• The Environment

    Greener Buildings for Cleaner Air

    By Matt Ransford Posted on 3.18.2008 8 Comments

    I live in a hundred year-old house where most everything is original: the windows (drafty), the walls (uninsulated), the furnace (burns oil). I need only look at my heating bill every month to deduce what the Commission for Environmental Cooperation has determined through a two-year study—homes and office buildings in North America account for over one-third of the continent's greenhouse gas emissions. They are terribly inefficient.

  • The Environment

    Shell Tries to Turn Algae into Fuel

    By Michael Moyer Posted on 12.20.2007 14 Comments

    Solix_ss_algaeLast week, the oil company Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to build an algae biodiesel plant in Hawaii. The project will progress in stages: first, the company will build a small research plant, with hopes to build a full-scale commercial plant within two years.

  • The Environment

    Is Petroleum the Greenest Fuel We Have?

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 2.8.2008 13 Comments

    Though the existence of global warming is indisputable at this point, the debate over the best plan of attack to solve the problem and reduce our dependency on petroleum fuels is far from settled. The latest example: Two new studies released this week indicate that that biofuels such as ethanol may accelerate rather than alleviate global warming.

  • The Environment

    The Future of Cellulosic Ethanol is Green

    By Michael Moyer Posted on 2.15.2008 5 Comments

    "Cellulosic ethanol technology is a lot closer to reality than a lot of articles would have you think," said Jacques Beaudry-Losique, manager of the Department of Energy's Biomass Program this morning at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting. After some well-publicized studies stated that corn-based biofuels might exacerbate CO2 damage to the environment, focus has shifted to these so-called "second generation" biofuels that use non-food crops such as switchgrass, wood chips or crop residues (e.g. all the parts of the corn plant that are currently wasted after harvest--the stalk, leaves and "cob").

  • Science

    How About Some Yak Cheese With That Turkey Sandwich?

    By John Mahoney Posted on 3.14.2008 2 Comments

    Move over cheddar. Its time for something hairier…er, healthier. Researchers in Nepal and Canada are reporting [PDF] that yak cheese has higher levels of several healthy fatty acids than the stuff derived from dairy cattle.

  • The Environment

    America's 50 Greenest Cities

    By John Mahoney Posted on 2.8.2008 107 Comments

    In the international alliance to fight climate change, the United States is considered the sullen loner. But in the seven years since we rejected Kyoto, changes have begun. Not at the federal level, however. It’s the locals who are making it happen.


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February 2012: The Future of Fun

Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?


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