Green Technology
Trash Reap: 10 Surprising Recycling Efforts--from Bras to Crayons [Slide Show]
Submitted by staff on Thu, 04/19/2012 - 06:00
ShareThisRecycling has made huge gains in the last couple decades. The rate of municipal waste that gets recycled more than doubled in 2010 to 34 percent from 16 percent in 1990, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Still, about half of the nation’s 225 million metric tons of annual trash gets the "one and done" treatment.
New Technology Allows Better Extreme Weather Forecasts
Submitted by staff on Tue, 04/17/2012 - 05:00
ShareThisAfter the deafening roar of a thunderstorm, an eerie silence descends. Then the blackened sky over Joplin, Mo., releases the tentacles of an enormous, screaming multiple-vortex tornado. Winds exceeding 200 miles per hour tear a devastating path three quarters of a mile wide for six miles through the town, destroying schools, a hospital, businesses and homes and claiming roughly 160 lives.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu Discusses the "Weird Little Bacteria" in Our Energy Future
Submitted by staff on Sun, 04/15/2012 - 22:00EPA Cancels Grant Applications for $20 Million Green Chemistry Program
Submitted by staff on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 10:45
ShareThisIn an announcement that stunned scientists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cancelled grant applications for what was supposed to be a $20-million, four-year green chemistry program.
First Dedicated Biorefinery Could Wean Hawaii Off Imported Oil
Submitted by staff on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 05:01
ShareThisOn former pineapple fields outside of Honolulu, an industrial tube has been erected, ensconced in a steel scaffold. Dwarfed by the nearby oil refinery, the modest tube represents an attempt to one day wean Hawaii from imported oil .
Different Strokes: New Lower-Pollution Auto Rickshaw Engines Could Save Lives, Curb Climate Change [Slide Show]
Submitted by staff on Fri, 04/06/2012 - 11:35
ShareThisBanned in Delhi for a decade, smog-spewing combustion engine–powered rickshaws are fading away in India and in many other countries, thanks not only to inroads by minivans, but also to improved rickshaw motor designs coupled with laws to mothball dirtier models. In January, for example, Jakarta officials seized 30 unlicensed rickshaws.
Snappy Science: Stretched Rubber Bands Are Loaded with Potential Energy!
Submitted by staff on Thu, 04/05/2012 - 08:00Flame Retardants May Create Deadlier Fires
Submitted by staff on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 10:30
ShareThisIn one of the deadliest nightclub fires in American history, 100 people died at a rock concert in Rhode Island nearly a decade ago. But the biggest killer wasn't the flames; it was lethal gases released from burning sound-insulation foam and other plastics.
U.S. Military Forges Ahead with Plans to Combat Climate Change
Submitted by staff on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 09:20
ShareThisThe U.S. military's elite forces have always pushed the envelope. And this summer will be no exception, as the Navy deploys SEALs with $2 million of new gear on missions to save hostages, combat pirates, and counter terrorism around the world. What sort of next-generation weaponry, armor, or transportation will the funds provide?
Radioactive Iodine from Fukushima Found in California Kelp
Submitted by staff on Fri, 03/30/2012 - 10:35
ShareThisLONG BEACH, Calif. – Kelp off Southern California was contaminated with short-lived radioisotopes a month after Japan’s Fukushima accident, a sign that the spilled radiation reached the state’s urban coastline, according to a new scientific study.
