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As the new Congress takes office, great opportunity exists both for innovations in climate change-related policy proposals and in public engagement about the problem.  Yet it’s been very discouraging to […]

Last September I blogged the trailer for the movie, Race to Nowhere, which focuses on the achievement pressures faced by many of our schoolchildren. Today I had an opportunity to attend […]

At Grist this week, David Roberts features a deeply valuable interview with Sandra de Castro Buffington, head of the Hollywood, Health, and Society project at USC.   She discusses the project’s […]

“Politics is like term papers,” says U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. “You usually get serious right before the term paper is due. That’s the downside of democracy: without friction, there is […]

I was pretty content looking at CPAN last night, watching the people milling around the University of Arizona’s arena after President Obama’s remarks during the memorial service for those killed […]

The Oregonian reports on the on-going desire to develop geothermal power in the Oregon and California Cascades and backarc. There have been attempted (or at least exploration) to develop geothermal […]

Politico reports that senior Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are trying to sell lobbyists for the energy and telecom industries on the idea that the Republicans will […]

If you’re a frequent user of Amazon, you probably enjoy the ability to buy an item with just one click. Amazon has all your credit card information stored in its […]

The Internet has been burning up this past week as massive groups of animals around the world have been suddenly dying en masse. We hear reports from Sweden, Louisiana, Arkansas, […]

“The critical thing is to figure out a way to get the technology engine restarted,” says the venture capitalist. “And we should have less government regulation to enable that.”

Innovation is built into the American way of life, says former President Jimmy Carter. “Quite often, the people who do leave their own nation and come to an unknown destination, […]

Blue Valentine is a psychologically ambitious and impressively subversive effort by a new filmmaker. It is, in a subtle but clear way, a pro-life movie. It’s quite jarring and claustrophobic; […]

A new study exposes public myths of energy conservation, such as turning off lights and hanging clothes up to dry. In reality, making machines more efficient saves more energy.

Arguments about green technologies tend to focus on what, if anything, the government should do to get people to adopt them. Those who would dismiss them generally argue that global […]

“It’s high time we recognize that carbon dioxide has been treated unfairly.” Forbes’ Larry Bell touts the accomplishments of the oft-reviled chemical compound.

“Halliburton isn’t on the ballot next Tuesday, but it might as well be.” Robert Reich says the midterm elections are a referendum on corporate control of Washington D.C.

Three House Republicans want to eliminate energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX), Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have introduced the Better Use of Light […]

Happy holidays! Every year as I range across the web in search of news and ideas I come across a few articles that stand out as exceptionally worth reading. Today […]

Bill Gates says the government should do more R&D in the energy sector, that a Manhattan Project for sustainable energy won’t work and that a carbon tax is necessary.

Opponents of California’s Proposition 23, a measure that would block legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions, have turned to a public health focus to mobilize Latino voters. Research that I […]

Does wine taste better in certain phases of the moon? Catherine Nixey examines a 20th century theory that says earth’s satellite affects the taste of the vintage.

On Thursday, the National Academies will be holding the second in a series of roundtable events on climate change education.  Registration is open to the public. In a white paper […]

“New energy technologies blossom when oil gets expensive. We can raise the price of fossil fuels again without hurting consumers—if we implement a fee and rebate system.”

Ryan Chin, of MIT’s Smart Cities group writes that while Mitchell was perhaps the world’s leading urban theorist, he was also a great mentor and advocate for students.

Good morning from a drizzly Ohio! Been a rather quiet news for much volcano news so far – well, that is beyond the reawakening of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia. I […]

“Various efforts are underway to find a cheap, efficient and scalable way to recycle the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide back into the hydrocarbons that fuel civilization.”

Technological innovation is the most important thing that developing countries should focus on, says Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist and PayPal founder. In his most recent Big Think interview, Thiel […]

Well, yesterday I needed a day off – Thanksgiving Break had just begun here and my brain was not ready for any productivity, so now I have a little catching […]

“So-called geothermal power has been around for more than a century. What will it take to heat up this energy source?” Scientific American on the promising power source.

On the 9th of December, Astronomers Madhusudhan, Harrington and colleagues recently discovered a massive gas giant planet, orbiting a star which they have coined the first carbon-rich world ever observed. […]