The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has described as "tragic" the lack of action on climate change by developed countries.
If you've ever found yourself in your local supermarket agonizing about whether the organic apples will be a more nutritional and greener choice than the cheaper non-organic ones, you're probably not alone.
Despite taking a beating from the credit crunch, the clean energy sector is being tipped as a golden opportunity for investors.
Fisherman Terry Pizani turns his captain's wheel with a mournful expression on his face. Far below, the fishing grounds off the Louisiana coast where the 63-year-old has made a living for five decades have become an aquatic graveyard known as a "dead zone."
In the stylishly minimal surroundings of Singapore's Red Dot design museum, architect and innovative-thinker Cameron Sinclair opened the second Principal Voices debate of 2008 with a clear statement: "There is a lot of 'design for bad' out there."
Like a chronic disease spreading through the body, "dead zones" with too little oxygen for life are expanding in the world's oceans.
A tiny woman and two children were laid to rest on a bed of flowers 5,000 years ago in what is now the barren Sahara Desert.
Fossil fuels that keep our planet running -- oil, natural gas and coal -- were created from the decomposition of plants, plankton and other organic material over millions of years.
Imagine if cars ran on household waste, if gas tanks were filled with ethanol made from wood chips. Well, the technology to make it happen is already a reality and companies are now racing to bring this kind of fuel to a gas pump near you.
Fossil fuels that keep our planet running -- oil, natural gas, and coal -- were created from the decomposition of plants, plankton and other organic material over millions of years.
The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has described as "tragic" the lack of action on climate change by developed countries.
If you've ever found yourself in your local supermarket agonizing about whether the organic apples will be a more nutritional and greener choice than the cheaper non-organic ones, you're probably not alone.
Despite taking a beating from the credit crunch, the clean energy sector is being tipped as a golden opportunity for investors.
Fisherman Terry Pizani turns his captain's wheel with a mournful expression on his face. Far below, the fishing grounds off the Louisiana coast where the 63-year-old has made a living for five decades have become an aquatic graveyard known as a "dead zone."
In the stylishly minimal surroundings of Singapore's Red Dot design museum, architect and innovative-thinker Cameron Sinclair opened the second Principal Voices debate of 2008 with a clear statement: "There is a lot of 'design for bad' out there."
Like a chronic disease spreading through the body, "dead zones" with too little oxygen for life are expanding in the world's oceans.
A tiny woman and two children were laid to rest on a bed of flowers 5,000 years ago in what is now the barren Sahara Desert.
Fossil fuels that keep our planet running -- oil, natural gas and coal -- were created from the decomposition of plants, plankton and other organic material over millions of years.
Imagine if cars ran on household waste, if gas tanks were filled with ethanol made from wood chips. Well, the technology to make it happen is already a reality and companies are now racing to bring this kind of fuel to a gas pump near you.
Fossil fuels that keep our planet running -- oil, natural gas, and coal -- were created from the decomposition of plants, plankton and other organic material over millions of years.
Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible.
The stinky, steaming air that escapes from a car's tailpipe could help us use less gas.
Teachers and textbooks beware -- your future could be under threat from a quickly developing and very smart technology.
Imagine every time you closed your curtains, you were capturing enough solar energy to power your laptop. The technology is available, but no one's packaged it up in a handy DIY kit at your local hardware store.
If there was a most wanted list for climate change culprits, coal-fired power stations would be number one.
Researchers in the United States are buoyed by the results of a study which has determined that a giant grass could help the country to meet its steep biofuel targets.
At well over 100 years old and showing no interest in sex for over four decades, Henry is on his way to becoming a dad.
A U.S. woman received five puppies Tuesday that were cloned from her beloved late pitbull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service.
Would you still watch your favorite television program if you had to cycle for an hour before you could view it?
In spring 2007, University of California Berkeley Energy and Resources Group professor Ashok Gadgil challenged students in his Design for Sustainable Communities class to come up with an affordable and efficient solar water heater that could be used in low-income households.
There's no point in having a debate without varied points of view. Send us an email by filling out the form on the front page, file an iReport or click on the "Sound Off" button at the bottom of this page.
The bathroom tiles are recycled wine bottles. The hardwood floors are sustainable bamboo. And the sprawling garden gets sprinkled with rainwater collected in 300-gallon (1,135-liter) barrels.
The site has been secured, the tents pitched, banners raised and, most importantly, compost loos installed; there is little to do now but wait for thousands of campers to arrive for one of Britain's biggest environmental protests this year.
A U.S. scientist said Sunday he has discovered the globe's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados, with full-grown adults typically stretching less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.
This month, Just Imagine focused on the future of nature and the ways in which it can inspire solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing humanity today.
Sniffer dogs have long been a useful tool in the search for hidden drugs and explosives, but the future looks bleak for man's best friend as scientists seek to develop a new ultra-sensitive electronic nose device.
Here's a couch potato's dream: What if a drug could help you gain some of the benefits of exercise without working up a sweat?
In the world of higher education, summer is usually the off-season.
A team of European scientists unveiled on Wednesday a new method for extracting images hidden under old masters' paintings, recreating a color portrait of a woman's face unseen since Vincent van Gogh painted over it in 1887.
Human-induced climate change is thought to be one of the greatest challenges facing mankind in the 21st Century. A change in temperature of only a couple of degrees has the potential to adversely impact economies, communities and ecosystems throughout the world.
From Dallas, Texas to Dabancheng, China, energy companies are staking fortunes on harnessing wind power.
Dr. Carl N. Hodges is turning the tide on sea-level rise and revolutionizing agriculture in the process.
Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that, at math, they are just as tough as boys.
Drive past a car accident, everybody slows down to look. Tell a toddler, "Don't touch that," and of course he or she does.
A new fossil discovery provides evidence that the Antarctic continent was once much warmer than today and may have been able to sustain life.
You might want to go green, but how do you know what you're buying is truly ethical? Greenwash -- the ignoble art of misleading consumers about a product's true green worth -- is on the rise. But thanks to the work of increasingly vigilant regulators, some of the more curious and downright spurious claims are being weeded out.
After traveling around the Arctic Circle alone, walking across South America, venturing through African war zones and hiking deep into the Amazon, Borneo and Sumatra jungles, Mike Horn is ready to embark on his most ambitious project yet.
Co-founder and executive director of Architecture for Humanity, Cameron Sinclair opened the second Principal Voices debate on Design for Good by outlining just what the term means to him, but also what it means to the communities his design solutions are aimed at.
Director of Arup, Peter Head is leading the company's new department of Planning and Integrated Urbanism.
It's not exactly Tony serenading Maria in "West Side Story," but for all their homeliness toadfish also sing to attract mates.
With climate change increasingly threatening the survival of plants and animals, scientists say it may become necessary to move some species to save them.
A high-profile push by business groups to double the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in science, math and engineering by 2015 is falling way behind target, a new report says.
The experts at London's Natural History Museum pride themselves on being able to classify and display thousands of species -- from birds and mammals to insects, dinosaurs and snakes -- and are confident they can identify most living things on the planet.
It may look like an air mattress you might see lying around next to a swimming pool but in reality its function couldn't be less trivial.
Russian scientists are evacuating a research station built on an ice floe drifting in the western Arctic Ocean because global warming is melting the ice early, a spokesman said.
The apocalyptic tales of nature's impending demise are as well worn as they are numerous.
A fishing vessel rescued 10 people after a volcano erupted, sending rocks and ash down on a cattle ranch on a remote island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
The apocalyptic tales of nature's impending demise are as well worn as they are numerous.
The concept may be radical, but it might just have to be if the worst predictions of climate change are realized.
Sim Van der Ryn has been a leader in sustainable architecture for over 40 years. As well as creating a portfolio of inspiring green designs -- notably the 1977 Bateson Building in Sacramento -- he is also a teacher and an author. His most recent book "Design for Life" traces his ancestral and ecological design roots. Principal Voices talked to Van der Ryn about the passion which continues to consume his life.
Peter Head is a Director of Arup, a global firm of designers, engineers, planners and business consultants. He's playing a leading role in the planning and building of China's first eco-cities -- Dongtan and Wanzhuang.
This is the time of year that Anette Hosoi starts collecting snails again.
A 14,500-year-old woolly mammoth skeleton dug up in 1994 has been unveiled at the Milwaukee Public Museum, giving locals a glimpse of perhaps the most intact specimen discovered in North America.
Medicine has much to learn from nature. There are literally millions of medical compounds out there that could cure diseases, help improve treatment and even protect us from some types of bacteria.
Global warming is shrinking glaciers all over the world, but the seven tongues of ice creeping down Mount Shasta's flanks are a rare exception: They are the only known glaciers in the continental U.S. that are growing.
Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is putting his clout behind renewable energy sources like wind power.
Almost half the coral reef ecosystems in United States territory are in poor or fair condition, mostly because of rising ocean temperatures, according to a government report released Monday.
"Doing it nature's way has the potential to change the way we grow food, make materials, harness energy, heal ourselves, store information, and conduct business." Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus is a pioneer and champion of the Biomimicry movement and author of the influential 1997 book "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature". Benyus draws her design inspiration from nature's wisdom and believes that we can use nature's best ideas and processes to solve human problems.
Living in Hong Kong I'm confronted each day by the delights and the diversity that architecture can inspire. The spectacular skyline of central Hong Kong encapsulates all the power, wealth and initiative that the city is built upon; I can take a walk through the concrete canyons of Kowloon and the high-density towers drip with life, stories and intrigue.
It all started with a farmer, a photo and a claim -- a sighting of a rare tiger in the local woods, curled up and staring right at the camera.
Forget the "Bird's Nest" and the "Water Cube". If you're traveling to China this summer, or even if you are watching the Olympics on television, make sure you look out for a glittering new landmark structure in Beijing.
It produced a blast hundreds of times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb, was seen hundreds of miles away and narrowly missed obliterating an entire city -- but 100 years to the week after the mysterious explosion in Siberia, no one is any closer to understanding what caused it.
From climate change to volcanoes and earthquakes, the world's growing challenges have leaders in earth science proposing a merger of agencies that study the planet.
As far as modes of transport go, it has to be one of the most environmentally friendly: a cardboard bike that can be recycled, in all senses of the word.
During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 104 degrees.
The dwindling march of the penguins is signaling that the world's oceans are in trouble, scientists now say.
Toney Dixon's fascination with dead bodies goes back to her childhood, when she would sneak around her uncle's funeral home and watch him prepare bodies.
Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.
Oliver Smithies speaks fondly of Danish potatoes and beautiful equations. More on the potatoes later. Smithies is credited with helping to revolutionize genetic studies. For more than half a century his passion for science and tireless experimentation have revealed some of DNA's best-kept secrets and he's not about to stop.
U.S. government scientists are launching a five-year project aimed at safeguarding the world's chocolate supply by dissecting the genome of the cocoa bean.
Faced with global warming, plants are heading for the hills.
If your neighbor mentions their green roof you might think they have a moss problem. Maybe they are simply referring to the color. But you're unlikely to think that they have just had a mini ecosystem installed.
Oxfam's new book "From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States Can Change the World" is a detailed and vivid account of poverty, its effects and how it can be eradicated. Principal Voices spoke to the book's author and Head of Research at Oxfam GB, Duncan Green about the charity's prescription for change.
Plans to rejuvenate a dilapidated London icon -- known worldwide to movie and music fans -- were unveiled last week.
Scientists unearthed a skull of the most primitive four-legged creature in Earth's history, which should help them better understand the evolution of fish to advanced animals that walk on land.
The underwater world and the underworld have at least one thing in common -- lots of aliases.
Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them.
Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.
Ron Forman wants to change grown-ups' views of bugs and spiders from "ewww!" to "cool!"
A cyclone wrecks coastal Myanmar, spawning outbreaks of malaria, cholera and dengue fever. Flooding inundates Iowa, raising an array of public health concerns.
As a product designer, Agustin Otegui's has to "think big" about the objects he creates. From novel portable chairs made out of shovels to chrome radiators that look like modern works of art, he recasts the mundane in a modernist and functional new light.
The tradition of farming the land in northern New Mexico's Espanola Valley had been passed down from Don Bustos' Spanish ancestors, who tilled the same soil centuries before.
Parts of a rare mummified dinosaur that has attracted worldwide interest went on display in North Dakota's state museum.
Joseph Rykwert is one of the world's leading architectural historians. He is currently Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture Emeritus and Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also authored several highly influential books including "The Idea of a Town" (1963) and "The Seduction of Place" (2000).
Conservationists raised the alarm Thursday that lions in Kenya's Amboseli National Park face extinction within a few years unless action is taken to help them.
If climate change were a small house fire, current policy in the European Union and the United Kingdom would ensure that it would destroy not just the house but the entire suburb.
London's Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew recently opened an attraction that gives visitors the chance to walk among the treetops and examine tree canopies from a new perspective.
Whaling fleets nearly wiped out North Atlantic right whales last century. Now these huge mammals are threatened by other human behavior: big ships, fishing gear and entanglement in federal bureaucracy.
The merits of increasing biofuel production in the middle of a crisis over skyrocketing food prices is being hotly debated at a United Nations summit, but the top U.S. delegate says consensus on the issue is possible.
Leaders gathered at a summit on the world's food crisis quickly laid out their disagreements on a key issue: how much the rush for environmentally friendly biofuels is contributing to soaring prices that are causing hunger and unrest worldwide.
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