Environment

Miscanes: Genetically Modified Sugarcane Can Grow Farther North

U.S. farmers have long hoped to extend sugarcane's growing range northward from the Gulf coast because it substantially increase the land available for sugar and (for as long as subsidies last) biofuels. Several hybrid canes developed in the 1980s ha ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 4 2015 - 2:21pm

GMOs Have Formaldehyde? Bizarre Claim Challenged By Experts

Perhaps the most effective way to scare consumers and regulatory agencies alike is to suggest that a certain product contains a ‘dangerous’ chemical. Even more effective? Have a scientist with four degrees from MIT — but none in food science or genetics — ...

Article - Kavin Senapathy - Jul 30 2015 - 2:52pm

Building Blocks Of Life Found Among Organic Compounds On Comet 67P

Scientists analyzing the latest data from Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko have discovered molecules that can form sugars and amino acids, which are the building blocks of life as we know it. While this is a long, long way from finding life itself, the dat ...

Article - The Conversation - Jul 31 2015 - 7:00am

Clean Energy Can Now Leave Wacky Environmentalists Behind

It used to be that clean energy was something that environmental lobbyists pretended to care about, at least when it came to raising money.  Greenpeace, NRDC, you name it, they all put clean energy in their tool chest of ways to get their hundreds and hund ...

Article - Hank Campbell - May 16 2016 - 12:31pm

No One Talks About How Flowers Are Killing Bees

Among all the hype about bee deaths, there is an overwhelming amount of discussion about pesticides and blinders on about parasites and disease and even climate change, but one thing gets no mention at all: Flowers. But they are a grave danger to bees, acc ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 5 2015 - 3:00am

Global Warming Floods: Wealthy People Impacted Most

Today, many wealthy countries are able to mitigate, to some degree, their risk of delta flooding through vulnerability-reducing investments, but a new model suggests that this mitigation may not be sustainable in the long-term. Ultimately, wealthy countri ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 12 2015 - 9:21am

Canary In The Gold King Mine: EPA Spill Won't Be The Last

You are gazing over the clear stream, thinking of fishing the crystal waters in the Rockies. The next morning, you are stunned to see an orange-yellow sludge covering the stream as far as you can see. Is this the Colorado Gold King Mine spill into Cement ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 20 2015 - 7:51am

Drought In Europe Worst Since 2003

Much of the European continent has been affected by a severe drought so far this summer, one of the worst since the drought and heat wave of summer of 2003, according to the latest report by the European Drought Observatory (EDO). The drought, which partic ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 20 2015 - 1:04pm

Coffee Boom Has Not Helped Poorer Nations

The explosion in coffee consumption in the past two decades has generally not benefited farmers of coffee beans in poorer nations along the equator, it has mostly just helped corporations, including those marketing "fair trade" as some sort of e ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 25 2015 - 9:00am

Hypoallergenic Parks Coming Soon

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, you are probably sick of it. So are allergy sufferers around the world. We can make a phone that could land a man on the Moon and create potatoes that don't brown but allergy solutions eluse us.  ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 30 2015 - 4:00pm