Grist List

Critical List: A feathered cousin of T. rex; a solar panel thinner than spider silk

The Yutyrannus, a newly discovered dinosaur, was huge, related to Tyrannosaurus rex, and covered in feathers. Thousands of dead dolphins have been washing up on Peruvian beaches. Austrian and Japanese scientists teamed up to make a solar panel that’s thinner than a thread of spider silk. Drought in England means that anyone caught using a […]

Sarah Laskow

Four cars, built by teenagers, that get over 1,000 miles per gallon

The Shell Eco-Marathon is sort of a weird contradiction: It's all about challenging students to make hyper-fuel-efficient cars, i.e. kind of the opposite of Shell's goals.

Jess Zimmerman Technology

Monster hailstone will eat your family

Man alive, check out the hailstone that fell in sunny Hawaii earlier this month. It’s four inches long and it has TEETH. I’m not actually convinced it’s not an embryonic yeti.

Jess Zimmerman Climate & Energy

Flame retardants can turn a burning room into a gas chamber

You know brominated and chlorinated flame retardants are bad when when even Walmart bans them from its products. Unfortunately, some fire codes require them.

Christopher Mims Culture

Half-bike, half-car Velomobile goes 80 miles on 6 cents of electricity

The only thing better than a Velomobile is an electric Velomobile, which is the exact same thing, but with the addition of a kit to electrify the bike.

Christopher Mims Transportation

A cookbook you can eat

A German design firm has created a cookbook made of fresh pasta. The pasta is printed with a lasagna recipe, so that the pages of the cookbook actually become the layers of the dish.

Sarah Laskow Food

Fungi can eat pollution right out of the soil

Fungi are freaking amazing: Give them enough time and they will eat anything, even the toxins spread over polluted sites around the world. Mohamed Hijri, a professor at the University of Montreal, figured — why wait for nature to take its time neutralizing the damage we’ve done to the planet? Why not urge it along? […]

Sarah Laskow Health

Critical List: Interior to expedite oil and gas permit review; pandas trying to mate

A round-up of the news of the day.