In The News

UK Government Paves Way for Driverless Cars

December 26, 2013
Government oversight and vision are essential for radical new technologies – and the United Kingdom is determined to lead on driverless vehicles. “The government has announced that it wants to make the UK a world centre for the development of driverless cars,” reports BBC News. “Many envisage a future when we may not own cars at all but simply hail one to fulfil all our transportation needs.” The...

China: 5 Great Things About Toxic Air

Emily Rauhala December 12, 2013
As Time Magazine writer Emily Rauhala notes, you can’t make this stuff up. China and neighboring nations are blanketed in dangerous pollution and smog – and Chinese state-run media offered five “surprising benefits”; these include unifying Chinese people, making China more equal, making people more knowledgeable and providing a topic for humor. Perhaps the broadcasters were trying their hand at...

The Philippines’ Tough Rebuilding Task

Pacific Strategies and Assessments December 9, 2013
Disaster relief and reconstruction offers especially tough challenges for developing nations like the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. Displacement adds to immediate shelter, health, sanitation and economic problems, and that is a first priority. “The reconstruction and rehabilitation process, however, will also include rebuilding damaged infrastructures, restoring power and water supply, and...

Chinese Territorial Strife Hits Archaeology

Jeremy Page December 4, 2013
Shoals and reefs dotting the South China Sea, now subject to competing claims from several nations, once presented treacherous traps for passing ships over the centuries. International law on deep-sea shipwrecks is murky, and recovery rights clash with preservation and research efforts. Owners, funders, cargo and crews often hailed from multiple countries, reports Jeremy Page for the Wall Street...

Typhoon in Philippines Casts Long Shadow Over UN Talks on Climate Treaty

Henry Fountain, Justin Gillis November 13, 2013
Those worried about climate change are not waiting for scientific deliberation that Typhoon Haiyan is a consequence of a warming planet. The typhoon is reported to have killed thousands in the Philippines, and relief organizations struggle to reach survivors with needed food, water and supplies. Some delegates in Warsaw for UN talks on a climate treaty point to the typhoon as “the cost of...

Power From the Sea?

October 21, 2013
The nonstop movement of ocean wavers could make them an ideal source for energy. Zhong Lin Wang leads a team at Georgia Institute of Technology that developed “an inexpensive and simple prototype of a triboelectric nanogenerator that could be used to produce energy and as a chemical or temperature sensor,” reports Phys.org. The research was introduced in the journal Angewandte Chemie, and Phys....

Treaty Curbing Mercury Emissions Becomes International

October 18, 2013
A new global treaty will limit products and processes that can release mercury – which attacks the nervous system – and require safe storage before the year 2020. This includes batteries, some fluorescent lamps, skin-whitening soaps, thermometers and blood pressure devices, and the convention will also control the biggest sources of mercury pollution including “emissions and releases from...