Science: Earth & the Environment

Science: Earth & the Environment Archive

172 records found. Displaying 61 to 90 Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
After River Pact's Backfire, McCain Counters Obama on Water PM's expert analysts break down the future of water management, nationwide fisheries and damaged coastlines under the potential administrations of each candidate.
Pickens Overlooks Existing Natural Gas Cars in Energy Plan: Reality Check Self-made billionaire T. Boone Pickens has been all over the Web this summer. The energy guru wants to reduce our dependence on foreign energy as rapidly as possible, and he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.
U.S. Looks to Rediscover Hydropower as Untapped Energy Source From the pipes in water-treatment plants to long-forgotten river turbines, overlooked sources of energy throughout the U.S. are poised to be tapped. (Published in the October 2008 issue)
Two New High-Tech Plans to Max Out Clean U.S. Hydropower PM's report on rediscovering hydropower explores the energy potential of microhydropower, more efficient turbines and old dams. But designs for turbine-like underwater structures and wave-based generators offer decidedly more high-tech strategies to tap into this clean energy, without building a dam...
As Geothermal Energy Heats Up, 5 Next-Gen Projects Take Shape Geothermal energy has long been overshadowed by its alternative brothers. With Google's splashy investment bringing EGS to the front page, a geyser's worth of new projects are about to tap the power of scalding groundwater.
Desert Storm Watch: Scientists Observe Saharan Dust to Predict the Next Big Hurricane Season Could tracking dust storms in the Sahara Desert help predict hurricanes in the U.S.? Amato Evan, the University of Wisconsin researcher, and his team certainly think so.
7 Next-Gen Biofuels to Drive Beyond Gasoline Forget food crops. Future fuels will come from more practical feedstocks. Plus, each generation will use fewer resources and pack more energy than the last. PM crunches the numbers on alternative fuels for the real world. (Published in the September 2008 issue)
Beyond Wind Plan, Pickens Eyes Pipelines in Drought-Ridden U.S. A drought has drained water from Texas and much of the rest of the US. That could make water an increasingly profitable commodity and T. Boone Pickens owns more water than anyone else.
Swapping Smokestacks for Stores, Startups Market CO2 as Green It's known as "carbon transformation," and the venture-capital dollars are flowing. Can we beat global warming at the grocery store? Your new toothpaste manufacturer says "yes"—if the price is right.
Taking Green Builds to New Heights, Rainforest Exhibit Goes Solar Beneath a man-made, grassy hilltop, the Amazonian trees and plants in the California Academy of Sciences' new "Living Rainforest" exhibit are thriving—without an overload of human-produced energy.
Mini Reactors Show Promise for Clean Nuclear Power's Future If new portable reactors get the green light this month, nuclear energy could be rolled out in the furthest reaches of the United States.
5 Reasons Why Researchers Say The Happening Is Junk Science In the global warming-tinged new film from M. Night Shyamalan, plants—yes, plants—are the enemy, releasing neurotoxins on the level of a massive terrorist attack. But could this horror fantasy ever really go down? Our experts all agree: absolutely not.
New Solar Thermal Rig Makes Clean Energy Easy as Boiling Water Ausra has built a prototype that will become the largest solar thermal energy facility in the U.S. The core of this system is an array of flat mirrors that reflect sunlight to boil water in an elevated tube, producing steam that drives turbines to generate electricity.
Hacking Earth Against Warming, Scientists Favor Fake Volcanoes Could cannons, balloons and high-wire planes send sulfur back into the atmosphere and save the planet? As the Senate debates a controversial climate-change bill, meteorologists and economists alike say geoengineering solutions aren’t so far-out anymore.
Greenhouse Graveyard: New Progress for Big Global Warming Fix Scientists admit it will be tough to capture a key greenhouse gas and bury the CO2 in the ground, in rock or underwater. What’s even tougher for carbon sequestration: figuring out where to store it. (Published in the July 2008 issue)
Algae Startups Confront Promise of Miracle Fuel With Big Summer After years of hype as the mucky green grail of the oil crunch, algae is finally taking on its "impossible" hurdles to move from test tubes to barrels. With key players in this budding industry laying their bets on the winning biofuel formula, how long will it take before slime powers your life?
AquaDome Feeds Boston Bass With Solar Dinner Bell Researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., are training fish to swim into nets—making it easier for fish farmers to catch them. (Published in the June 2008 issue)
Spongelike Air-Capture Gadget Scrubs Away Carbon Emissions Researchers have invented a phone-booth-size device that can take back those emissions we can’t prevent—the ones that have already reached the atmosphere.
7 Energy Efficiency Myths Debunked: Guest Analysis Veteran energy writer Robert Bryce argues the political players who are promoting the concept of energy independence have created a set of false promises to bolster their campaigns and give such independence the appearance of credibility.
America @ $100/Barrel: How Long Will the Oil Last? Greater exploration, conservation and improved energy alternatives will all help to ensure that the oil spigot doesn’t suddenly go dry. (Published in the April 2008 issue)
Super-Size Surgery at Next-Gen Zoo Could Halt Elephant Killings South African authorities said they would begin culling elephants, but the San Diego Zoo might have the solution: a high-tech alternative to killing that will not only save lives, but prevent the elephant population from growing.
Weather Modders Aim to End Droughts With Efficiency by Sky Cloud seeding has lost its mad-scientist overtones recently as the U.S. is plagued by drought and scientists predict that water shortages will worsen with global warming. For many regions, engineering the weather is now viewed as an absolute necessity. (Published in the April 2008 issue)
Report Sees Dire Future for Warming's Impact on U.S. Transport A new study by the National Research Council, in collaboration with the Transportation Research Board, has a clear message for transportation professionals: It's time to stop thinking of climate change as a future problem, and start dealing with its realities now.
Plug-in Cars Could Drain U.S. Water Supply, Researcher Says A new study concludes that hybrid electric car miles take three times the water consumption of gasoline miles. That could pose problems for water-stressed regions, making power plants more vulnerable to shut down during times of drought.
Startup Makes Cheap Solar Film Cells ... With an Inkjet Printer Konarka said this week that it has successfully manufactured its affordable Power Plastic solar film using an inkjet printer. In addition to decreasing reproduction costs, the printable cells can be applied to everything from indoor sensors to RFID installations.
Florida Outage Aside, New Plants Pave Clean Road for Nuke Power Reactor switch problems cut power across an entire state, but the big picture for nuclear power is safe, cheap and efficient. "New reactor designs," one top energy CEO says, "are like car engines: They’ve become more cost effective and require less maintenance."
Best of Green Design 2008: 16 Products & Projects for Your Home We showcase today's most ingenious products for achieving energy and water efficiency—plus resourceful ways to cut the amount of waste produced by constructing and furnishing your home. (Published in the March 2008 issue)
Wastewater Could Help Fight U.S. Drought—and Anthrax One solution for today's droughts—to reuse more treated wastewater—has led scientists in search of a chemical-free alternative to the chlorination normally used for disinfection. We meet a team of researchers that may have found it.
How Cheap LEDs Could Efficiently Power Africa and Beyond Lighting Africa is a $13 million World Bank initiative that has steered the global race to develop a better light bulb in an even more challenging direction: Make bulbs efficient, affordable and rugged enough for use in developing countries, with LEDs.
Sun Stays Sluggish as Weathermen Fight for Anti-Ice Age Funding If the sun remains this quiet for another a year or two, it may indicate the star has entered a downturn that, if history is any precedent, could trigger a planetary cold spell that could bring massive snowfall and severe weather.
172 records found. Displaying 61 to 90 Page 1 2 3 4 5 6

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