Month: November 2011

  • 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…

  • Da Vinci’s Last Supper faces new threat of damage from air pollution

    Having survived long centuries, political upheaval, and even bombings during World War II, Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece Last Supper now faces the risk of damage from air pollution due to its location in one of Western Europe’s most polluted cities. In late 2009, the refectory of Santa Maria Delle Grazie Church, where the painting is…

  • Silk Versus Synthetic Fibers

    Scientists at Oxford University and The University of Sheffield have demonstrated that natural silks are a thousand times more efficient than common plastics when it comes to forming fibers. A report of the research is published this week in the journal Advanced Materials. The finding comes from comparing silk from the Chinese silkworm to molten…

  • Sustainability Culture Saves Billions for DuPont

    Davide Vassallo is a global practices leader for DuPont’s Sustainable Solutions Group. As environmental stewards for a company that is the owner and operator of more than 150 production facilities around the world, his group has found that energy efficiency improvements can often be achieved for little or no cost. After running a large number…

  • Bathtub-sized marine sponge rediscovered after a century of extinction

    Not found alive for over a century the evocatively named Neptune’s cup sponge (Cliona patera) has been rediscovered off the shores of Singapore. Researchers with the environmental consulting DHI Group found the species during a routine dive. Although the specimen they found was small, the goblet-shaped sponge can reach nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) high…

  • Can Soup and BPA

    Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications. As it has been known to be estrogenic since the mid 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media…

  • UN Climate Chief warns Science, not politics must drive Durban climate talks

    Global climate talks need to focus on the growing threat from extreme weather and shift away from political squabbles that hobble progress toward a tougher pact to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, the head of the U.N. climate panel said. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries meet in Durban, South Africa, on Monday for two-week talks,…

  • London Bridge Will Soon Be All Lit Up With LEDs!

    London Bridge hasn’t fallen down–yet. But any 117-year old bridge is bound to need a few updates here and there. The latest round of improvements will help cut the amount of energy required to light the landmark by 40 percent. There’s no denying that London Bridge is an icon–a song praising its usefulness in times…

  • Date and Rate of Earth’s Most Extreme Extinction Pinpointed: Results Stem from Largest Ever Examination of Fossil Marine Species

    ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2011) — It’s well known that Earth’s most severe mass extinction occurred about 250 million years ago. What’s not well known is the specific time when the extinctions occurred. A team of researchers from North America and China have published a paper in Science which explicitly provides the date and rate of…

  • Snack on that! Are insects the future of food?

    With seven billion people to feed, agriculture is feeling the strain. So are creepie crawlies the solution? Gavin Haines takes a closer look