In The News

Could Compost Piles Someday Heat a Home?

Kenneth Sturtz June 28, 2011
Organic waste is part of everyone’s garbage, and a group of high school students in upstate New York have set out to study if compost piles could someday heat homes. In that part of the world average low mid-winter temperatures dip below -10 degrees Celsius. Bacteria and microorganisms break down organic materials and produce heat as a byproduct. The students studied three industrial-sized...

Today's Weather Affects Attitudes on Global Warming

Jeanna Bryner April 14, 2011
By far, most climate scientists point to evidence that human activity contributes to volatile weather, severe storms and droughts, melting polar ice and climate change. But it’s human nature to ignore long-term evidence and instead rely on day-to-day observations. Individuals check a weather forecast – if it’s chilly or snowing outside, that’s enough to reduce evidence of global warming for them...

Multitude of Species Face Climate Threat

Carl Zimmer April 8, 2011
Biologists monitoring Earth’s loss of biodiversity predict a sixth great mass extinction could be underway. Overfishing, overhunting, deforestation, development and climate could be behind some eerie changes: polar bears losing ice; whales, fish and birds adjusting migration patterns; butterflies hatching from pupae earlier, mountainside animals and plants forced to move to new heights....

China "to Overtake US on Science" in Two Years

David Shukman April 6, 2011
With a growing economy and rising surplus, China has invested heavily in education and R&D. "Chinese spending has grown by 20% per year since 1999, now reaching over $100bn, and as many as 1.5 million science and engineering students graduated from Chinese universities in 2006," reports David Shukman for the BBC News. A study by the UK's national science academy compares the...

In a Borderless World, Innovation Reigns Supreme

Ashok Bardhan April 4, 2011
Economists and policymakers recognize that investment in research and development – by government or industry – contributes to innovation, employment and higher living standards. In pursuit of bigger markets and lower costs US firms started the trend of relocating manufacturing and services overseas, and now R&D activities follow, explains economist Ashok Bardhan. The transfers raise...

Mother Nature’s Melting Pot

Hugh Raffles April 4, 2011
Environmental preservationists often raise alarms about invasive species – whether it’s Asian carp in the US or Norway rats or Canada geese in China. The “natural landscape is a shifting mosaic of plant and animal life,” argues anthropologist Hugh Raffles in an opinion essay for the New York Times. Labels “native” or “alien” bestowed by humans on others are misnomers, ignoring how migration is an...

How Japan's Quake Disaster May Damage Tech Business

Kit Eaton March 16, 2011
First and foremost, the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and then breakdown of nuclear reactors are horrific tragedies. Most of the globe focuses on the loss of human life, numbering in the tens of thousands, with many more displaced. Every day, reports emerge about how the tragedy will affect the rest of the globe in numerous ways. Global businesses and consumers will soon realize just how much they...