3 March 2016 Suzanne Goldenberg A US government agency says it has attained the “holy grail” of energy – the next-generation system of battery storage, that has has been hotly pursued by the likes of Bill Gates and Elon Musk. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Arpa-E) – a branch of the Department of Energy – says it achieved its breakthrough technology in seven…
By JOHN SCHWARTZ FEB. 26, 2016 Photo Credit Adrees Latif/Reuters Beekeepers using a smoker to calm colonies before transferring them to another crop near Columbia Falls, Me. Plants that depend on pollination make up 35 percent of global crop production volume with a value of as much as $577 billion a year. The birds and the bees need help. Also, the butterflies, moths, wasps, beetles…
by Andy Borowitz (May 12th) Credit PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA EO/REX/FEATURES VIA AP MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report) – Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports. The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any…
Be realistic: Path to failure Feb 22, 2016 08:06 am | Robert Rubinstein Whenever I have tried to do something that gives me energy or seems to be my passion, it often challenges the status quo. The most widely repeated comment that I hear from colleagues and relations is “BE REALISTIC. Don’t bother. It won’t work. Too hard. System too entrenched. It…
by Charles Riley February 19, 2016: 11:03 AM ET I live in the world's most polluted city. I also have asthma. I moved to New Delhi in October, to take up a new post with CNN. I had heard the warnings from colleagues and friends: The air in Delhi is bad, they said. Really bad. I mostly ignored them. Related: Delhi's…
February 22, 2014 AOL You remember Koko the gorilla, right? Koko was born in the '70s at the San Francisco Zoo. Francine (Penny) Patterson, then a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford, started studying young Koko's linguistics capabilities and eventually taught her a rudimentary version of sign language. Over the years, Koko has become a gorilla celebrity and spokes-ape for global conservation efforts. She…
September 26, 2014 As Solano County enjoys an incredible new flow of water in local creeks after the recent Napa earthquake, experts are speculating what might be the source of this “bonus from nature”. Officials report that at least 200,000 gallons of water per day are flowing from Wild Horse Creek, with many other areas reporting similar phenomena. Water quality tests performed…
By Mike Waters Mon Feb. 15, 2016 Our basic understanding of energy is fundamentally flawed. 100% energy efficiency is not a rational barrier in a universe composed of energy. I use the wind industry as an example because the error we have made regarding the nature of energy itself can be explained using similar logic. In the wind industry, a simple mistake has…
By Mike Waters Mon Feb. 15, 2016 Crises We now face the greatest convergence of global crises in the history of our civilization. Each is synergistic and complex. The cascading consequences of these threats are beyond our current ability to address with current strategy, science, technology, resources or politics. Population levels are increasing rapidly while a broad range of finite vital resources…
By Gregory Barber Fri Jan. 29, 2016 Discarded plastic will outweigh fish in the world's oceans by 2050, according to a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. That is, unless overfishing moves the date up sooner. The study, a collaboration with the World Economic Forum, found that 32 percent of plastic packaging escapes waste collection systems, gets into waterways, and is eventually…