Latest Articles

Plastic purge: The enemy is everywhere

I am going to eliminate as much plastic as possible from my life for two weeks. But I'm keeping my toothbrush. I'm not THAT crazy.

Fox News takes credit for study that debunks climate skeptics

Fox News is patting itself on the back for "inspiring" a recent study showing that China's sulfur output has been masking the effects of global warming. It points to an interview that lead researcher Robert Kaufmann did with the BBC, where he said he looked into the issue because an old man told him Fox News said the planet was cooling. Hooray, Fox News got mentioned on a real news site! Break out the Confederate flag party hats! Too bad the rest of that article is about Kaufmann making that old man, and his Fox News overlords, look pretty silly indeed.

Warning: Climate change causes sun to jerk off

Have we considered the possibility that rising global temperatures are less about greenhouse gases, more about the sun really, REALLY enjoying heatin' stuff up? USA Today has! Forget solar storms, what we should really be worried about is solar onanism. UPDATE: USA Today is so proud of this image that they put a nice high-quality […]

Auto manufacturers don't trust people to buy efficient cars

The federal government is proposing a new fuel efficiency standard of 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025. This is fairly modest, on a global scale -- it would require a 5 percent increase every year from 2017 onwards, but Europe is on track to hit 60 MPG by 2020, so it can certainly be done. Car manufacturers aren't happy about the prospect, though, and are pushing for a lower standard.

Their objections: It could add thousands to the cost of a new vehicle (whereas using less $4-a-gallon gas would probably only save hundreds per vehicle every year). And more to the point, it would require them to make smaller cars. This is America -- who's going to buy a smaller car? Where would you keep your ATV? Where would you mount your buck? For god's sake, man, where would you hang your truck balls? THIS IS NOT WHAT WE FOUGHT THE NAZIS FOR BY JIMINY.

EPA risks kiling bees to fight invasive stink bugs

The brown marmorated stink bug threatens crops in 33 states. But the EPA will allow farmers to use a pesticide that could wipe out bee populations, too

'Cling-film' solar panels are 1/200th the thickness of Saran Wrap

New 'cling-film' solar panels can be printed like newspapers, and then self-organize into layers of plastics that can turn sunlight into electricity. The result is a useful solar panel that's only 60 nanometers thick -- or 1/200th the thickness of Saran Wrap.

How to solve car emissions, hunger, and overpopulation simultaneously

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has a modest proposal.

The world’s first ass-powered outdoor concert

Here's an idea for a better way to harness the power of stationary bike workout: use the resultant energy to fuel the electricity-sucking equipment for a banging outdoor concert. Pedal Power NYC recruited 250 volunteers to pedal 16 bikes, which, hooked up to generators, provided the electricity for June's NYC Celebrates Water Festival.

How China accidentally geoengineered the climate

Between 2003 and 2007, China burned so much coal that it increased global consumption of the stuff 25 percent. That put so much sulfur into the air that it more or less literally (temporarily) blotted out the sun, masking some of the global warming that otherwise would have occurred during the first decade of the 21st century.

The world’s fastest all-electric plane

A French pilot flew a plane powered only by electricity at more than 175 miles per hour, the fastest an all-electric plane has ever gone. That's much, much faster than other all-electric planes, which tend to be the type available at toy stores, and about 15 mph faster than the previous record set by the pilot, Hugues Duval.