Archive for the 'Environment' Category
Air Pollution Causes Huge Reduction in Intelligence
August 28th, 2018Via: Guardian: Air pollution causes a “huge” reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health. The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It […]
Tiny Plastic Is Everywhere
August 21st, 2018Via: NPR: Plastic trash is littering the land and fouling rivers and oceans. But what we can see is only a small fraction of what’s out there. Since modern plastic was first mass-produced, 8 billion tons have been manufactured. And when it’s thrown away, it doesn’t just disappear. Much of it crumbles into small pieces. […]
Stacking Concrete Blocks Is a Surprisingly Efficient Way to Store Energy
August 19th, 2018I like to follow these relatively low-tech methods of energy storage, even though they don’t seem to catch on. It’s interesting to see a modern take on old ideas. The Energy Vault (below) is a similar concept to the Ares, which stores energy by moving a mass up a hill on rails. The Energy Vault, […]
The San Onofre Nuclear Plant Is a ‘Fukushima Waiting to Happen’
August 17th, 2018Via: San Diego Union Tribune: Southern California Edison is keeping 3.6 million pounds of lethal radioactive waste at the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant in San Clemente. The waste poses a significant threat to the health, safety and economic vitality of the region’s more than 8 million residents. But Edison’s plan for storing it is […]
MONSANTO ORDERED TO PAY $289 MILLION IN WORLD’S FIRST ROUNDUP CANCER TRIAL
August 10th, 2018Via: Reuters: A California jury on Friday found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleged the company’s glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, caused his cancer and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages. The case of school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging glyphosate […]
Trash Piles Up in U.S. as China Closes Door to Recycling
July 12th, 2018Via: AFP: Globally, since 1992, 72 percent of plastic waste has ended up in China and Hong Kong, according to a study in the journal Science Advances. But since January, China has closed its borders to most paper and plastic waste in line with a new environmental policy pushed by Beijing, which no longer wants […]
Tesla Will Build Gigafactory in Shanghai to Serve Chinese Market
July 10th, 2018Via: Electrek: Tesla has now confirmed the reports that came out of China this morning about a deal to allow the start of Gigafactory 3 construction in Shanghai. The automaker confirmed the deal and said that it plans to start construction “in the near future” for the first cars to roll off the line in […]
“Those People Who Dug the Big Hole Under Switzerland Looking for the Higgs Boson Particle” Bought New Zealand Dairy Farm
June 9th, 2018Everyone knows about the billionaires buying up rural land in New Zealand. They’re not the only ones. CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) is getting in on the act too. Obviously, I expect to receive many nothing-to-see-here emails, but CERN is very strange. Also, I wish Bruce Cathie was still alive. Via: Stuff: The […]
Bayer to Retire Monsanto Name
June 4th, 2018Via: Reuters: Germany’s Bayer will wrap up the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto on Thursday and also retire the U.S. seeds maker’s 117 year-old name. The German drugmaker had received all required approvals from regulatory authorities, it said in a statement on Monday. “Bayer will remain the company name. Monsanto will no longer be a […]
Gene-Edited ‘Super-Crops’ to be Grown in UK for First Time
May 29th, 2018Via: Telegraph: Gene-edited super-crops are to be sown in Britain in a European-first after scientists exploited a legal loophole. The Government has quietly approved the farming of gene-edited (GE) Camelina oilseed crops as part of a trial to super-charge the plants to produce Omega 3 fish oils, one of the most popular food supplements. The […]
