Finland on its way to become world's first country to ban coal use in energy production
The Government is to present its new energy and climate strategy to the Parliament in March, 2017. Finland would thereby become the first country in the world to resort to a statutory prohibition to stop the use of coal in energy production. Coal is a particularly emissions-intensive source of Read More...
Vast Moroccan solar power plant is hard act for Africa to follow
On the edge of the Sahara desert, Morocco is building one of the world's biggest solar power plants in a project largely funded by the European Union. It is a hard success for other African nations to match as they seek to implement a new global deal to combat climate Read More...
Can 3D printing solve problems of poverty and plastic waste in slums?
When Sidhant Pai visited a local rubbish dump in his home city of Pune, India, he was struck by the size and intensity of the operation. Large black crows swooping overhead, roaming pigs, overwhelming odours and groups of waste pickers collecting plastic bottles in large white sacks. There are an Read More...
All you need to know about our driverless future
This September, Uber, the app-summoned taxi service, launched a fleet of driverless Volvos and Fords in the city of Pittsburgh. While Google has had its own autonomous vehicles on the roads of Mountain View, California, Austin, Texas, Kirkland, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona, for a few years, Read More...
Carbon-eating bacteria can help in the fight against climate change
A few years ago, scientists discovered a bacterium that breaks down cellulose—a tough organic compound found in plants—into usable biofuels without added enzymes. Now scientists have made another discovery about this bacterium: It can take up and metabolize carbon dioxide (CO2) as well. That Read More...
The fashion company that offers a lifeline to refugees
Many refugees end up spending years in camps--in a nowhere land where they can’t work or begin building new life. Here’s a company started by a former banker that breaks the “aid trap”. It provides productive, dignified work for 500 women in a Jordanian refugee Read More...
The people who are opposing the Dakota Access pipeline have a message for all us
The authorities in North Dakota keep arresting native people who oppose the intrusion by an oil pipeline on their sacred land. These indigenous leaders are just a few of the thousands of water protectors who know first-hand the toxic legacy of fossil fuel extraction and exploitation. They are Read More...
Farmers are perfecting the business of their new solar crops
Land has a new value as a place to generate renewable energy. Farmers are discovering that a field with solar panels can be an attractive “crop” from their business perspective. And as businessmen, they know that market prices fluctuate. Utilities don’t pay the same price for their Read More...
Rollerblading and 9 other activities that best burn calories, according to science
What's the best way to burn the most calories? The Mayo Clinic, drawing on research published by the National Institutes of Health, created a list. Here’s the top, with approximate calories burned per hour for a 200-pound person listed for each Read More...
Suck it up: thorny dragons use their skin like a straw to drink water
Thorny devil lizards shovel damp sand on to their backs and suck the moisture through their skin to their mouths, new research has found. The spiky reptiles live in the arid deserts and sandy plains of central and western Australia, where they feed almost exclusively on ants. Their mouths have Read More...