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

Last year’s South By Southwest (SXSW) festival was a tipping point for location-based check-in services. I wrote about companies like FourSquare and GoWalla and the idea of "check-ins" in the article "Mobile Location, Location, Location at SXSW ." This concept, then popular, has grown exponentially

KIEV, Ukraine--In 1986 the worst nuclear accident in history took place when reactor No. 4 in the power plant at nearby Chernobyl exploded, spewing large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Now, almost 25 years later, the lesson that scientists are learning is that radiation might not be the only cause of this disaster's long-term medical effects, and perhaps not even the main one.

Braving explosions and invisible hydrogen fires as well as bursts of radiation at least eight times higher than government hourly safety standards, a cohort of 50 or so workers has returned to the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The workers represent the last line of defense in cooling the overheating reactors and spent fuel pools, such as reactor No

Since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked Japan and set loose a massive tsunami March 11, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been scrambling to avert a nuclear disaster at its hardest hit plant. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, home to six nuclear reactors, has witnessed explosions at three reactors and a fire in a spent-fuel pool at a fourth. At two reactors, units No.

By Marianna Parraga WILLEMSTAD (Reuters) - Lighting up the night sky with flames from its chimneys, Curacao's giant Isla refinery is at the center of an increasingly acrimonious dispute over the island's economic and environmental future. [More]

In the wake of radioactive releases from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, critics are saying a California nuclear plant's susceptibility to earthquakes and tsunamis could affect its chances of renewing its operating license. While the federal licenses for Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon plant, near San Luis Obispo, and Southern California Edison's San Onofre plant are valid for at least another decade, both utilities have begun the renewal process ahead of time.

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Environmental regulators proposed rules on Wednesday that would force aging coal-fired power plants to choose between installing costly anti-pollution technology or shutting, which could ensure reliance nuclear power and natural gas. [More]

Last week, a very prominent artist in the paleontology community somewhat publicly blew a gasket. His tirade started a conversation that has been sorely in need of attention for some time now.

Dear EarthTalk : Instances of people with thyroid problems seems to be on the rise.

The sun strikes every square meter of our planet with more than 1,360 watts of power. Half of that energy is absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back into space.

High-end restaurants have begun adding a new piece of equipment to the kitchen that until recently was found mainly in medical laboratories and university chemistry departments. The bigger versions look a bit like washing machines, but the spin cycle in these ultracentrifuges is a lot more powerful than that of any Maytag. They whirl vials around tens of thousands of times a minute, generating centrifugal forces up to 30,000 times as strong as Earth’s gravity.

For the second time in under a year, a large-scale energy disaster is unfolding before our eyes.

The developing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has raised concerns over the health effects of radiation exposure: What is a "dangerous" level of radiation?

By Jon Cartwright Scientists in the United States have devised a new way to avoid collisions among space debris, and possibly even reduce the amount of debris in orbit. [More]

By K.S. [More]