Month: November 2010

  • Modern Insecticides’ Devastating Effects

    Like DDT before it, a new class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids is believed to be causing drastic population declines in bird species. It is so effective at killing insects, that it has deprived birds of their basic food. Some scientists also believe they are behind the decline in bee populations in Europe and the…

  • Success! Hayabusa Captured Asteroid Dust

    In July, Japanese scientists announced that they had found something inside Hayabusa’s 40cm-wide sample return capsule, but it was far from certain as to what that “something” was. Was it dusty contamination from reentry? Or was it precious asteroid dust, the very thing the sample return mission set out to capture? Now we have an…

  • Chevy Cruze Eco Earns 42 MPG Highway Rating

    Things are heating up in the small car segment. GMhas rated its Chevy Cruze Eco model at 42 mpg highway. That beats out many pricier hybrids and sets a new bar in the under-$20,000 segment.

  • Troposphere is warming too, decades of data show

    Not only is Earth’s surface warming, but the troposphere — the lowest level of the atmosphere, where weather occurs — is heating up too, U.S. and British meteorologists reported on Monday. In a review of four decades of data on troposphere temperatures, the scientists found that warming in this key atmospheric layer was occurring, just…

  • Contest Challenges Youth to “Get to Know” Their Wild Neighbors

    Renowned wildlife artists Robert Bateman and Wyland are challenging American youth to get outdoors and “get to know” their wild neighbors of other species by entering the Get to Know Contest. Youth age 5-18 are invited to create art, writing photography and video entries based on first-hand experiences with nature, which they can submit at…

  • The New Floods and Draughts

    Dust storms scour Iraq. Freak floods wreak havoc in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Rising sea levels erode Egypt’s coast. Tuvulu and the Seychelles may disappear altogether as hey submerge into the ocean. A comprehensive vulnerability index suggests you move to Scandinavia, Ireland or Iceland as slightly safer places. The teeming plains of Asia are at…

  • EPA is Seeking New Standards for Home Efficiency Retrofits

    In seeking to establish new standards for home improvements that would increase energy efficiency, the EPA is asking for comments from the public. They have released a draft protocol which contains a series of best practice tools that would protect indoor air quality during a home energy retrofit. The goal is to devise a set…

  • A Devilish Grass Invades the West

    Armed with pointed tips so sharp that neither cows nor deer will eat it, medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae) is an invasive grass species that seems to have stepped right out of the Little Shop of Horrors. With no enemies, it is spreading rapidly throughout the western United States, outcompeting native grasses and even other grass invaders.…

  • Xerox Employees’ Green Ideas Save Company $10.2 Million

    One way to dismiss sustainability and any smidgen of corporate social responsibility is to shout the antiquated argument that we only have a choice between the economy and the environment. Xerox has shown that is not the case. Last year the company announced it was working on carbon neutrality; to that end, in the push…

  • Arab world among most vulnerable to climate change

    Dust storms scour Iraq. Freak floods wreak havoc in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Rising sea levels erode Egypt’s coast. Hotter, drier weather worsens water scarcity in the Middle East, already the world’s most water-short region. The Arab world is already suffering impacts consistent with climate change predictions. Although scientists are wary of linking specific events…