Latest Articles

Solar power from the moon is fake, but also real

Solar panels that transform light from the moon into usable quantities of energy: Fake! Solar panels covering the moon that would transmit massive quantities of energy back to earth using lasers and microwaves: Real! Or at least: proposed with a straight face. I think we can all agree that the slide labeled "Master Plan" pretty much sums […]

Fukushima workers prepared to die; don’t even know how much radiation they’ve been exposed to

A piece in today's Guardian reveals that TEPCO, the utility responsible for the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactors, did not until very recently have enough dosimeters for all of the employees who are working to stop an even worse catastrophe at the plant. Normally, dosimeters would be worn at all times in order to measure cumulative exposure […]

High-def flyover video of Fukushima shows the extent of the damage

This stunning, sobering flyover video of the Fukushima plant was shot in HD, which means it's probably as detailed as you can get while trying to focus a camera from a plane. Some of the rubble is still smoking.

International Action on Global Warming: Where is it headed in 2011?

Coming out of the successful global warming negotiations in Cancun, Mexico this past December a key question is where are things headed now?  Three words capture where international action on global warming needs to head: implementation, strengthening, and widespread.  On each of these there are important discussions about to occur as countries are meeting in […]

When locally sourced food isn’t available, the tough grow it anyway

Ruben and Kristin Hernandez are bakers in Baltimore, Maryland, who wanted to use locally-sourced wheat in their bread. Only problem is, no one grows the required “hard” wheat in Maryland, because the relatively humid climate leads to disease. (Hard wheats are rich in gluten, the protein that gives bread its elasticity and structure.) Ruben briefly […]

We have gobs of money to spend on nuclear waste disposal — so why is our storage leaking?

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 […]

In five years, you could charge your iPod with a snap of your fingers

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 […]

Science bites climate skeptics in the ass on the House floor

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.) […]

China charges up the on-ramp of the electric highway

Electric charging stations like this one in Shenzhen could become a common sight in China if the government sticks to its ambitious EV goals.Photo: Remko TanisWhen it comes to the future of electric cars, as with other green technologies, the wild card is China. The People’s Republic has invested billions in renewable energy and has […]

Joe Romm of Climate Progress speaks at Tea Party event

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.