Latest Articles
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Giving Pandas a Leg Up
Some captive male pandas in China will soon be given the anti-impotence drug Viagra to boost their sex drive in an attempt to save the species from extinction. Scientists have tried a number of other methods to lift the animals’ sagging libidos, including traditional Chinese medicine, but most efforts to breed the animals in captivity […]
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Biking the Hand That Feeds You
Pedal Express, a bicycle delivery company in Berkeley, Calif., has teamed up with a local nonprofit youth group to run a program that delivers fresh organic produce to Berkeley residents. Teenagers in Berkeley Youth Alternatives work part-time growing veggies on a half-acre community garden, earning money and school credit. Once a week, the produce is […]
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Toad Kill
Frogs, toads, and other amphibians throughout the world are disappearing at an alarming rate, according to the biggest statistical study of the topic ever completed, published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. Researchers found that the overall numbers of amphibians dropped 15 percent a year from 1960 to 1966, and continued to decline about […]
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That Leaves Plenty of Room for a Disney Rainforest Theme Park
Illegal logging and farming in Brazil’s Amazon last year destroyed 6,347 square miles of rainforest, an area bigger than Hawaii, according to a report released this week by the Brazilian government. The report found that despite increased policing of threatened areas, the pace of deforestation in the world’s largest rainforest remained as high in 1999 […]
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Atlantic salmon are even worse off than their Pacific cousins
To catch an Atlantic salmon in the Machias River back in the 1940s — and we’re talking a legitimate salmon here, maybe 30 or 40 pounds — didn’t require a knack with rod and reel, nor even the wily patience of the angler. Mostly what you needed was decent aim with a rifle or pitchfork […]
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Putin Their Mouth Where Their Money Is
Russia’s Ministry of Atomic Energy announced yesterday that it would like to import and reprocess 20,000 tons of nuclear waste, a proposal that could bring in some $21 billion over 10 years and help boost the nation’s economy. The ministry anticipates that most of the waste would be spent fuel rods from civilian nuclear power […]
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Big Trees From the Big Guy
President Clinton has scheduled a trip for this Saturday to California’s Sierra Nevada, where he is expected to announce the creation of a new national monument to protect groves of giant sequoias. The monument, which Clinton can designate without approval from Congress, could encompass as much as 355,000 acres of land now in the Sequoia […]
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Hunt and Picket
The Makah Indian tribe of Washington state is gearing up for another whale hunt, 11 months after its first hunt in 70 years drew international attention and impassioned protests from many environmentalists. The U.S. government made a deal in 1997 with the International Whaling Commission that allows the Makahs to kill up to five gray […]
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Bawl's in Their Court
A federal appeals court panel ruled yesterday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acted properly in rejecting a bid for closer review of safety issues surrounding the renewal of the operating licenses for the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in southern Maryland. The NRC voted last month to extend the life of the Calvert Cliffs complex […]
