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Water From Thin Air

May 26, 2017 By EarthWise

Scientists at UC Berkeley and MIT have demonstrated a water harvester that uses only sunlight to pull liters of water out of the air each day in conditions as low as 20% humidity, a level common in arid areas.

Islands around the world have a difficult time developing the infrastructure for electricity generation. Many are simply too small or too poor for conventional power plants. The most common electricity source on islands is diesel generators which are not environmentally friendly and result in some of the most expensive electricity in the world.

A Better Way To Farm Algae

March 7, 2017 By EarthWise

Microalgae biofuels may provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Algae efficiently use CO2 and can produce biomass very quickly. Some species can double their mass in as little as 6 hours. Such single-celled organisms are amenable to high-throughput techniques to evolve new strains, unlike terrestrial biomass sources like corn which can take years to modify.

Climate Engineering

January 11, 2017 By EarthWise

With the forthcoming administration change, it appears that the federal government is likely to start backing away from tackling climate change and may even be obstructive towards efforts to mitigate the growing problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

[Read more…] about Climate Engineering

Dehorning Rhinos

September 30, 2016 By WAMC WEB

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia. By 1970, the number was down to 70,000. Today, there are less than 30,000 rhinos in the wild. The number of black rhinos dropped to as low as 2,300 in 1993. Aggressive conservation efforts have brought their numbers up to over 5,000 today.

[Read more…] about Dehorning Rhinos

Climate Change And Radioactive Waste

September 14, 2016 By WAMC WEB

What do climate change and radioactive waste have in common? It turns out a lot more than we’d like. According to research, which was was led by York University in collaboration with the University of Zurich and recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, rising global temperatures could lead to the release of – yep, you guessed it – radioactive waste.

Organic Food Is Increasingly Affordable

July 8, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Organic food is increasingly popular. Food chains like Sprouts and Whole Foods as well as local food coops and health food stores have led the charge. More recently, major supermarket chains have growing organic departments in their stores. In fact, in 2015, sales of organic foods in the U.S. reached $43 billion, an increase of 11% over just the the previous year.

Banning Coffee Pods

March 15, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Over the past decade, single-serve coffee pods have quickly become a favorite method for delivering a hot cup o’ joe as fast and efficiently as possible. The explosive growth of pod-based coffee machines is such that now nearly one in three American homes has one.

[Read more…] about Banning Coffee Pods

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Scientists at UC Berkeley and MIT have demonstrated a water harvester that uses only sunlight to pull liters of water out of the air each day in conditions as low as 20% humidity, a level common in arid areas.

With the forthcoming administration change, it appears that the federal government is likely to start backing away from tackling climate change and may even be obstructive towards efforts to mitigate the growing problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the past decade, single-serve coffee pods have quickly become a favorite method for delivering a hot cup o’ joe as fast and efficiently as possible. The explosive growth of pod-based coffee machines is such that now nearly one in three American homes has one.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio