Articles by Grist staff

Not-So-Sunny Bonobos

Nearly a quarter of the world’s primate species are endangered by human activities, according to the World Conservation Union. The group — which is composed of 10,000 scientists, several hundred of whom are meeting in the U.S. this week to discuss the problem — says 50 of 600 primate species are critically endangered, while 88 […]

Patently Absurd

In a decision hailed by environmental and development groups, the European Patent Office yesterday revoked a patent granted six years ago for an anti-fungal product derived from the neem tree, which is widely grown in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and has been used for centuries to make medicines, insect repellants, cosmetics, and contraceptives. The scientists […]

Baa Baa Baa Bad to the Bone

Levels of radioactivity from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster are likely to remain high in parts of Northern Europe for 100 times longer than originally estimated, according to a report published in the journal Nature. Researchers from Britain and the Netherlands found that the environment is not cleansing itself as fast as expected, particularly in the […]

The Great Ice-Scape

Three gigantic icebergs broke off from the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica early this month and are now adrift, say scientists at the U.S. National Ice Center. The icebergs have a combined surface area slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut. An unusually high number of icebergs have calved from Antarctica’s Ronne and Ross ice […]