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Waste water is stigmatized, but it can actually be purified beyond the quality needed for drinking water. This makes it a viable solution to increasing water demands.

It isn’t a secret that one of Yemen’s most pressing, apocolyptic problems is not any of the rebellions, nor even the economy (though it is related to it), but rather […]

An experiment carried out more than 50 years ago has revealed that volcanoes may have played a crucial role in the formation of the first organic building blocks of life on Earth.

A $10 million competition to create a mobile device that can diagnose illnesses could threaten to replace doctors in less than a decade. 

Solar power, driven by exponentially-increasing nanotechnology, will satisfy the entire world’s energy needs in 16 years. 

The massive droughts in China underscore the fact that we’re simply running out of the freshwater needed to sustain the earth’s nearly 7 billion people. How can we fix this problem? 

Piracy in the waters off Somalia shows how an environmental issue such as overfishing can evolve into an international security crisis, says Shannon Beebe.

As quickly as it started, the eruption at Grímsvötn seems to be ending. Ash emissions from the volcano ceased early this morning (Iceland time) and now only steam plumes remain […]

Heading to the beach this weekend? Depending on how you travel, you can save money and reduce your carbon footprint, with the help of an innovative new technology company. 

A long weekend right about now does wonders for getting a little focus back, especially after such a busy week with the eruption of Grímsvötn. I even got a weekend […]

Why is it that astrobiologists consider water a prerequisite when seeking out alien life? Steve Nerlich of Universe Today details what alien biochemistry would look like.

A brief update today on the activity at Taal in the Philippines. There has not been a significant change in the behavior of the caldera, with the latest PHIVOLCS update […]

Old municipal water systems can leak away between 30 and 60 percent of water before it even reaches consumers—making the need for an updated, smart system even more pressing.

The light at the end of the finals tunnel has appeared – only one set of papers (where I posed to my volcanoes class the question “if someone asked you […]

We usually don’t cover good news here at Waq al-waq, which I’m sure is just as much of a commentary on us as it is on Yemen. In fact, I […]

The scale and scope ofdevastation in Japan from the earthquake and tsunami is only beginning to beunderstood. In coming days and weeks we will have the dismal numbers of liveslost […]

Did you know that within six hours the world’s deserts receive more energy than humankind consumes within a year? How awesome would it be to be able to tap into […]

A month ago I wrote an article expressing my concern over whether the U.S. has a clear, achievable plan in Libya. I knew at the time that President Obama would […]

Information about Japan’s failing nuclear reactors is being leak slowly, with few confirmed reports as to the real status, but here’s what we know so far as of the end of the weekend. 

It may be a bit weird to use the word ‘elegant’ to describe something with the name “Peepoo” but that’s exactly what it is – an absolutely brilliant and elegant […]

In a 2008 study led by my colleague Ed Maibach,  over half of the nation’s public health departments reported that their communities were already experiencing health effects from climate change, […]

There has been an awful lot of debate about the decision to close the airspace over Europe for days during the beginning of the explosive phase at Eyjafjallajökull last spring. […]

The NASA Earth Observatory has been doing an excellent job of monitoring the eruption at Eritrea’s Nabro using all their eyes in the sky. The latest image, taken from the […]

I do not rejoice in anyone’s death but I am glad Bin Laden has met his maker and grateful to those servicemen and women who put themselves in harm’s way to […]

Given the fearsome projections about the pace of global warming and the now ubiquitous scenes of melting polar ice caps, Alaska may soon become a popular destination for surfing enthusiasts. […]

Near-Earth Asteroids are a threat to our planet, but they also represent an opportunity to generate enormous wealth, and may drive the commercial space race. 

Building on the themes he emphasized in an article last month at Rolling Stone magazine, Al Gore has announced a September event to launch The Climate Reality Project.  The 24 […]

Scientists are buying up tickets for privately-run trips to space. Space tourism teams like Virgin Atlantic offer relatively cheap ways for cosmologists to observe their subject of study.

Magma wells could prove to be a very powerful new source of energy—up to five times more productive than standard geothermal wells. 

With unhealthy diets raising people’s risk worldwide for heart trouble, diabetes and other chronic diseases, the hunt is on for better ways to get us all to eat more vegetables and fruits. The answer could be in your nearest vending machine.