're likely to make an even bigger mess this year as they migrate into warmer climates.

Sand kitten gives hope for near-extinct species, is ridiculously cute

The Israeli sand cat is extinct in the wild, so its only hope is breeding programs in captivity. The birth of this stupifyingly cute fuzzball at Safari Zoo in Tel Aviv is therefore really good news — it could help put the species on the path to recovery and reintroduction. But mostly we just like to look […]

Oil monarch's $1.5 billion Star Trek theme park will run on green energy

King Abdullah of Jordan is probably the world's richest Star Trek fan, which explains why he's able to drop the GDP of Burundi on a theme park to celebrate his pop culture obsession.

Wind turbines are about to become way more awesome

Wind power is pretty bad-ass to begin with, but conventional wisdom is that it's a "mature" technology that, unlike solar and other breakthrough energy technologies, won't be seeing much improvement in the coming decades. WRONGITY WRONG WRONG.

Turns out Nature, like Wall Street, is also bankrupt

If you thought it was just your pension fund that was in the toilet, you'd best break out the plunger, 'cause you've got an entire planet that will shortly be following it down the loo. Check out this infographic: