Rajendra K. Pachauri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cuba Relies on Urban Gardens to Feed Hungry Populace : TreeHugger

Planet Ark/Reuters has a nice piece out of Havana about how urban gardens are filling a key void in food production after three hurricanes wiped out 30 percent of the country's farm crops. In Cuba, urban gardens have proliferated in

World Briefing - Europe - Giving Them an Inch, and a Pint - NYTimes.com

The European Parliament voted to allow the continued use of the pint and the mile on Tuesday, a relief for Britain and Ireland.

Engineering algae to make fuel instead of sugar

PhysOrg.com: In pursuing cleaner energy there is such a thing as being too green. Unicellular microalgae, for instance, can be considered too green. In a paper in a special energy issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley describe a method for using microalgae for making biofuel. The researchers explain a way to genetically modify the tiny organisms, so as to minimize the number of chlorophyll molecules needed to harvest light without compromising the photosynthesis process in the cells. With this modification, instead of making more sugar molecules, the microalgae could be producing hydrogen or hydrocarbons.

Paradise Lost . NOW on PBS

For many island nations like Kiribati and Niue in the South Pacific, climate change is already more than just a theory -- it is a pressing, menacing reality.

A Glitch Closes Toronto Stock Exchange For a Day - NYTimes.com

The problem appeared to be with the computers that delivered trading information to brokerage houses and news organizations.

A Houston Surgeon’s Home, an Ode to His Wife and to God - NYTimes.com
A retired surgeon’s vision, made by his own hands in his Houston home, is an ode to love and morality.

New Discovery Could Rejuvenate the Brain

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at The University of British Columbia have discovered why the brain loses its capacity to re-grow connections and repair itself, knowledge that could lead to therapeutics that “rejuvenate” the brain.

Atanua - About

Cowbirds in Love

World Coal Reserves Could Be a Fraction of Previous Estimates | Wired Science from Wired.com

SAN FRANCISCO — A new calculation of the world's coal reserves is much lower than previous estimates. If validated, the new info could have a massive impact on the fate

Mapping the Rats in New York City - TIME
Rats and cities have gone together since at least the Middle Ages. Now New York City is employing a high-tech tool — geocoding — to fight an age-old plague

Ultracapacitors Getting Tested on South Korea's Subways : TreeHugger
Image via Maxwell Technologies When I was little, my sister and I would wake up super early on Christmas morning and sit impatiently in our beds waiting for our parents to wake up. By about 6 am, we’d poke

OPEC Seeks Ways to Stabilize Declining Oil Prices - NYTimes.com

The oil cartel has been stunned by the stunning speed of the downturn, which has created a sudden nightmare for producers.

2008 Greek riots - The Big Picture - Boston.com

The Big Picture - News Stories in Photographs from the Boston Globe

Holland Township family angry that supermarket won't personalize cake for their son - The Express-Times | Lehigh Valley PA Newspaper - lehighvalleylive.com

Get the latest Express-Times news, stories, columnists, blogs, photos and video about Central New York on lehighvalleylive.com. The Express-Times Lehigh Valley Online Newspaper.

The Best of the New York Times' Year in Ideas : TreeHugger

The New York Times' annual list of the Year in Ideas and GOOD sorted out some of the 'potentially transformative' from the less world-changing (a chair that grows crystals on its surface in water anyone?) Nikhil's picks:the Brickley engine, a

The Brickley Engine Configuration, 15-20% Increase in Fuel Efficency, 15-20% Decrease in CO2 Emissions.

Saudi Says OPEC Will Cut Output Further - NYTimes.com
The cartel will slash its oil production by a further 2 million barrels a day, the Saudi oil minister said.

Jessica Fridrich Specializes in Problems That Only Seem Impossible to Solve - Biography - NYTimes.com

Jessica Fridrich pioneered a new method for speed solving the Rubik’s Cube, but has since moved on to other obsessions.

Looking Under the Hood and Seeing an Incubator - NYTimes.com

The creators of the car parts incubator, which can be built for less than $1,000, say it could prevent millions of newborn deaths in the developing world.

A Coat of Many Proteins May Be Giardia’s Downfall - NYTimes.com

Scientists have learned how giardia dodges the immune system and are applying the knowledge to develop a potential vaccine.

Findings - Tips From the Potlatch, Where Giving Knows No Slump - NYTimes.com

Is gift-giving a competition, an art, an expression of affection? That depends on the gift, and the giver.

K-State engineers helping develop energy-harvesting radios

PhysOrg.com: If changing the batteries in the remote control or smoke detector seems like a chore, imagine having to change hundreds of batteries in sensors scattered across a busy bridge.

Economists: Ancestral history explains roots of income inequality
PhysOrg.com: Two Brown University economists have created a new data set explaining differences in the world's current per capita gross domestic products (GDPs). In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Louis Putterman and David N. Weil introduce a 'World Migration Matrix' showing that inequality among countries can be largely explained by where the ancestors of each country's people lived some 500 years ago. 'What matters is the history of the people who live in a country today, more than the history of the country itself,' they say.

wcbstv.com - Warrant Issued For New Jersey Man Frank Gilberti Paying Traffic Fine With Pennies

A Nutley, N.J., man is putting in his two cents about what he calls a lot of non-cents over a traffic ticket. He has been trying to pay his fine in pennies, but the town is demanding he change his way of paying.

The Remains of Detroit - Photo Essays - TIME

Photographer Sean Hemmerle finds an elegiac sign of America's fading industrial might in the crumbling urban ruins of the Motor City

Mind - A Crisis of Confidence for Finance Workers - NYTimes.com

It is too soon to gauge the true psychiatric consequences of the economic debacle, but the crisis is leaving its mark on individuals.

International Energy Agency Sees Oil Use Falling - NYTimes.com

An energy agency expects global demand to fall by 200,000 barrels a day to 85.8 million barrels a day.

About New York - What the Search Engines Have Found Out About All of Us - NYTimes.com
A list of Google search queries by New Yorkers reveals an enormous interest in proton smashing and Bauhaus architecture.

The Day the Earth Stood Still to Be Broadcast to Outer Space - NYTimes.com

The makers of the new movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” have arranged for it to be beamed into space on Friday.

Domestic Lives - Building a Home for Another Life - NYTimes.com

Building a cabin, I’m finding, can be a lever into a middle-aged man’s rural fantasies.

Dreams may no longer be secret with Japan computer screen

PhysOrg.com: A Japanese research team has revealed it had created a technology that could eventually display on a computer screen what people have on their minds, such as dreams.

Bacteria detoxify deadly seawater

PhysOrg.com: (PhysOrg.com) -- Some marine bacteria produce hydrogen sulphide, which is toxic to animals. Scientists have now discovered that bacteria also protect marine animals from this toxic gas. A bacterial bloom detoxified a vast expanse of hydrogen sulphide-containing water off the coast of Namibia, before it could unfold its full deadly impact. (Nature, early online edition, December 11th, 2008)

Video Shows Every Flight on Earth in 72 Seconds | Autopia from Wired.com

Aspiring scientists from the Zurich School of Applied Sciences have built a video simulation that displays the flight path of every commercial flight in the world over a 24-hour period.

MIT: Your Meteorologist Needs an Army of Drones | Wired Science from Wired.com
Flying drones aren't just for firing rockets at unsuspecting enemies anymore. By using swarms of sensor-laden flying robots, a team of MIT scientists says they can improve weather predictions

Donklephant » Blog Archive » Kop Busters

Obama makes pick for energy chief, sources say - CNN.com

President-elect Barack Obama is likely to name Steven Chu, a physicist who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, three Democratic officials close to the transition said.

Derinkuyu, the mysterious underground city of Turkey | Corner Mystery

Derinyuku es una de las ciudades subterráneas antiguas más fascinantes que se han encontrado hasta ahora, una autentica ciudad bajo tierra.

Obama and McCain Political Banners Team-up to Help Homeless in Colorado : TreeHugger

Photo Credit Carol Mitchell At the end of every election, there is always a leftover pile of buttons, signs, banners, broken and elated hearts. This year was no different than any other, and while many states had recycle programs

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Chinese city downsizes for Unesco

The Chinese city of Hangzhou plans to lop off the top floors of several buildings to help the city's world heritage status bid, officials say.

Ozone Depletion Contributes to Ocean Acidification in the Southern Ocean : TreeHugger
Image from World Meteorological Organization Forty percent: That is the share of annual oceanic carbon dioxide uptake accounted for by the Southern Ocean. Given that oceans comprise Earth's largest carbon sink, that is not an insignificant figure; indeed, this

As Rates Near Zero, the Fed Turns to Unproven Methods - NYTimes.com

The Federal Reserve must now turn to an approach called “quantitative easing,” because it involves injecting money into the economy rather than aiming at an interest rate.

Necessary Medicine? - NYTimes.com

Health care and the economy share a sickbed. Barack Obama placed a heavy bet last week that they can recover together.

Observatory - Corals Indicate Another Sumatra Quake Is Likely - NYTimes.com

Scientists are forecasting that in the next several decades there will be another major earthquake off Sumatra like the one that spawned the tsunami in 2004.

A ’70s Cult Novel Is Relevant Again - NYTimes.com

“Ecotopia,” the '70s cult novel, has seeped into the American groundwater without becoming well known.

Hackers Plundering Brazilian Rain Forest | Threat Level from Wired.com

Brazilian hackers have gamed the government logging permitting processs, enabling the wanton theft of Amazon resources. Associated Press Brazilian authorities are investigating a hacking ring controlled by logging companies that

More food at lower cost: Important step forward towards increasing crop yields
PhysOrg.com: In the face of climate change, being able to increase crop yields by enabling plants to take up nutrients and water more efficiently becomes increasingly important, as fertiliser and water supplies incur significant energy and environmental costs.

Bush: Iraq war is not over, more work ahead - Yahoo! News

On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference. News, Headlines and Latest Stories on Yahoo! News

Final Projects ECE 5760

Super-Concrete to Store Solar Power in Works : TreeHugger

photo by billaday Researchers at the University of Arkansas are working to develop a new way of storing thermal energy in concrete. They were given an award from the U.S. Department of Energy in the sum of $770, 000

Doubt (2008)
Directed by John Patrick Shanley. With Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams. Set in 1964, Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him abusing a black student. He denies the charges, and much of the play's quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion, morality and authority. Visit IMDb for Photos, Showtimes, Cast, Crew, Reviews, Plot Summary, Comments, Discussions, Taglines, Trailers, Posters, Fan Sites

In Defense of Teasing - NYTimes.com

Why sticking your tongue out, mocking your parents, going for the punch line — or giving a noogie — really does make you a better person.

News Analysis - In Washington, Some Optimism About a Big Three Bankruptcy - NYTimes.com

Supporters of the Big Three bailout contend that Lehman Brothers’ failure shows that there can be unanticipated consequences of allowing a major company to go under.

Eye Spy: Filmmaker Plans to Install Camera in His Eye Socket | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Rob Spence looks you straight in the eye when he talks. So it's a little unnerving to imagine that soon one of his hazel-green eyes will have a tiny wireless

Op-Ed Columnist - A Killer Without Borders - NYTimes.com

Americans don’t think much about tuberculosis, just as we didn’t think much of AIDS in the 1980s. The risk is that our myopia will catch up with us.

The FBI hero who joined the Mafia - Americas, World - The Independent

Sitting in an unmarked sedan car in South Boston, John Connolly had his binoculars trained on a scene just a block away. It was a gruesome spectacle: a man who had just delivered guns and ammunition to the IRA by ship, was being tortured to death by Boston's most notorious gangster on suspicion of being a snitch for the FBI.

Commentarii de Bello Gallico - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the Road - Tempting the Thieves With the Pocketables - NYTimes.com

Thw Transportation Security Administration has fired 465 officers for theft since the spring of 2003.

Researcher finds link between aggression, status and sex

PhysOrg.com: Have you ever wondered why it seems like the littlest things make people angry? Why a glance at the wrong person or a spilled glass of water can lead to a fist fight or worse? University of Minnesota researcher Vladas Griskevicius has three words to explain why people may be evolutionarily inclined to make a mountain out of molehill: aggression, status and sex.

Synthetic e. coli could build a better biofuel: study

PhysOrg.com: US researcher have engineered a synthetic version of the common e. coli bacteria that could help build a better biofuel, according to a study published Monday.

Could Males Really Become The Weaker Sex? - Science - redOrbit

Scientific research from around the world suggests that the male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife.

SUVs at altar, Detroit church prays for a bailout | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

By Kevin Krolicki and Soyoung Kim
DETROIT, Dec 7 (Reuters) - With sport-utility vehicles at
the altar and auto workers in the pews, one of Detroit's
largest churches on Sunday offered up prayers for

reportonbusiness.com: Chrysler turns up the heat on Canada
The most authoritative news in Canada featuring articles from The Globe and Mail, breaking news coverage, national news, international news, sports, weather, Report on Business.

First Arctic Ice-Free Summer Will be in 2015 : TreeHugger

Image from NASA It's hard sometimes to make heads or tail of all these gloomy predictions -- what with the projected year always changing (just scan through our previous posts on the subject to see what I mean) --

YouTube - Cadillac Records (2008) Trailer

First Summit on Building Integrated Sustainable Agriculture : TreeHugger

Image credit: Sky Vegetables Vertical Farming Innovators Convene for Two-Day Summit Vertical farming, or building-integrated sustainable agriculture – call it what you will – the idea of commercial or residential buildings that can produce a significant proportion of their

Bank of Canada Cuts Rate to 50-Year Low - NYTimes.com

The central bank unexpectedly cut its key rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 1.5 percent and declared the Canadian economy to be in a recession.

Scorpios Get More Asthma, but Astrology Isn’t to Blame - NYTimes.com

How, when and where a child is born may all play a role in lifetime asthma risk, new studies suggest.

Researchers Put a Microscope on Food Allergies - NYTimes.com
An international study is searching for causes of food allergy by looking at hundreds of families in Boston, Chicago and Anhui Province in China.

Researchers Plan to Simulate Movements of 300 Million Americans

PhysOrg.com: (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Virginia Tech are developing a computer simulation that matches the movements of all 300 million people in towns across the US. The team hopes that the model will help them understand the spread of contagious diseases, fads, and traffic flows.

Fire-Ant Invasions Are Ecological Karma | Wired Science from Wired.com

If humans didn't make it so easy for them, invasive fire ants wouldn't invade. So concludes one of the first experimental tests of the hypothesis that invasive species are not

Complex Medical Test Made From Paper and Tape for Three Cents | Wired Science from Wired.com

A sophisticated medical test that checks for dozens of diseases at the same time can be made from little more than paper and double-sided tape, bringing the cost within reach

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SPLICETODAY.COM | Politics & Media | A Safe Haven for Crappy Parents

Splice Today: MUSIC : POLITICS : FILM & VIDEO : DIGITAL MEDIA : EDUCATION : SPORTS : POP CULTURE

Typecast - Japan's obsession with blood groups | World news | The Guardian
Four books on the subject of blood types are among the top 10 bestseller list in Japan over the past year

FOXNews.com - Newspaper 'Steals' Empire State Building in Just 90 Minutes - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Newspaper 'Steals' Empire State Building in Just 90 Minutes, In what has been described as one of the biggest heists in American history, the Empire State Building was reportedly stolen this week by a New York City newspaper in less than 90 minutes.

Are Laser Printers As Dangerous as Smoking or as Making Toast? : TreeHugger

A laser printer isn't really that different from that new Xerox at Sterling Cooper; toner sticks to a charged medium (a selenium drum in the 914) is transferred to the paper and baked on. Last year Warren reported on

As More Eat Meat, a Bid to Cut Emissions - NYTimes.com

Farm emissions are being discussed during international talks on a new treaty to combat global warming.

Skin Deep - Experts Question Early Use of Nanotechnology in Products - NYTimes.com

In a world where there are so many things to be afraid of, add one more to the list - tiny components engineered on the nanoscale that could run amok inside the body.

Gene Test Shows Spain’s Jewish and Muslim Mix - NYTimes.com

A study of genetic signatures has provided new evidence of the mass conversions of Sephardic Jews and Muslims to Catholicism in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Female art students more sexually active than male science nerds: study
PhysOrg.com: Female arts students at university are the most sexually active while male science students are the most likely to be virgins, Australian researchers said Thursday.

Steampipe keeps electronics cool

PhysOrg.com: (PhysOrg.com) -- The cooling of electronic components is playing an increasing role in the design process of electronic equipment such as mobile telephones, games computers and laptops. Wessel Wits, PhD student at the University of Twente, has developed two innovative concepts for cooling such devices. Patents for both concepts are pending. Wits will be awarded his doctorate on 4 December at the faculty of Engineering Technology.

Food vs Fuel: Saltwater Crops May Be Key To Solving Earth's Land Crunch | Wired Science from Wired.com

Saltwater-loving plants could open up half a million square miles of previously unusable territory for energy crops, helping settle the heated food-versus-fuel debate, which nearly derailed biofuel progress last year.

IEEE Spectrum: Bots Get Smart

Can video games breathe new life into AI research?

YouTube - Government Surveillance Yodel ~ The Fugs

Nice yodeling by The Fugs brought to you in "Beautiful Psychedelic Electric Groovy Vision"...Enjoy!

Photo Essay: Bees and Beekeepers In Crisis : TreeHugger

Photo: Golden Millet, Beekeeper, St. George, Utah, July 2007 (Photo: Kate Kunath) The mystery of bees disappearing all over the world is continuing to baffle scientists and beekeepers alike: is it parasitic mites? Or Bayer's pesticides? Reports of bee colony

Stair of the Week: The Well of Chand Baori : TreeHugger
The stepwell at Chand Baori, India, is a hundred feet deep and has 3500 steps. Legend says that it has so many steps to make it impossible for someone to retrieve a coin if it is dropped into the

Square Feet - A Waterfront Revival in Columbus, Ohio - NYTimes.com

A former industrial wasteland becomes a neighborhood of housing, retailers and entertainment.

Square Feet - Available Office Space in Manhattan Has Doubled - NYTimes.com

Changes roiling the financial industry have contributed to a doubling of the listings of large office blocks.

Books of The Times - In ‘The Ascent of Money,’ Niall Ferguson Argues That Financial Systems Drive History - Review - NYTimes.com

Niall Ferguson’s latest book, “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World,” went to press in May 2008, but it shrewdly anticipates many aspects of the current financial crisis.

No place like home: New theory for how salmon, sea turtles find their birthplace

PhysOrg.com: How marine animals find their way back to their birthplace to reproduce after migrating across thousands of miles of open ocean has mystified scientists for more than a century. But marine biologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill think they might finally have unraveled the secret.

Exercise builds small blood vessels in brain, study says

PhysOrg.com: Exercise is known to help prevent cognitive decline and maintain the brain as people age, and now researchers think they know one reason why.

New approach eliminates software deadlocks using discrete control theory
PhysOrg.com: (PhysOrg.com) -- Software deadlocks are the Catch-22s of the computer world. These common bugs can freeze the machine when different parts of a program end up in an endless cycle of waiting for one another as they access shared data.

Do laser printers emit harmful particles?

PhysOrg.com: (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have investigated the possibility that laser printers emit pathogenic toner particles into the air, which has been a subject of public controversy. Some reports have suggested that laser printers release tiny particles that could have negative health effects.

How a Rogue Geologist Discovered a Diamond Trove in the Canadian Arctic

Get the latest in science news, including space, physics, planet earth, discoveries, NASA, satellites, and space travel from Wired.com

Digging for Diamonds 24/7 Under Frozen Snap Lake

Get the latest in science news, including space, physics, planet earth, discoveries, NASA, satellites, and space travel from Wired.com

Panel says US has been in recession since Dec. '07

A New View of the Early Earth, Thanks to Australian Rocks - NYTimes.com

Geologists now think the planet soon became a cool place of land, seas and perhaps even life.

Hawaii Endorses Plan for Electric Cars - NYTimes.com
The plan, the brainchild of the former Silicon Valley software executive Shai Agassi, is an attempt to overcome the major hurdles to electric cars.

China’s Economy, in Need of Jump Start, Waits for Citizens’ Fists to Loosen - NYTimes.com

Tenacious thrift, once an admirable quality in China, has become a liability as the nation’s export-driven economy slows.

Even in Michigan, Not Everyone Wants a Lifeline - NYTimes.com

Many people in Michigan said in interviews that they could no longer see why the Big Three should be singled out for rescue.

Coal Mining Debris Rule Is Approved - NYTimes.com

The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.

The Evidence Gap - British Balance Gain Against the Cost of the Latest Drugs - NYTimes.com

Skyrocketing health care prices have led other countries to follow Britain’s example by asking how much life is worth.

A Revival for the White Russian - NYTimes.com

The White Russian, a sweet cocktail made with vodka, Kahlúa and cream or milk, is seeing a renaissance thanks in large part to the cult following of “The Big Lebowski.”

2008 AR Awards Announced : TreeHugger
The Architectural Review awards for Emerging Architecture have been released and I like the winners a lot. This competition doesn't go after the big, highly visible projects but is 'Intended to bring wider international recognition to a talented new

Dogs chase efficiently, but cats skulk counterintuitively

PhysOrg.com: A Duke University study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats. While the dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey, cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor-made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion.

Scientists ask: Is technology rewiring our brains?

PhysOrg.com: (AP) -- What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they're coming from brain scientists.

Copper Thieves Threaten U.S. Infrastructure, FBI says | Threat Level from Wired.com

Copper thieves, sometimes acting as organized groups, are threatening what the FBI said is critical U.S. infrastructure, from electrical sub-stations, cellular towers, telephone land lines to railroads and crops, the

Feds Set to Eliminate Water Regulations for Neurotoxin | Wired Science from Wired.com

Among the Bush administration's final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from

Ancient city discovered in Amazonian rainforest linked to the legendary white-skinned Cloud People of Peru | Mail Online

A lost city discovered deep in the Amazon rainforest could unlock the secrets of a legendary tribe.

A Generation of Local TV Anchors Is Signing Off - NYTimes.com

Cost-cutting at many local stations includes the big salaries commanded by news anchors.

Google’s Gatekeepers - NYTimes.com
Nicole Wong and her colleagues decide what the world can see on YouTube. Are they also determining the limits of free speech?

You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy? - NYTimes.com

An emerging field called collective intelligence could create an Orwellian future on a level Big Brother could only dream of.

In Maryland, Focus on Poultry Industry Pollution - NYTimes.com

As officials seek new rules on how farmers can spread or store chicken manure, the industry is fighting back.

At the Museum of the City of New York, Ray Mortenson’s Photos of the Burned Out South Bronx - NYTimes.com

Ray Mortenson’s photographs of the South Bronx in the early 1980s are featured in a new exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.

Houses of Worship Meet Bureaucracy of Landmarking - Series - NYTimes.com

Many argue that the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has not done enough to protect churches from the overheated real estate market.

Genetically Modified Peanuts Could Save Lives | Wired Science from Wired.com

Scientists have genetically engineered peanuts to silence two of the genes responsible for the most common cause of fatal allergic reactions to food in the United States. While the research

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security - washingtonpost.com
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

Pictures of the day: 1 December 2008 - Telegraph

Today: A hen-pecked eagle, beached whales, and a motorbike stunt.

Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web

Get Wired's take on technology business news and the Silicon Valley scene including IT, media, mobility, broadband, video, design, security, software, networking and internet startups on Wired.com

The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids -- New York Magazine

The inverse power of praise.

Five-figure bonuses stun plant workers - U.S. business- msnbc.com

Dave Tiderman wondered if the decimal point was in the wrong place when he opened his $35,000 company bonus. Jose Rojas saw his $10,000 check and thought, "That can't be right."

Clean People Are Less Judgmental | LiveScience

Feeling physically clean could make a person less judgmental of others.

Controversial Artist Justifies Bad Behaviour in the Arctic : TreeHugger
Why do we all keep leaving the lights on, driving our cars and hopping on airplanes when we know full well it's damaging the environment? There may be several answers to this question: necessity, convenience, selfishness? The connection between

Malcolm Gladwell on Home Ownership and Community : TreeHugger

photography by kris krüg A propos of our post on Is Home Ownership a Good Thing? Part II, the introduction of Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers describes a study of Roseto, a small town in Pennsylvania, where for some

posterity post

Editorial - Hawaii’s Moon Shot - NYTimes.com

If Hawaii takes the lead in a clean-energy movement, it could spread those values to the rest of the nation.

Ned Batchelder: Print this file, your printer will jam

Back to the Garage: How Economic Turmoil Breeds Innovation
Get in-depth tech news coverage from Wired and read about how it is shaping culture, education, entertainment, communications and technology.

Phytocapping To Rehabilitate Landfills, Reduce Greenhouse Emissions : TreeHugger

Image: Former landfill and limestone quarry near Montreal now being mined for its methane (by frigate on Flickr) Though it’s changing, the human species still largely lives in “disposable” societies – with the pinnacle of the life cycle ending up

Basics - In an Age of Robots, One to Clean the House? Still but a Dream - NYTimes.com

Today’s experimental robots bear little physical resemblance to our fantasy androids.

Canada's vast oil sands hide dirty environmental secret

PhysOrg.com: From here in the far north of Canada through a web of transcontinental pipelines down to a network of refineries ringing the Chicago area, a new supply of precious oil has begun flowing into the gas tanks of more Americans, tapped from a source so vast it could one day furnish close to half of U.S. oil needs for 50 years or more.

Michelin Unveils Active Wheel in Affordable Electric Car : TreeHugger

Image: Michelin The Holy Grail of Eco-transportation Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical? Michelin's Active Wheel system is the

Prayer Support Through the Kindness of Strangers Via the Web - NYTimes.com

Prayer has found a home on the Web with sites that allow anyone to request, for free, that strangers pray for them.

Food crunch opens doors to bioengineered crops
PhysOrg.com: (AP) -- Zeng Yawen's outdoor laboratory in the terraced hills of southern China is a trove of genetic potential - rice that thrives in unusually cool temperatures, high altitudes or in dry soil; rice rich in calcium, vitamins or iron.

Acorn Watchers Wonder What Happened to Crop - washingtonpost.com

The idea seemed too crazy to Rod Simmons, a measured, careful field botanist. Naturalists in Arlington County couldn't find any acorns. None. No hickory nuts, either. Then he went out to look for himself. He came up with nothing. Nothing crunched underfoot. Nothing hit him on the head.

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death by Customers - NYTimes.com
A Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York died after being trampled by a crush of shoppers on Friday.

Mile of London Tunnels for Sale, History Included - NYTimes.com

After years of lying unused, a historic tunnel complex built in 1940 can be bought for $7.4 million.

Asian Beetle Spells Death for Maples So Dear - NYTimes.com

A number of maple trees in Worcester, Mass., will be chopped down because of an infestation of Asian long-horned beetles that is plaguing thousands of trees.

Experimental TB drug explodes bacteria from the inside out

PhysOrg.com: An international team of biochemists has discovered how an experimental drug unleashes its destructive force inside the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB). The finding could help scientists develop ways to treat dormant TB infections, and suggests a strategy for drug development against other bacteria as well.

Biologists find new environmental threat in North American lakes

PhysOrg.com: A new and insidious environmental threat has been detected in North American lakes by researchers from Queen's and York universities.

In the Garden - Volunteers Feed and Keep Count of Birds This Winter - NYTimes.com

Project FeederWatch enlists volunteers to document declines in bird populations — by keeping a record of the birds who show up to dine at their backyard feeders.

Artifacts From the Future: Wall Street 2013
See the latest multimedia and applications including videos, animations, podcasts, photos, and slideshows on Wired.com

Mumbai under attack - The Big Picture - Boston.com

The Big Picture - News Stories in Photographs from the Boston Globe

Did Neanderthal cells cook as the climate warmed? - life - 27 November 2008 - New Scientist

Neanderthals may have gone extinct because adaptations to an Ice Age climate meant their bodies couldn't cope as temperatures climbed

PHOTOS: Pacific Shipwrecks Potentially Toxic Timebombs

See photos of some 3,700 World War II shipwrecks that lie submerged in the Pacific Ocean. Encased in coral, host to abundant sea life, and popular among scuba-loving tourists, some of these vessels also contain noxious cargo including oil, diesel, gasoline, chemicals and even unexploded ordnance.

Salaryman-turned-activist keeps island nation Tuvalu in the picture | The Japan Times Online

Tanned and relaxed, 42-year-old Shuichi Endo has set himself a monumental task: Photograph 10,000 residents of the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, nearly the entire population.

Mercury Pollution Rising : TreeHugger
Photo by TheJasp The fifty filthiest coal-fired plants are producing more mercury pollution than in 2006, according to a report by the Environmental Integrity Project. Twenty tons of mercury, a neurotoxin that affects brain development in fetuses, were released

Japanese Government Animation Explains Global Food Security : TreeHugger

Food security is a concept that works on micro and macro levels. But, it's something that individuals don't often think about until they are confronted with a situation where they don't have access to adequate food and become food

Advertising - Riding Obama’s Coattails, Making a Buck Along the Way - NYTimes.com

Merchandise commemorating, celebrating and — in some instances — practically canonizing Mr. Obama is being sold by companies large and small.

Amanpour to Anchor a Nightly Show on CNN International - NYTimes.com

The foreign correspondent will host a nightly program on CNN International, which is retooling its lineup.

Insurer Offers Option for Surgery in India - NYTimes.com

The health insurer Wellpoint is testing a new program that gives covered patients the option of going to India for elective surgery.

Researchers develop new strategy for broad spectrum anti-viral drugs

PhysOrg.com: Bavituximab, an anti-viral drug developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers, shows promise as a new strategy to fight viral diseases, including potential bioterrorism agents.

Amazing nature - All about nature, travel and vacation: Sustainable Agriculture - What Ants Knew 50 Million Years Before We Did

'Wiring' in the brain influences personality

PhysOrg.com: Have you got the new iPhone yet? Do you like changing jobs now and again because you get bored otherwise? Do you go on holiday to different places every year? Then maybe your neural connection between ventral striatum and hippocampus is particularly well developed. Both of them are centres in the brain. The reward system which urges us to take action is located in the striatum, whereas the hippocampus is responsible for specific memory functions.

Hate incidents in U.S. surge -- chicagotribune.com

BOGALUSA, La.—Barely three weeks after Americans elected their first black president amid a wave of interracial good feeling, a spasm of noose hangings, racist graffiti, vandalism and death threats is convulsing dozens of towns across the country as white extremists lash out at the new political order.

Mankind's new best friend? - The Boston Globe

Reviled as vermin through the ages, rats are becoming unlikely soldiers in the struggle against two scourges of the developing world: land mines and tuberculosis.

YouTube - Police dash cam of Meteor over Edmonton, Canada

Police dash cam of Meteor over Edmonton, Canada. Filmed about 5:30pm Thursday November 20th 2008

The “broken windows” theory of crime is correct | Can the can | The Economist
The idea that graffiti-spraying and other forms of low-level delinquency promote further bad behaviour has now been tested experimentally

Books of The Times - Polly Wanna Cracker? Squawk! That’s So Bush League - ‘Alex and Me’ by Irene M. Pepperberg - Review - NYTimes.com

In this volume Irene M. Pepperberg describes her three-decade-long relationship with Alex the African gray parrot and her struggle to win recognition from the scientific establishment.

Scientists discover 21st century plague

PhysOrg.com: Bacteria that can cause serious heart disease in humans are being spread by rat fleas, sparking concern that the infections could become a bigger problem in humans. Research published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggests that brown rats, the biggest and most common rats in Europe, may now be carrying the bacteria.

Ocean growing more acidic faster than once thought

PhysOrg.com: University of Chicago scientists have documented that the ocean is growing more acidic faster than previously thought. In addition, they have found that the increasing acidity correlates with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a paper published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Nov. 24.

Researchers boost solar cell efficiency

PhysOrg.com: (PhysOrg.com) -- New ways of squeezing out greater efficiency from solar photovoltaic cells are emerging from computer simulations and lab tests conducted by a team of physicists and engineers at MIT.

Generation Faithful - Hezbollah Seeks to Marshal the Piety of the Young - Series - NYTimes.com

Hezbollah is educating a younger generation in Lebanon to continue its struggle against Israel.

Alien-like Squid Filmed at Ultra-Deep Oil-Drilling Site
At an oil field a mile and a half underwater, a remote control submersible's camera has captured an eerie surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and&#8212;strangest of all&#8212;"elbowed" <i>Magnapinna</i> squid. <i>With video.</i>

In Qatar, an I. M. Pei Museum of Imposing Simplicity - NYTimes.com

There is nothing timid about the ambitions of the new Museum of Islamic Art that opens in Qatar next week.

Consumer Price Decline Prompts Fear of Deflation - NYTimes.com

Consumer prices fell in October by 1 percent, the largest drop in the history of the survey, raising the specter of deflation.

The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn’t Care to Listen To - NYTimes.com

The Tarim mummies have become protagonists in a political dispute over who should control the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Climate change opens new avenue for spread of invasive plants
PhysOrg.com: Plants that range northward because of climate change may be better at defending themselves against local enemies than native plants.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India 'sinks Somali pirate ship'

An Indian navy warship has destroyed a Somali pirate "mother ship" that fired on it in the Gulf of Aden, officials say.

Phasing Out Water Softeners: A Coming Necessity In Drought? : TreeHugger

Civilizations have collapsed from water becoming too salty: to the point where foods can no longer be grown and where drinking water is either unpalatable or dangerous. Farmland and water salinization risk is greatest where annual natural evaporation and transpiration

Welcome to GHG Photos

GHG is the scientific shorthand for Greenhouse Gases, the gases whose build up in the upper atmosphere is the cause of anthropogenic climate change. GHG Photos is a coalition of science, environmental, nature, and documentary photographers who have spent the last several years focused on the emissions and effects of those Greenhouse Gases emissions, as well as attempts to mitigate their release and adapt to the changing climate.Photographers include Gary Braasch , Ashley Cooper, Benj Drummond , Peter Essick , Steve Kazlowski , Sara Joy Steele and Joshua Wolfe

Trek Embraces Chainless Bikes, Via Carbon Belt Drives : TreeHugger

Belt drives for bicycles are a great thing. Especially for those who don’t want to fuss with maintenance and lubrication. Though we wonder if Associated Press might’ve got a bit too carried away when they stated that, “While some

A New Wind Is Blowing in Chicago - NYTimes.com

With Barack Obama’s election, the city is basking in a moment of triumph that goes well beyond politics.

Observatory - Invasive Plants in Galápagos May Really Be Native - NYTimes.com
Some plants that were thought to be invasive species in the Galapagos Islands predate humans by thousands of years.

Stocks Drop Sharply and Credit Markets Seize Up - NYTimes.com

As a new bout of fear gripped the financial markets on Thursday, stocks fell sharply again, and the credit markets seized up as confidence in the nation’s financial system ebbed.

Common cold virus came from birds

PhysOrg.com: A virus that causes cold-like symptoms in humans originated in birds and may have crossed the species barrier around 200 years ago, according to an article published in the December issue of the Journal of General Virology. Scientists hope their findings will help us understand how potentially deadly viruses emerge in humans.

Sea level rise alters bay's salinity

PhysOrg.com: While global-warming-induced coastal flooding moves populations inland, the changes in sea level will affect the salinity of estuaries, which influences aquatic life, fishing and recreation.

Evidence of vast frozen water reserves on Mars: scientists

PhysOrg.com: Vast Martian glaciers of water ice under protective blankets of rocky debris persist today at much lower latitudes than any ice previously identified on Mars, says new research using ground-penetrating radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

How to Save and Purify the World's Water Supply: Experts Weigh In - Popular Mechanics

Four water experts came to the Hearst Tower in New York City to discuss how the country can deal with the water crisis, why global warming will exacerbate the problem and what will happen if we do nothing.

Failing Home Economics - NYTimes.com
As Americans attempt to perform cost-benefit analyses of their needs and behaviors, some are practicing economies that may not deserve the name.

Op-Ed Contributor - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com

A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the auto industry needs.