Latest Articles

Did Sarah Palin's new nature reality show get too close to the wildlife? [VIDEO]

When the former governor's TLC show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, debuted, conservationists say the Palins got too close to the bears. Is Palin being her maverick-y self and breaking all the (wildlife) rules? Or are people just splitting hairs? Take a look for yourself.

Ford's first all-electric car to be sold in 20 cities in 2011

Bummed you don't live in a city that will get the Nissan Leaf or the Chevrolet Volt next month? Wait another year and the electric Ford Focus will roll into town.

9 things I learned by shadowing a home-energy inspector

Everyone knows that weatherization is the super-duper-est economic policy ever. But forget policy for a moment. Let's look at how it works out in the real world.

Will the Food Safety Modernization Act harm small farms or producers?

Voting on S. 510 could happen Wednesday. If this food-safety bill passes, it will greatly expand the FDA's authority and lessen food-borne illnesses. But in doing so, will it knee-cap America's nascent local-food system? Grist's panel of experts take their gloves off for an epic debate.

On habits and how to change them

If you want to change what people think, you need to change what they do. That's the painstaking work of building a more sustainable society.

Is my smart phone making me dumb?

For years, I've talked on cell phones the old-fashioned way: with the device glued to my ear. Turns out, I've been defying the industry's own fine-print warnings. Boy, do I feel stupid!

Driver kills boy on bike, sues boy's parents

A man convicted of manslaughter after hitting a 14-year-old boy with his car is now suing the kid's parents because they didn't make him wear a helmet.

Measuring fast-melting Arctic sea ice

Julienne Stroeve shows how dramatic changes in Arctic sea ice are occurring right now -- with enormous consequences for the whole planet.

Americans need to stop multitasking while eating alone, argues French sociologist Claude Fischler

You're not alone in eating alone -- at least in America. It's what most of us do: in front of computers and TVs, or in cars. But as the preëminent French food sociologist Claude Fischler explained, we represent one extreme end of the social-eating spectrum, and the French another -- and in getting there, we've also strayed quite far from the ways that humans have consumed food for thousands of years.

Uranium contamination found downstream of Tennessee nuclear fuel plant

A river downstream of a privately-owned nuclear fuel processing plant in East Tennessee is contaminated with enriched uranium, according to an interim report by a university scientist that was released last week.