Category: Uncategorized

  • Inside Climate News Wins Pulitzer Prize

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    This year’s national Pulitzer Prize went to an unlikely recipient: “InsideClimate News reporters Elizabeth McGowan, Lisa Song and David Hasemyer are the winners of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. The trio took top honors in the category for their work on “The Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You’ve Never Heard Of,” a…

  • Former Pro-GMO Scientist Speaks Out on the Dangers of Genetically Modified Food

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    May 6, 2013 by THIERRY VRAIN I retired 10 years ago after a long career as a research scientist for Agriculture Canada. When I was on the payroll, I was the designated scientist of my institute to address public groups and reassure them that genetically engineered crops and foods were safe. There is, however, a…

  • Stunning Entries for National Geographic’s 2013 Traveler Photo Contest

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Photographers can enter their favorite travel memories in any of four categories including travel portraits, outdoor scenes, sense of place and spontaneous moments. Hanging About: A two year old mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) of the Sabinyo family, plays in the bamboo forest of Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. In 1981, this population fell to 240…

  • Nanoscavengers – the next generation of water purifiers?

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    This new technology could be the answer to water pollution. Among its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers. The hitch…

  • Robo Raven

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    After years of experiments, Dr. S.K. Gupta along with students Eli Barnett, John Gerdes, Johannes Kempny, Ariel Perez-Rosado, and Luke Roberts finally succeeded in  building a bird with completely independent wings.  By programming them with arbitrary motion profiles, the group can try new in-flight aerobatics that would not have been possible before. For example, the mechanical bird…

  • Should Human Genes Be Patentable?

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Reposted from Andrew Sullivan’s blog “The Dish.” Florence Williams asks why a company should be allowed to patent the genes  that prompted Jolie’s double mastectomy: Although they reside in our bodies, the BRCA genes are effectively owned by a bio-tech giant, Myriad Genetics, which patented the genes in the mid-1990s. Should a single corporation control access to DNA…

  • Seven Beautiful Spots Saved by the Environmental Movement

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Jennifer Weeks’ article reminds us of why the environmental fight is so worth it.  Enjoy! To celebrate Earth Day, visit a spot that was almost flooded, polluted, or paved over. By Jennifer Weeks|Posted Friday, April 19, 2013, at 7:47 AM   Storm King Mountain on the banks of the Hudson River in New YorkCourtesy of Ahodges7/Wikimedia…

  • Beyond Capitalism – Gar Alperovitz

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

  • New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    By: Clare O’Connor, Forbes Staff Buycott shows you a product’s corporate family tree while you shop. In her keynote speech at last year’s annual Netroots Nation gathering, Darcy Burnerpitched a seemingly simple idea to the thousands of bloggers and web developers in the audience. The former Microsoft MSFT +1.51%programmer and congressional candidate proposed a smartphone app allowing shoppers to swipe…

  • Indian man single-handedly plants a 1,360-acre forest

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Jadav Payeng turned a barren sandbar in northern India into a lush new forest ecosystem. By Stephen Messenger Fri, Dec 21 2012 at 1:20 PM Forests & Trees, TreeHugger The forest, called the Molai woods, is a safe haven for numerous birds, deer, rhinos, tigers and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss. (Photo:…