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

%excerpt% The rest is here: Don’t Fear Graduation Handshakes

Remember mad cow disease? In the 1980s, cattle in the U.K.

Dear EarthTalk : With all the talk of the need for safe, renewable energy sources, isn’t the elephant in the room really that we should use far less energy than we do? Wouldn’t more rules about conservation (like not leaving commercial building lights on all night) make the challenges easier?

Maybe you've seen the ads--on a billboard, on the subway, on the side of an RV. Maybe you've encountered the believers in person

The news about endangered species doesn't slow down. Here, we update some Extinction Countdown stories covered in recent weeks: A plan to save bats [More]

* Probe blames Upper Big Branch blast on safety failings * Says accident could have been prevented by Massey [More]

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate blocked a move by Republicans to speed domestic offshore oil and natural gas drilling on Wednesday, a fresh sign of congressional gridlock on energy issues even as drivers endure gasoline prices near $4 a gallon. [More]

By Olivia Rondonuwu JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inked into law on Thursday a two-year moratorium on new permits to clear primary forests, part of a $1 billion deal with Norway that could spur projects to cut emissions and slow expansion of plantations. [More]

By Stuart Grudgings BRASILIA (Reuters) - Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged in March and April, the government said on Wednesday, fueling criticism that a proposed law to ease land-use rules may be spurring illegal tree-felling. [More]

Key concepts Solar system [More]

By Philip Ball of Nature magazine Why are we so complicated? You might imagine that we've evolved that way because it conveys adaptive benefits.

Snakes aren’t just lizards without any legs . But a curious group of long, legless lizards look suspiciously like snakes themselves

NASA will launch a scientific instrument into space next month to measure the salt content of the world's oceans, information that could help confirm scientists' suspicions that climate change is accelerating the world's water cycle. The instrument, Aquarius, will launch June 9 as part of a joint mission between NASA and Argentina's space agency. [More]

Eighty percent of cushions used in car seats, portable cribs and other baby furnishings contain chemical flame retardants that can accumulate in babies’ bodies, according to a new study to be published Wednesday. More than one-third of the tested products contained the same

By now, we are all familiar with the many reasons we need to lessen our dependency on oil and of the importance in looking for alternative and renewable energery sources. If you need any more convincing, however, maybe you'll go along with an idea printed in the October 11, 1862 Scientific American.