Latest Articles

Y2 OK?

One third of U.S. nuclear power plants still have work to do on their non-safety computer systems if they are to be ready for Y2K, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said yesterday. But computers controlling safety systems at all 103 nuclear plants are free of problems that could cause radiation leaks, the NRC claims. However, Rep. […]

A Sandy Dunkin'

Many U.S. beaches are washing away, being pushed into decline by erosion, coastal overdevelopment, and wrongheaded conservation efforts. Billions of dollars have been spent in the U.S. to keep beaches in place, but efforts in many cases have only exacerbated erosion. Ecologists say that for beaches to survive, they must be free to move and […]

A new preserve keeps chilis from going up in smoke

A tongue-smoking red chili may stay out of hot water thanks to a new botanical area in Arizona, the first in the U.S. set aside to protect wild relatives of domesticated crops. The botanical area — a four-square-mile parcel in the Coronado National Forest, 50 miles south of Tucson — was officially dedicated to the […]

Outtasight Insight in Sight

Honda will be hawking its new 80-mile-per-gallon “Insight” in showrooms across the U.S. by the end of this year, the company announced yesterday. The two-seat coupe will be the world’s most fuel-efficient, gas-powered, mass-produced vehicle. The Insight, which will be priced below $20,000 in the U.S., has a three-cylinder gasoline engine assisted by an electric […]

Back Scratch Fever

The Senate is packing the Interior Department spending bill with measures to benefit oil, gas, timber, mining, and ranching interests. Riders would let oil companies keep hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties owed to the public, miners dump thousands of tons of waste on federal lands, timber companies log more of Alaska’s forests, and […]

Belgium Waffles on Nukes

A plan to gradually eliminate nuclear power in Belgium is threatening the nation’s fledgling government — an alliance between Liberal, Socialist, and Green parties — before it even takes office. Meanwhile, an internal battle is raging in Germany’s Green Party, with younger members who favor free markets and less regulation railing against older, more leftist […]

Yucky Truckies

Government regulators are planning to clamp down on diesel trucks, buses, and other vehicles, which make up only 2.5 percent of vehicles on the road but account for 26 percent of nitrogen oxides and up to 70 percent of soot in urban air. Federal rules permit diesel vehicles to emit much more pollution than standard […]

Stop Your Blubbering

Norway, which since 1986 has flouted an international ban on commercial whaling, has stockpiled about 500 tons of blubber from thousands of minke whales, which it hopes to someday sell to the Japanese. The Japanese consider the blubber to be a delicacy, but its sale abroad is outlawed by the Convention on International Trade in […]

Hyperlinks Save Lynx

Last-minute gifts from technology millionaires and others throughout Washington state have helped raise enough money to spare a major wilderness area along the U.S.-Canadian border from logging. Donations of $3 million have come in during the last week, making a total of $13.1 million that enviros have raised to buy logging rights to 25,000 acres […]

Rewriting the Story of the Ant and the Grasshopper

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper plays his fiddle and dances the summer away. Come winter the ant is warm and fed. The grasshopper dies in the cold. This tale is attributed to Aesop, a Greek ex-slave who lived around 600 B.C. […]