Several days ago I finished reading Charles C. Mann’s article in The Atlantic titled “What If We Never Run Out Of Oil?”, a long-form discussion of the history and technology of established sources of energy like oil and natural gas, as well as relative newcomers from hydraulic fracturing or methane hydrates. If you haven’t read [...]

Our understanding of how certain atmospheric gases trap heat dates back almost 200 years to 1824 when Joseph Fourier described what we know as the greenhouse effect. Fourier, a French mathematician and physicist, asked what seems to be a simple question: why doesn’t the planet keep heating up as it receives sunlight? What is regulating [...]

I remember last summer as the summer of the mosquito. I wasn’t prepared. Those buzzing, itching, carbon dioxide-seeking missiles chased my family out of the backyard. The long anticipated lazy days laying in the backyard turned into short backdoor jaunts of necessity. No one wanted to take the chance. Mosquitoes were everywhere. So were warnings [...]

One of our greatest innovations is our ability to look at our planet from the heavens. From hundreds of miles above the surface of our planet, we can see how everything fits together. We can see the erosion of soil over millions of years, and life that springs up in the presence of water. We [...]

Hey, North Carolina, we’re raising the ante on claim to the title of State Most Shamefully Committed to the Stupid Political Ruination of Science – except we’re not that shameful about it. Instead, we’re putting our boisterous Texas spin on it. We’ve been most impressive with your attempt to legislate away sea level rise and [...]

Data visualizations with the International Energy Agency’s Tracking Clean Energy Progress 2013 report show what it means when they say that the world is not on track to meet 2050 sustainability goals. The eight interactive data visualizations take users through the data behind this grim message, and reveal the opportunities that are opening in the transportation sector. In the “Renewable [...]

Note: This is a guest post by Robert Fares. More about Robert’s background below. – David In recent years, disposable coffee pods have grown increasingly popular among coffee enthusiasts. The coffee pod fully encapsulates pre-portioned coffee grounds and flavoring inside a disposable capsule. This unique design allows casual coffee brewers to consistently reproduce their favorite [...]

Look out, North Carolina — Texas is not going to let you run away with the title of State Most Shamefully Committed to the Stupid Political Ruination of Science. Despite North Carolina’s impressive recent yearlong streak of stunning science-related legislative psychosis — from legislating against the sea itself to removing scientists from scientific commissions to [...]

By Scott McNally With the U.S. Department of State currently reviewing TransCanada’s application for a presidential permit of the Keystone XL pipeline, protests from environmental groups opposing the pipeline have been heating up. The main reason for the opposition to the pipeline is that environmentalists generally consider oil sands to be “dirty” – partially because [...]

Okay, environmental movement, Time Out. Your latest anti-fracking video, shared in an Upworthy post titled “In Case You Missed It, A Seriously Scary Thing Is Scheduled To Happen To New York City This November” is scaring and confusing people and it’s hurting your mission. The video has been making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter. [...]