(Reuters) - Environmental groups filed suit on Thursday seeking federal regulation of lead in ammunition, claiming exposure to the toxic metal from spent bullets fired into the environment by hunters kills millions of birds and poses a risk to human health. The Center for Biological Diversity was among 100 organizations that this year unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S
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Feed SubscriptionHow barley domesticated its clock
Most organisms that live on or near the surface of the Earth or its oceans have evolved a circadian clock – a daily timer of all biochemical, physiological and behavioral functions.
Read More »Eavesdropping Iguanas Use Mockingbird Calls To Survive
Predator-prey interactions are often viewed as evolutionary arms races; while predators improve their hunting behaviors and their ability to sneak up on their prey, the prey improve upon their abilities to detect and escape from their predators. The problem, of course, is that there is a trade-off between maintaining vigilance – the attention necessary to be consistently aware of others in the environment takes quite a bit of physical and mental energy – and doing all the other things that an animal must do, such as finding its own food.
Read More »Polish Fracking Well Probe Shows No Harm to Environment
By Maciej Onoszko WARSAW (Reuters) - Drilling at Poland's first shale gas exploration well using the controversial technique known as fracking has not harmed the environment, according to a government study published on Friday. Hydraulic cracking, or fracking, performed at a site in northern Poland operated by 3Legs Resources did not pollute groundwater or the atmosphere, said the study by the Polish Geological Institute. Fracking involves injecting water mixed with sand and chemicals into shale formations at high pressures to extract gas, a technique some fear pollutes underground aquifers and harms the environment
Read More »Crowd-sourcing the Future of Accelerators
(PhysOrg.com) -- Accelerator technology has made huge leaps forward, prompting important developments well beyond high energy physics in areas as diverse as energy and the environment, medicine, industry, national security and discovery science. But the capacity to translate accelerator breakthroughs into commercial applications has lagged behind.
Read More »Multi-purpose photonic chip paves the way to programmable quantum processors
The fundamental resource that drives a quantum computer is entanglementthe connection between two distant particles which Einstein famously called 'spooky action at a distance'.
Read More »Gas Drillers Risk Backlash Unless Health Protections Improve
A federal energy panel issued a blunt warning to shale gas drillers and their regulators today, saying they need to step up efforts to protect public health and the environment or risk a backlash that stifles further development. 201CConcerted and sustained action is needed to avoid excessive environmental impacts of shale gas production and the consequent risk of public opposition to its continuation and expansion,201D said members of the Energy Department2019s Shale Gas Subcommittee in a draft report released today
Read More »Bringing the Elements Into the Office
The Atelier Tenjinyama designed by Ikimono Architects, is both a study in minimalism and an experiment in exposing a workplace to a dose of the outdoors. What is the boundary between indoors and out
Read More »In Fairness to Cities
Not long ago New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C., were poster children for urban decay. But these cities came roaring back: they tapped deep wells of experience in finance, communications and technology to flourish in a globalized world. They illustrate perfectly the power and resilience of the city as brain trust.
Read More »Eco-spresso: Cafe Network Aims to Stimulate Environmentally Conscious Consumption
Dear EarthTalk : I heard about something called the Green Caf
Read More »The FTC’s New Marketing Rules To Squash Greenwashing
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.
Read More »The Perfect (Wooden) Surfboard
Photograph by Jason Madara Surf's up! A Maine studio returns to surfboard building's roots with a wooden, sustainable board. "Surfers are so connected to nature, but they're divorced from the impact foam boards have on the environment," says Brad Anderson, cofounder of Grain Surfboards
Read More »New Report Warns Mega-Fire Risk is Global and Growing
Global warming and decades of outmoded fire prevention strategies are merging to set the stage for massive "mega-fires" that scar communities' homes and pocketbooks, according to a new assessment. Preliminary findings from the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released this week trace the circumstances around eight mega-fires across the world in a quest to uncover clues on how best to ward them off and minimize their damage.
Read More »Mouse Study Suggests Why Addictions Are Hard to Forget
Recovering addicts are often told to avoid the people, places, and things connected with their addiction--tried-and-true advice that may be gaining support from neuroscience.
Read More »Environmental Consulting
Once considered a trend , environmentalism has established itself as permanent and profitable. "Environmental consulting is a mature business now," says Brad Mauer, business development manager for Sovereign Consulting Inc., an environmental consulting firm based in Robbinsville, New Jersey
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