Articles by Sarah K. Burkhalter

The what, where, and why of E85 ethanol

If you’re like the rest of us, you’ve probably heard of E85 — yet don’t have the slightest idea what it is. Or if you do have an idea, it’s, well, slight. But never fear, friends and neighbors: We’ve got the skinny on the corn-a-rific fuel that’s increasingly on the tips of tongues and in […]

Bird flu will enter the U.S. from the south, say researchers

While the pure panic over a global avian flu pandemic seems to have died down, the virus continues to spread. To date, H5N1 has showed up in 55 countries, but has not yet touched the Western Hemisphere. Also to date, the U.S. government has assumed that the most likely route for bird flu's arrival into the lower 48 would be through wild birds; accordingly, they've put some $29 million into surveilling wild birds migrating from Asia to Alaska and down.

And I claimed there were no eco-friendly chaps in the English Premier League

I stand corrected. Back in the day I claimed that there were no eco-friendly chaps in the English Premier League. But lo and behold -- I bring you Calamity James.

James, a goalkeeper for Portsmouth, was born David, not Calamity, but seeing as Wikipedia lists him under the heading "Notable footballers prone to errors," it's a deserved nickname. Still, judging from a recent op-ed, at least his heart's in the right place.

James berates English football (yes, soccer, whatever) for its eco-slackerness:

A lighthearted look at biofuels through time

The way most people talk about biofuels, you’d think they were a brand-new invention. But using natural products for fuel is an idea as old as the hills, as this highly selective timeline demonstrates. Mid-1800s: Soap-makers begin to transesterify vegetable oils — you know, exchanging the alkoxy group of an ester compound by using another […]