Environment

Colorado's Front Range Wildfires Are Not Special

In our hyperactive media climate, where every incident is proof or not proof of something, it has become common to see claims that wildfires have become worse due to global warming even as American CO2 emissions have dropped. Scientists have put a fire re ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2014 - 7:00am

The Growing Threat To Grassland Is Trees

Mother Nature may be out to kill us but we shouldn't take it personally. She is out to kill everything. We just never noticed in the past.  Today, thanks to long-term science projects, we can see how nature pits species off against each other. And bi ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2014 - 12:01pm

If Trees Could Talk What Tales They'd Tell

Permafrost thaw kills forests in Canada, while drought kills trees in India and Borneo. In the U.S., in Virginia, over-abundant deer eat trees before they reach maturity, while nitrogen pollution has changed soil chemistry in Panama.  Continents apart, tr ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 28 2014 - 12:00pm

GMO Feeds In Livestock Diets No Difference In Animals, Meat Or Milk

A review in the Journal of Animal Science has found that feeding livestock diets containing genetically engineered crops has no impact on the health or productivity of those animals. The article documents 30 years worth of livestock-feeding studies, repre ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 27 2014 - 9:52am

Genetic Engineering Helps Food Crops Tolerate Drought

Outside the developed world, global population continues to rise but all of the best agricultural locations are in use. If we want people to be self-sufficient (and we do) science is going to need to be able to help the developing world with innovative an ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 26 2014 - 9:40am

Pick Up After Your Dog: Fecal Waste Contaminates Waterways, Shows Genetic Test

Americans love their dogs, and most people clean up after their pets when they are out on a walk, but some do not: people who claim they wouldn't pour toxic chemicals or medicines onto the ground because they recognize it gets into waterways delude t ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 1 2014 - 10:01am

Soap Is Safe: Large Study Shows Surfactants Do Not Harm The Environment

When you take a shower and use soap and then lather, rinse and repeat twice with that shampoo, it gets washed off your body and goes down the drain. Environmentalists have claimed these soaps and shampoos and washing machine detergents- surfactants- seep ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 3 2014 - 10:23am

A More Accurate Model For Greenhouse Gases From Peatlands

Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have created a new simulator to more accurately estimate the greenhouse gases likely to be released from Arctic peatlands if they warm. Their model is based on how oxygen filters through soil and it estimates that ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 5 2014 - 5:52pm

Addiction Changes the Way We Learn

When I look at my children at play, I am fascinated by the ways in which they learn. Learning is a brain event and there are times I imagine I can almost see my kids’ brains working and developing as they play and learn. Everything that we do, whether mot ...

Blog Post - Richard Taite - Oct 8 2014 - 9:02am

Clove Oil Works For Weed Control Around Organic Onions

Onions consistently make the lists of organic foods even the most ardent organic advocates don't recommend paying the extra money for; they have so many layers of skin that no pesticide, organic or synthetic, is getting through. But it's still a ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 10 2014 - 7:00am