science

12-day-old bundles of fur stepped into the public spotlight at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake Friday.

Despite the massive amounts of scientific evidence showing humans are to blame for climate change, a new poll finds that only about half of Americans (47%) say the earth is warming because of human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels.

Check out this cool new solar car students at the University of Minnesota built!

A number of influential scientists and experts in Asian studies now say that control and management of an even more vital resource – the Tibetan Plateau’s vast supply of freshwater – is also emerging at the center of the increasingly tense political and cultural strife between China and Tibet.

300 garbage collection trucks in California will soon be fueled by the same trash that they haul. Landfill gas will be purified and liquefied, producing up to 13,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) daily.

Today I saw this article reporting on a study clearly linking declining fish stocks to algal blooms (so-called 'toxic tides'). For me this situation drives home three things about sustainability.

Seems that the idea that human activity is causing climate isn't new at all. The headline in the October 28, 1956 edition of the New York Times warns:

"WARMER CLIMATE ON THE EARTH MAY BE DUE TO MORE CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE AIR"

According to a study conducted by the American Society of Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers, solar radiation through glass is responsible for approximately 20% of the load on an air conditioner.

A common inaccuracy that I frequently encounter -- through work, in the media, and in government -- is based on an implied assumption that energy, and energy displacement, and therefore solar energy, revolves solely around electricity. This perception is pervasive in several countries around the world.

The US Army Corps of Engineers says "failure is imminent" on walls both above and below the historic Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis.

A fungus responsible for the rapid deterioration of military clothing and canvas tents during the Second World War could significantly improve the production of biofuels, say U.S. scientists.

While forecasters accurately predicted that the hurricane would make landfall in Myanmar, they predicted that it would reach only Category 1, or possibly weak Category 2 strength before hitting land.

Map of the United States that shows the areas where water has tested abnormally high for heavy metal contaminants

GRC's machine is called the Hawk-10. Its smaller incarnations look just like an industrial microwave with bits of machinery attached to it. Larger versions resemble a concrete mixer. "Anything that has a hydrocarbon base will be affected by our process," says Jerry Meddick, director of business development at GRC, based in New Jersey. "We release those hydrocarbon molecules from the material and it then becomes gas and oil."

The Arctic and Antarctica are poles apart when it comes to the effects of human-fueled climate change, scientists said on Friday: in the north, it is melting sea ice, but in the south, it powers winds that chill things down.