Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Dear EarthTalk : So many chemicals in everyday products are harmful to our health and the environment.

I’ve been researching the oil and gas industry lately. This industry has a negative stigma attached to it as being very environmentally insensitive. Granted, oil spills and gas leaks aren’t helping the industry’s image.

Dear EarthTalk : Isn’t spray sunscreen a health and environmental nightmare when it seems that more of the sunscreen ends up going up my nose than on the kid at the beach next to me? --Lillian Robertson, Methuen, Mass. Spray cans of sunscreen may no longer contain chlorofluorocarbons (also known as CFCs, which were phased out in the 1990s for causing holes in the stratospheric ozone layer), but many contain other chemicals that are not good for our health or the environment.

The reviews for HP's TouchPad are in, and we have a consensus: It mimics the iPad well but is not yet a proper replacement; WebOS is sexy but not yet perfect or fully mature; the TouchPad is a solid but late entry to the tablet market; and where are the apps? This last point is most important. Only a day after reviewers skewered HP for offering just 300 TouchPad apps at launch, Apple hit 100,000 apps on the iPad

Because one microbe is never enough: Say hi to metagenomics. "Microbes run the world. It’s that simple." Those are the first words of a recent report on the ongoing quest to sequence the DNA of the smallest of living things

A new model in Cleveland--in which workers own companies that are supported by the city's big businesses--has the potential to change the economics of the city and its workers. There are two things in which I believe strongly: that business is at the root of our economic challenges and that business is at the heart of the solution to those challenges

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - The United States demanded on Wednesday that the European Union exempt U.S. airlines from an EU law widening carbon permits to aviation, hardening a standoff over a scheme due to start in 2012. [More]

And so would trading beef for chicken. According to a new study, cultured meat production generates up to 96% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional meat production, though it's still second to poultry in terms of energy efficiency. Lab-grown meat is going to be on your table someday.

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A major offshore Arctic oil spill could severely challenge the Coast Guard, with no available infrastructure to base rescue and clean-up operations, the Coast Guard commandant said on Monday.

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent BONN (Reuters) - Tighter limits on soot and smog provide a quick and easy way to fight global warming while protecting human health and raising crop output, a U.N. study said on Tuesday.

For the latest (mic-stand-kicking) edition of our future-gazing series Crystal Ballin' we spoke with Ian Hogarth, CEO of Songkick. "In my vision of the future, hipsters aren’t obsolete," he tells us. "I think that you're always gonna need human curation

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The world is off course in fighting climate change and governments need to boost green energies to build new momentum, the head of the U.N. panel of climate scientists said on Monday.

It's been scarily simple for companies to make false claims about how good their products are for the environment, but now the government is stepping in. It's scarily simple for companies to make inauthentic "green" claims about their products. They can just slap an unregulated green seal of approval on their product.

Just how bad is that smog in China? It's not surprising to learn that the local environment isn't doing so well in China, a country famous for its smog. But it is disheartening to find out just how bad it is, courtesy of the "State of the Environment in China," an annual report put out by the Chinese government

Our first day in Palau made me realize that, unlike the United States where the environment is often an afterthought, this is a place where people take pride in their connection to the natural world and work hard to protect it. [More]