Grist List
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Solar-powered tanning salon. Really.
This is real. Comedian Kyle Kinane spotted it while driving through the wasteland of unconquerable vacuity known as Southern California. The place is called Sunlounge, and it has a website and a Yelp page full of catty reviews from people who love to tan. Sunlounge says it gets 15 to 30 percent of the power […]
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Poor nations demand stringent emissions deal, unicorns
At the ongoing climate talks in Durban, South Africa, 48 of the world's "Least Developed Countries" demanded that world governments sign an ambitious climate deal. By “ambitious” we mean it commits them to a level of atmospheric greenhouse gases lower than what's currently in the atmosphere. There’s a rider requiring free Pegasuses (Pegasi?) for all […]
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Amazon deforestation decreasing … but not for long
Despite reports of localized deforestation and violence against rainforest activists, a study on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon found that the number of square kilometers disappearing each year has hit a record low. But politics has a way of screwing up progress like this, and Brazilian politicians are voting today to weaken the forest code […]
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Critical List: Scientists find Earth 2.0; rootworms defeat Monsanto corn
Scientists found a planet that looks an awful lot like Earth. One U.N. leader says that even an international treaty won't ensure the world avoids dangerous climate change. And we don't even have that! Rootworms are developing a resistance to Monsanto's Bt corn, and scientists get to say "I told you so." The Carbon War […]
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Cartoon penguins: Biggest threat to children since SpongeBob
I'm sorry, I will never get sick of right-wing wig-flipping over children's entertainment. Apparently anything but VeggieTales is Marxist indoctrination to some people — and what with Big Government pushing healthy eating, it's not long before a wholesome Christian message isn't enough to keep talking vegetables conservative-friendly. You'll remember, of course, the "Fox & Friends" […]
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The Onion warns that global warming could be irreversible within negative five years
If you've ever felt confused about the definition of "lolsob," read this Onion headline: "Report: Global Warming May Be Irreversible By 2006." Oy. The Onion has been on a roll lately of just reporting the news straight and letting it satirize itself (see also: "Rumors Of Extramarital Affair End Campaign Of Presidential Candidate Who Didn't […]
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This is what Antarctica looks like naked
Scientists have made a detailed map of Antarctica's rock bed — what the land looks like underneath the ice — as part of their attempt to predict how the continent might respond to global warming. Figuring out what will happen when Antarctic ice melts requires an understanding of what's going on down below: Scientists are […]
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What record emissions growth really shows us
2010 saw the single biggest jump in carbon emissions ever. It's like we're addicted to perpetrating the most heinous crimes possible on our own children, and we can't stop! What's up with that? It's easy to blame countries like China, which is now the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet, what with its […]
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Cloning a mammoth: Totally gonna happen
Back in August, a team of scientists uncovered a woolly mammoth's thigh bone, which had been so well preserved in Siberian permafrost that it offered the possibility of creating a mammoth clone. And this weekend, a team of Japanese and Russian scientist announced that, yes, they are going to do this thing. Mammoth clones. They're […]
