The food's cheap. Just don't ask where it came from - The Globe and Mail

Director Robert Kenner had to spend half his production budget for Food, Inc. on lawyers

Can hot water freeze faster than cold? - The Globe and Mail

It can happen. But scientists have yet to figure out exactly why

Supreme Court Shock: Ruling Says Lethal Mining Waste Can Be Dumped in Lakes : TreeHugger

Photo via Flathead Basin In a ruling that will shock and dismay environmentalists everywhere, the US Supreme Court decided that the Clean Water Act shouldn't prevent mining companies from dumping their toxic waste into lakes--even with full knowledge that

Tech Is Too Cheap to Meter: It's Time to Manage for Abundance, Not Scarcity
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

In Australia, Drying Lakes Means Acidic Dust, Potential Health Threats, and Major Bioremediation Efforts : TreeHugger

Photo via aloshbennett As water levels drop in two Australian lakes, the threat of pollution from sulphuric dust arises. Officials are starting to worry that as the artificial pumping of freshwater into two protected lakes at the mouth of

Technology Review: Computer Clusters That Heat Houses

A novel water-cooling system makes it more efficient for computers to heat buildings.

Ball Mill from mainly recycled parts

This is my first instructable and I will be showing you how to make a ball mill for grinding chemicals from some recycle...

Well - How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains - NYTimes.com

A recipe for indulging: salt, sugar and fat, mixed many ways. But we can fight it.

Television Review - 'NYC Prep' - Rich Kids on Bravo, Your Teenage Angst Is Showing - NYTimes.com

The kids in “NYC Prep” roam New York unsupervised by parents or teachers, tethered only to the strict rules and unyielding clichés of a Bravo reality show.

New research discovers link between smoking and brain damage
New research which suggests a direct link between smoking and brain damage will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry. Researchers, led by Debapriya Ghosh and Dr Anirban Basu from the Indian National Brain Research Center (NBRC), have found that a compound in tobacco provokes ...

Feed your crop, not the weeds

If you have weed problems in your cropping system, will adding nutrients just feed the weeds?

Basics - When an Ear Witness Decides the Case - NYTimes.com

In ways that researchers are just beginning to appreciate, we humans are beholden to our ears.

WAP will re-open with 2 shifts, Laporte says

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Chrysler's Windsor Assembly Plant will re-open June 29 as a two-shift operation, CAW

U.S. Navy tracks N. Korean ship

The United States is monitoring a North Korean ship for weapons and has deployed anti-missile assets

Food, Inc.: Plenty to swallow

Film Review: Food, Inc. (3 stars): The film, in a nutshell (and a corn husk, and a cowhide), is an examination

Gallery | Photos | Multimedia | National Post

Establishing a Food Forest DVD "Promo"

Learn how to establish your own Food Forest with International Permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton as he takes you through the essential stages of designing and b ...

Crackdown in Iran as anger rages over vote - The Globe and Mail

When we stopped, an officer grabbed me, pinned my arm behind my back and led me into the bowels of the Interior Ministry headquarters - where so many Iranian dissidents 'disappear' Mistaken for a protester in Tehran, Globe freelancer George McLeod was captured and beaten by riot police. This is his story.

BBC - Earth News - The plant that pretends to be ill

A plant that feigns sickness to stop it being attacked by insect pests has been found growing in the rainforests of Ecuador.

Jalopnik - TARDEC Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder 2-Cycle Diesel Engine - 2-Cycle

Talk about a gee-whiz motor, TARDEC is showing off its Opposed Piston Opposed Cylinder Engine (OPOC) here at the 2008 SAE World Congress and we were impressed enough to take a couple of minutes to find out more. The engine is the result of a DARPA initiative to shrink the overall powertrain package in ground vehicle military applications. The horizontally opposed, twin bore four piston engine is an evolution of the shared bored opposed crank concept developed by the Nazis and swiped by the Russians for tank applications. This particular unit, while far from production ready, is capable of 320 HP, redlines around 3800 RPM. and tips the scales at only 380 lbs.

Are Labor Unions 'Greenmailing' Solar Power Companies? : TreeHugger

Photo via Sustainable NY Call it the seedy underbelly of green business--reports have been surfacing that solar power companies who start projects without agreeing to hire unionized labor are finding themselves in a suspicious bit of trouble. They're suddenly

Technology Review: Wikipedia Gets Ready for a Video Upgrade
The online encyclopedia is poised to let users find, edit, and embed clips.

Art Review - 'Pen and Parchment' - At the Met, Proof That Medieval Monks Could Draw - NYTimes.com

A show at the Metropolitan Museum reveals medieval drawing to be vital, evolving, remarkably diverse and essential to the medium’s Renaissance blossoming.

Observatory - Getting Mosquitoes to Poison Their Own Larvae - NYTimes.com

With so many potential breeding sites, spreading pesticide can be a painstaking, door-to-door activity, so why not let the mosquitoes do the work?

Canada proposes six chemicals ban in toys, new lead limits

Canada's Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on Friday proposed banning six commonly-used chemicals in soft vinyl toys and child-care articles, as well as new strict limits for lead in products.

'Milking' microscopic algae could yield massive amounts of oil

Scientists in Canada and India are proposing a surprising new solution to the global energy crisis —“milking” oil from the tiny, single-cell algae known as diatoms, renowned for their intricate, beautifully sculpted shells that resemble fine lacework. Their report appears online in the current issue ...

Old People May Be Immune to Swine Flu | Wired Science | Wired.com

Just having been alive for a while could protect you from getting the novel swine flu circling the planet. In 1977, a type of H1N1 virus, commonly known

In hard-hit Windsor, city workers strike rubs salt into the wounds - The Globe and Mail
With high unemployment rates and a shrinking economy, municipal employees fighting to preserve benefits at a time when many residents face a future with no benefits at all

USF dean Abdul Rao to resign over stolen bicycle flap - St. Petersburg Times [via claudio]

Abdul Rao plans to leave his $384,280 job after he's accused of stealing a bike. TAMPA — The University of South Florida administrator accused of taking a graduate student's $100 mountain bike announced Tuesday that he will resign.

War-Time Fungus Joins Elephant Dung to Make Biofuels (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

When the U.S. Army fought in the
Pacific during World War II, it discovered a fungus eating
soldiers’ cotton tents. Six decades later, scientists have
genetically engineered the organism to make cheaper biofuels.

Louisiana to See Biggest Levee-Busting Operation in North America : TreeHugger

Photo via University of Maryland And that's a good thing, believe it or not. Mentioning levee-busting and Louisiana in the same breath may seem like a faux pas, even vulgar, with repercussions of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy still afflicting

Recycled Tire Logs Say to Pressure Treated Lumber, “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better...” : TreeHugger

Photo via: www.EricCastro.biz “I Can Do Anything Better than You!” RTP Re-Tread Products is in the testing phase of a series of recycled rubber tire products designed to one day take the place of some of the applications where

Gallery: Antique Windmills Go About Their Daily Snuff Grind | Underwire | Wired.com

<< previous image | next image >> ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Most windmills today are used to generate

Toxic molecule may help birds 'see' north and south
Researchers at the University of Illinois report that a toxic molecule known to damage cells and cause disease may also play a pivotal role in bird migration. The molecule, superoxide, is proposed as a key player in the mysterious process that allows birds to 'see' Earth's magnetic field.

Competition may be reason for bigger brain

For the past 2 million years, the size of the human brain has tripled, growing much faster than other mammals. Examining the reasons for human brain expansion, University of Missouri researchers studied three common hypotheses for brain growth: climate change, ecological demands and social competition. ...

Extreme Life Thrives Where the Livin’ Ain’t Easy | Wired Science | Wired.com

<< previous image | next image >> Once upon a time, scientists routinely found life in places where

How Botulism Paralyzes Nerve Cells: New Details Revealed

(PhysOrg.com) -- New structures of a botulism toxin interacting with a mimic of the nerve-cell protein it destroys suggest new ways to block this often-fatal interaction. Indeed, the mimic molecules have such high affinity for the toxin and bind to it so tightly that they themselves could possibly serve ...

Ananova - Student wakes up in 150ft crane cab

An Austrian student woke up in the cab of a 150-foot-high crane after a night boozing with friends.

A troubled week in Iran - The Big Picture - Boston.com
The Big Picture - News Stories in Photographs from the Boston Globe

Roger Ebert's Journal: Archives

BBC NEWS | Americas | Mexico cocaine 'hidden in sharks'

The Mexican Navy says it has seized more than a tonne of cocaine hidden inside the carcasses of frozen sharks.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US man 'posed as his dead mother' [via claudio]
A New York man is charged with impersonating his dead mother to fraudulently claim her benefits for six years.

A sonic boom in the world of lasers

It was an idea born out of curiosity in the physics lab, but now a new type of ‘laser’ for generating ultra-high frequency sound waves instead of light has taken a major step towards becoming a unique and highly useful 21st century technology.

A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency

An international group of scientists has developed a polymer-based solar cell with an ability not yet seen in similar cells: almost every single photon it absorbs is converted into a pair of electric-charge carriers, and every one of those pairs is collected at the cell's electrodes.

Story That Takes 1,000 Years to Read Is Antidote to Media Whirlwind | Underwire | Wired.com

San Francisco conceptual artist and journalist Jonathon Keats is trying to rejuvenate literature in the age of hyperspeed media by writing a story that will

Powerful Nutrient Cocktail Can Put Kids With Crohn's Into Remission

Treating children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) usually involves the same steroids-based medication prescribed to adults. But such treatments can have negative side effects for kids and teens dealing with IBD. A researcher now promotes liquid nutrition to combat inflammatory bowel disease.

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VIDEO: World's Largest Stone Dome Rises
The world's largest stone dome built without pillars is near completion in India at the site of a gigantic pagoda.

Army Challenges Older Recruits, and Vice Versa - NYTimes.com [via claudio]

The pace of over-35 enlistment in the Army jumped sharply in the first months of this year. Rising unemployment is a major reason, say Army officials, recruiters and training officers.

Boy, 14, sixth case of swine flu

WINDSOR, Ont. -- The sixth swine flu case in Windsor and Essex County, involving a 14-year-old boy,

PETA Says No More Fly-Killing, Sends Obama a Humane Fly Catcher - Political Punch

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: PETA has a few words for President Obama: Brush, don’t kill. After the President very publically swatted and then killed a fly during an interview with CNBC yesterday, the outspoken animal rights group PETA (People... Political Punch Blog

Residents fight burglars with flower power | Oddly Enough | Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Tokyo district plagued with burglaries has turned to planting flowers to beautify its streets and help stamp out crime.
'Operation Flower' began about three years ago. By planting

Cairo Journal - Penned-In Egyptians Find Peace in City’s Din - NYTimes.com

Space is tight in Cairo, so residents often head to bridges and other public places for a bit of contemplation.

New York City Homicides Map - The New York Times
This data is compiled from police reports, news accounts, court records and additional reporting.

In Heat of Summer, and the Moment, Murder Grows More Likely - NYTimes.com

An analysis of homicide data provides insights about who is killed in New York, who does the killing, where murders occur and why.

Barrel ‘monster’ gets student arrested - Weird news- msnbc.com

When Joseph Carnevale chopped up three stolen orange and white traffic barrels to create a massive sculpture of a roadside monster thumbing a ride, the student said he saw it as a form of art.

Huge Pre-Stonehenge Complex Found via "Crop Circles"

Given away by crop circle-like formations, the pre-Stonehenge site surprised archaeologists with temple ruins, dozens of burial mounds, and two huge tombs that are among "Britain's first architecture."

US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive - Telegraph
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of

drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the
Obama administration to tackle economic decline.

Eco-warrior evicted from cave dwelling without fire exit - Telegraph

An eco-warrior has been evicted from the cave he lives in on his allotment
patch in Brighton, East Sussex, because it doesn't have a fire exit.

Avoiding digital decay: Not forgotten | The Economist

How to store data for a billion years

TheStar.com | Ontario | eHealth scandal reaches Premier's inner circle [via claudio]
The Toronto Star

Evolution can occur in less than 10 years

How fast can evolution take place? In just a few years, according to a new study on guppies led by UC Riverside's Swanne Gordon, a graduate student in biology.

Sunlight Trap Could Lead to New Generation of Solar Devices

In the Greek legend of Dionysius' ear, Dionysius made a cave shaped like an ellipse in order to hear the words whispered by a prisoner in one of the foci of the cave. Some science museums today feature a similar exhibit, where two people at opposite ends of a room can whisper into giant ellipses and ...

Swine Flu Upgraded to Pandemic, Sans Pandemoium | Wired Science | Wired.com

Swine flu is officially a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced today in upgrading its evaluation of the disease to its highest risk

Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors' blog: China's "Green Dam" Censorware Could Spawn a Zombie Network

From MIT. Information on Emerging Technologies & impact on business & society

Video: Century-Old Taxidermy Yields Clues to Climate Future | Wired Science | Wired.com
BERKELEY, California — A hundred years ago, zoologist Joseph Grinnell was thinking about you. Long before ENIAC or ARPANET, the visionary first director

Wind money given to oil producers instead, Raitt tape suggests - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca

OTTAWA – Money earmarked to support wind energy producers was diverted to research and development i

Belgian Biofuels Company Secretly Developed Algae Cultivation System : TreeHugger

Image: Proviron Working under the radar of the media, Belgian biofuels company Proviron has quietly developed a new approach to algae cultivation. At the first general assembly and conference of the newly founded European Alga Biomass Association, Proviron announced

Global Warming Turns Syrian Villages Into Ghost Towns : TreeHugger

A Syrian man sits in the village of Ain al-Tineh. Photo via AFP. Residents of sinking tropical islands and flooding Alaskan villages are the dramatic examples of global-warming refugees that come most readily to mind. But a dearth of

The Alcoholic Republic: An American ... - Google Books [via claudio]

City's image trashed

It was Saturday night at a downtown bar. There was a full
house. Then it happened.

Earthquake Preparedness, Bridges and Infrastructure - Earthquake Proof Alloy - Popular Mechanics
A nickel-titanium alloy recently developed and currently being tested by the University of Nevada, could make bridges elastic—allowing them to move slightly with vibrations and then revert back to their original shape.

To Avoid Layoffs, Some Companies Turn to Work-Sharing - NYTimes.com

A new program aims to help employers avoid layoffs by reducing their workers’ hours and pay. For employees, state unemployment funds help make up the difference.

Credit Card Issuers Settle Accounts for Lower Balances - NYTimes.com

Customer service employees are calling to offer deals, a practice that was practically unheard-of before the financial crisis.

In Some Swimming Pools, a Nasty Intestinal Parasite - NYTimes.com

A swimming pool can offer relief from summer heat, but swimmers should know what they are jumping into. It could be a soup of nasty parasites.

Iran's Disputed Election - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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

Scientists use high-pressure 'alchemy' to create nonexpanding metals

By squeezing a typical metal alloy at pressures hundreds of thousands of times greater than normal atmospheric pressure, scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a material that does not expand when heated, as does nearly every normal metal, and acts like a metal with ...

Book Party for ‘Coming Insurrection’ Backs Tarnac 9 of France - NYTimes.com
“The Coming Insurrection,” a book which predicts the imminent collapse of capitalist culture, has developed a small but devoted following.

Technology Review: A Two-Pronged Water-Treatment Technology

Combining light and electrical current removes contaminants from water.

Micromagnetic-microfluidic device could quickly pull pathogens from the bloodstream

Sepsis, an infection of the blood, can quickly overwhelm the body's defenses and is responsible for more than 200,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Premature newborns and people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable. Since most existing treatments are ineffective, researchers in ...

SKorea military networks under growing cyber attack

South Korea's military computer networks are under ever-growing cyber attack with 95,000 cases reported daily on average, officials said Tuesday.

Why do we choose our mates? Ask Charles Darwin, prof says

Charles Darwin wrote about it 150 years ago: animals don't pick their mates by pure chance - it's a process that is deliberate and involves numerous factors. After decades of examining his work, experts agree that he pretty much scored a

scientific bullseye, but a very big question is, 'What have we ...

MIT slows concrete creep to a crawl

MIT civil engineers have for the first time identified what causes the most frequently used building material on earth — concrete — to gradually deform, decreasing its durability and shortening the lifespan of infrastructures such as bridges and nuclear waste containment vessels.

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

From Sewage to Salmon, Climate Change Hitting Here and Now | Wired Science |

Wired.com

The impacts of climate change are as American as Vermont maple syrup, according to the surprisingly unchanged final version of a Bush-era report on global

Passengers cheat flu scan with fever reducers - Yahoo! News

Many sick passengers who flew to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam took fever reducers to cheat temperature scanners at the airport, leading to the discovery of several infected cases later, state media reported at the weekend.