Grist List
-
![]()
![]()
Four innovations that will make the future less wasteful
The New York Times Magazine has a lovely list of “innovations that will change your tomorrow.” Many of these innovations will give people fabulous new ways to consume more: New coffee! More screens! Underwear that monitors how lazy you are! But a few will also change our tomorrows to help people use less. Naturally, those […]
-
![]()
![]()
Spacecraft could be killing endangered antelope
Add these two factoids to your store of knowledge about Kazakhstan, which, admit it, consists mostly of “It’s on the Risk board?” (it’s not! You’re thinking of Kamchatka) and “Borat is from there.” The central Asian country provides habitat for the endangered saiga antelope, which has a face like a fuzzy alien from Sesame Street. […]
-
Critical List: Climate change could reduce plants’ power output; Texas power prices could triple
Power plants depend on river and lake water to keep their operations cool. Climate change is going to make that water warmer and keep plants from making as much power. Power prices in Texas may triple. Utility commissioners worry that without higher prices, the state will consume too much energy and face summer blackouts. Activists […]
-
![]()
![]()
Beverage industry to NYC: Ignore the mayor. Soda’s totally cool
Well, that didn’t take long. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that NYC would be banning sugary drinks if they came in containers bigger than 16 ounces. And today, the American Beverage Association is pushing back with an ad that says, basically, “Do not believe that science over there! Believe this science that says soda is […]
-
![]()
![]()
Queen of England to eat invasive species pie
Enemies of invasive species have been advocating for a diabolical solution to doing away with unwanted species: Eat them! And while most people are not down with eating sautéed iguana or lionfish ceviche, on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II will be honored with a gift of lamprey pie — a dish […]
-
![]()
![]()
Galaxy, right ahead! The Milky Way’s on course for a head-on collision
One day, this is what the night sky will look like. Yup, that’s a galaxy (Andromeda, to be specific) headed straight for … our galaxy! Andromeda’s rushing towards us at the crazy fast speed of 250,000 miles per hour. Luckily, it is a galaxy far, far away, and so it will take 3.75 billion years […]
-
Global warming could wipe out the goth population
As a former goth, I had to love this article from British satire site NewsBiscuit about the latest species to be threatened by climate change: the normally nocturnal, tree-dwelling Common Goth. Britain’s Goth population, identifiable by its distinctive eye markings, peaked at around 90,000 in the 1970s, but since then has been driven out of […]
-
Critical List: Carbon dioxide hits 400 ppm in the Arctic; bedbugs don’t like boozy blood
Carbon dioxide levels in the Arctic have reached 400 parts per million (ppm). Once upon a time, they were 275 ppm. 350 ppm is considered a decent level to aim for these days. Peanut butter and deli meats have traces of flame retardant in them. Fishing fleets don’t care what regulators say — they’ll fish […]
-
![]()
![]()
Old photographs found in basement help scientists unravel warming patterns
While cleaning out a basement at the National Survey and Cadastre of Denmark, researchers found a box full of glass photo plates from a 1930s expedition to Greenland. The forgotten photos showed detailed aerial and ground-level pictures of 132 Greenland glaciers — which allowed scientists to study how the glaciers changed over a much longer period […]
