Australia
-
Critical List: Interior to expedite oil and gas permit review; pandas trying to mate
A round-up of the news of the day.
-
Wind-powered opera slightly less extravagant than regular opera
For many people, the opera is just a chance to nap in a $300 chair under a $1,500 chandelier while wearing $2,000 worth of clothes. But one opera festival in the U.K. is making sure that its extravagance is at least powered by clean energy.
-
The only funny music video ever about organic, gluten-free hipsters
The subspecies of hipster that's into self-righteous eco-consciousness has been parodied before. But it has no more savage (or funnier) critics than Dom and Adrian, a pair of personas put on by Australian dudes who work in advertising.
-
Energy monitoring device lets dad bust up rager from 500 miles away
If this were a movie, hardware and software developer David Rowe would look like a sitting duck for teen shenanigans — I mean, we don’t know the dude, but we’re pretty sure he’s a dweeby dad (or as close as you can get in Australia). The man describes himself as “kind of a power geek” […]
-
Giant, awesome ‘tree lobster’ survived 80 years in hiding
http://vimeo.com/14413689 The Lord Howe Island stick insect, which you see hatching above, looking like an alien struggling out of a human torso, will grow to the size of your hand. It’s also called a “tree lobster” — that’s how big it is. The most incredible thing about these insects, though, is not how big they […]
-
Here is a shark swallowing another shark
Researchers from the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies took this picture of a shark eating another shark near the Great Barrier Reef. Nature is crazy!
-
Critical List: Australia floods break records; industrial agriculture is booming
Floods in Australia are rising to record levels. We told you Australia is screwed. Guys. GUYS! Mitt Romney also gave out renewable energy loans as governor of Massachusetts OMG WTF SOLYNDRA BRAIN EXPLODES. San Francisco is working to integrate electric bicycles into its car share service. Russian scientists have drilled a hole through two miles […]
-
Critical List: Toxic chemicals on the rise; baby seals in trouble
The EPA may retest water in Dimock, Pa., where residents have linked polluted water to fracking operations. In its first round of testing the town's water, the EPA declared it safe.
GM is fixing up the Volt in order to avoid in real-life battery fires like the ones that started during testing.
As winter sea ice disappears in the Arctic, fewer baby harp seals are making it.
The amount of toxic chemicals shunted into the environment went up 16 percent between 2009 and 2010, according a new EPA report.
-
Climate change gives creepy, bat-carried disease a boost
In Australia, a virus called Hendra, which has had a 60 percent mortality rate in humans, is on the rise. There were 18 outbreaks of the disease this year, more than in the 16 previous years combined, and scientists suspect that climate change had a hand in this year's surge. An animal-borne disease like West […]