Bioreactors on a chip renew promises for algal biofuels

Researchers report exciting new technology that may revolutionize the search for the perfect algal strain: algal droplet bioreactors on a chip the size of a quarter.

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Memento Mori: a Requiem for Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is dying. By Miguel A. Cruz-Díaz.

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Bill Gates thinks the 1% should foot the bill for renewable energy, and he's offering the first $2B.

Whatever you might think of him, Bill Gates is a man who knows a thing or two about a thing or two. After all, he is the richest man in the world. And while money isn't necessarily an indication of intelligence, he's clearly doing something right.

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Genes that separate humans from fruit flies found

Genes which determine animal complexity – or what makes humans so much more complex than a fruit fly or a sea urchin – have been identified for the first time. The secret mechanism for how a cell in one animal can be significantly more complex than a similar cell in another animal appears to be due to proteins and their ability to control events in a cell’s nucleus.

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When It’s Good to Be Antisocial

Bees are emblems of social complexity. Their honeycombs—intricate lattices dripping with food—house bustling hive members carrying out carefully orchestrated duties like defending against predators and coordinating resource collection. Much of our own success is due to this sort of division of labor. Clearly, in the animal kingdom, it pays to be social: Certain neurons make us resent being alone. You could be forgiven for assuming that complex social organization is the—or at least a—pinnacle of evolution.

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A Dozen Climate Science Deniers Nominated to EPA's Science Advisory Board

An influential panel could soon been filled with anti-science friends of polluters. A third of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, an influential panel that reviews the science the agency uses in formulating safeguards, could be succeeded by climate science-denying, polluter-friendly replacements when their terms expire at the end of this month.

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Hidden Costs of Climate Change Running Hundreds of Billions a Year

Extreme weather, made worse by climate change, along with the health impacts of burning fossil fuels, has cost the U.S. economy at least $240 billion a year over the past ten years, a new report has found. And yet this does not include this past month's three major hurricanes or 76 wildfires in nine Western states. Those economic losses alone are estimated to top $300 billion, the report notes. Putting it in perspective, $300 billion is enough money to provide free tuition for the 13.5 million U.S. students enrolled in public colleges and universities for four years.

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