After weeks of damaging midnight environmental rulings that have removed crucial endangered species protections, restrictions on mining the Grand Canyon, and allowed leasing of public lands for oil development, President Bush protected a whopping 195,000 square miles of the central Pacific’s tropical blue heart. With the stroke of a pen, he created the Mariana, Rose Atoll and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments—and set aside an area the size of his home state of Texas, the largest swath of protected ocean on the planet.
It is a mistake for "scientific" publications to inject their political bias. Articles like this make it difficult to distinguish between science, which should be without bias or prejudice, and politics which is pure bias or prejudice. The reporter begrudgingly complimented President Bush but made sure her position was not misunderstood by taking a few snide swipes at him. And then the footnote about the "bet" suggests the cynical prospect of Bush still yet doing something reprenensible. Shame!
To live on the banks of Africa’s Lake Kivu is to risk your life every day. Large amounts of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gas are dissolved in various layers of the lake’s deep waters. Scientists warn that a disturbance such as a volcanic eruption or earthquake could cause a redistribution of the lake’s waters and the gases in them. This shuffling, known as an overturn, could unleash an invisible, suffocating cloud of these compounds—a rare event known as a limnic eruption—killing as many as two million people nearby.
How many automobiles must we take off the road or how many power plants in the U.S. must we shut down to "carbon offset" the tapping of this gas for power by these countries or the natural/catastrophic release of these gases? Nature is going to have the last say in the CO2 content of our atmosphere.
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
Check out the best of what's new here.