Grist | Topics | 198 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 198
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Yet another denier talking point melts down Bad data analysis by University of Alabama scientists set old myth in motion	Joseph Romm	14 Oct 2008	Gristmill
Denier talking points are harder to kill than vampires. They keep rising from the dead no matter how many times scientists try to drive a stake through their heart. Sometimes they take on a slightly different form, like a relentless, indestructible liquid-metal android assassin from the future that constantly switches appearance in an effort to fulfill its mission of ruining life on this planet for homo 'sapiens.' And so it is with one of the most enduring denier ...
Topics: scientific research, climate science, climate, climate change skepticism (all these topics)

When the Chimps Are Down Côte d'Ivoire's West African chimp population drops off dramatically		14 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 2:46 PM on 14 Oct 2008 The population of West African chimpanzees in Côte d'Ivoire has declined 90 percent in the last 18 years, according to a new study published in Current Biology. In the 1960s, the West African country was home to about 100,000 of the apes; in 1989-1990, scientists counted 8,000 to 12,000, which they estimated to be half the remaining population of the species. The most r ...
Topics: deforestation, endangered species, habitat loss, Ivory Coast, news, population, scientific research, wildlife (all these topics)

Synthetic biology: Coming soon to a gas tank near you? With little oversight, BP, Chevron, ADM, and Cargill cook up next-gen biofuels	Guest author	10 Oct 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post by Hope Shand, research director of ETC Group, a civil-society organization that tracks new technologies, monitors corporate concentration, and supports food sovereignty. -------Synthetic biologists, a brave new breed of science entrepreneurs who engineer life-forms from scratch, are holding their largest-ever global gathering in Hong Kong this week, known as "Synthetic Biology 4.0." Although most people have never heard of synthetic biol ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, biofuels, GMOs, scientific research, tech (all these topics)

Dispatches From the Fields: Your tax dollars at work Big ag, little ag, and government support	Stephanie Paige Ogburn	09 Oct 2008	Gristmill
In "Dispatches From the Fields," Ariane Lotti and Stephanie Ogburn, who are working on small farms in Iowa and Colorado this season, share their thoughts on producing real food in the midst of America's agro-industrial landscape. ----- Nicolas Enjalbert, a graduate student at Colorado State University, shows off a trial of an oilseed crop, camelina, that could potentially be used for biodiesel feed stock. Stephanie Paige Ogburn In t ...
Topics: agriculture, local food, organic food, regulation, scientific research, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Cancer Bisphenol A may reduce effectiveness of chemotherapy		09 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 10:32 AM on 09 Oct 2008 Oh, bisphenol A, what can't you do? The ubiquitous chemical, present in polycarbonate plastic and most can linings, may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy, says new research published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Researchers subjected human breast cancer cells to low levels of BPA. "It's actually acting by protecting existing cancer cells from dying in response t ...
Topics: green living, health, news, scientific research, toxics (all these topics)

Wee Wee Phthalates linked to abnormal genitalia in baby boys		03 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 1:33 PM on 03 Oct 2008 Mothers exposed to high levels of phthalates during pregnancy are more likely to bear sons with abnormal genitals, says new environmental research published in the journal Environmental Research. (See what we did there?) The study looked at only 106 mothers and sons, and the afflictions -- undescended testicles, smaller penises, and a shorter anogenital distance -- aren't serious problems in and of the ...
Topics: green living, health, news, parenting, scientific research, sex, toxics (all these topics)

ReGeneration Roadtrip: Buffers and biomass Streamlining the agricultural process in Iowa	Sarah van Schagen	03 Oct 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post by my travel partner, Todd Dwyer, head blogger for Dell's ReGeneration.org, where this post originally appeared. ----- I have a shocking piece of news for you. You may want to sit down for this: Agriculture is big business in Iowa. Did I say 'big?' Maybe that's an understatement. Of the state's 35 million acres, 31 million are used for agricultural purposes, and Iowa stands amongst the world's most altered land in the world. ...
Topics: agriculture, business, ethanol, Iowa, ReGeneration Roadtrip, scientific research, video (all these topics)

Very serious study of where the Titanic's deck chairs should go CFL study argues against a mandate to switch from incandescents	JMG	03 Oct 2008	Gristmill
Choose your metaphor: losing sight of the forest for the details of the leaves in the trees, Pyrrhic victory, you name it. All could be applied to this study here, which looks at countries and states according to how much mercury would drop or rise in their air if they switched from incandescent lighting to compact fluorescent lighting. Astoundingly, they come out against a mandate to make the lighting switch, arguing that: 'All sustainability issues are local,' said Zimmerma ...
Topics: air pollution, electricty, energy, energy at home, scientific research (all these topics)

Who Needs a Hg? CFLs can increase mercury pollution in some areas, study finds		01 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 3:48 PM on 01 Oct 2008 Energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs can lead to an increase in mercury pollution in some regions, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The study looked at mercury emissions in 130 countries and all 50 U.S. states to determine what role CFLs, which contain mercury, may have in upping mercury pollution. The study concludes th ...
Topics: energy efficiency, green living, news, scientific research, toxics (all these topics)

Chirp Thrills Farmland birds don't seem to mind wind turbines, says study		01 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 10:50 AM on 01 Oct 2008 The sights and sounds of wind turbines don't seem to bother farmland birds, according to research published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Scientists studied the effects of two wind farms in eastern England on 3,000 birds of 23 species, and found that only pheasants seemed to be disgruntled enough to move farther away from the turbines. (Incidentally, if we had a band, we'd call oursel ...
Topics: biodiversity, energy, England, news, renewable energy, scientific research, wildlife, wind power (all these topics)

Sour milk The Environment Report naively pushes Monsanto-related study praising rBGH	Tom Philpott	01 Oct 2008	Gristmill
I don't know much about Environment Report, a non-profit producer of radio reports about, uh, the environment. But I can't say I'm impressed by its recent piece on recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), the genetically modified "feed enhancer" for dairy cows that Monsanto recently sold to Eli Lilly. In it (transcript here), reporter Shawn Allee sets up a contrast between a Chicago health-food store owner and a Cornell scientist. The health food guy cites ...
Topics: livestock, Big Ag, scientific research, food, agriculture, mainstream media (all these topics)

Meat and Dairy, Quite Contrary Cutting meat and milk consumption cuts CO2 emissions, study says		01 Oct 2008	News
Posted at 6:41 AM on 01 Oct 2008 Happy World Vegetarian Day! Just in time for the festivities, a new study from the Food Climate Research Network finds that cutting down on meat and milk consumption can help cut greenhouse-gas emissions. The four-year study focused mainly on the U.K., concluding that dramatically cutting the average Briton's weekly meat and milk intake could help reduce emissions sin ...
Topics: agriculture, climate, food, green living, news, scientific research, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics)

Nothing new under the sun New study finds sun's contribution to recent warming is 'negligible'	Joseph Romm	30 Sep 2008	Gristmill
Earth to deniers -- global warming is caused by human emissions, not solar activity. The Naval Research Laboratory and NASA report that, 'if anything,' the sun contributed 'a very slight overall cooling in the past 25 years.' D'oh! The study ($ub. req'd), 'How natural and anthropogenic influences alter global and regional surface temperatures: 1889 to 2006,' finds: Empirical models that combine natural and anthropogenic influences (at appropriate lags) capture 76 ...
Topics: scientific research, climate change impacts, climate science, climate (all these topics)

Meat Wagon: House of fools While antibiotic-resistant bugs flourish, a House subcommittee buries its head	Tom Philpott	30 Sep 2008	Gristmill
In Meat Wagon, we round up the latest outrages from the meat and livestock industries. ----- As the fruits of three decades of financial-market deregulation and lax oversight ripen on Wall Street, now is a fitting time to mull over our government's efforts to regulate the food industry. Let's think specifically about its actions regarding antibiotics in livestock production. In industrial meat production, you stuff animals together in close contact with their own wast ...
Topics: Congress, politics, business, health, food, scientific research, livestock (all these topics)

Things Are Looking Upward Last year's world CO2 emissions exceeded most dire IPCC predictions		26 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 6:33 AM on 26 Sep 2008 The world's carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 exceeded even some of the direst predictions of climate scientists, growing 3 percent from 2006 according to an annual report from the Global Carbon Project. The climb in overall emissions last year was especially surprising given the economic downturn that was expected to help curb emissions. For the first time, developing n ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, news, scientific research (all these topics)

The sound of science Obama/Biden campaign releases science and innovation plan	Kate Sheppard	25 Sep 2008	Gristmill
The Obama campaign released a policy outline [PDF] today on science and innovation, pledging to double federal funding for research over 10 years. An Obama-Biden administration, they say on their website, would change 'the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology.' The plan is intended to support innovation, increase the country's competitiveness, and cre ...
Topics: Barack Obama, elections, Joe Biden, politics, presidential race 08, scientific research (all these topics)

Swimming Lessons Learned Swimming in chlorinated pools linked to childhood asthma, study says		25 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 6:41 AM on 25 Sep 2008 Kids who swim regularly in outdoor chlorinated pools are up to five times more likely to develop asthma than youngsters who have never been in a chlorinated pool, according to a new study by Belgian researchers in the European Respiratory Journal. The same research team found a few years ago that kids who swim regularly in indoor chlorinated pools also experience an inc ...
Topics: green living, news, parenting, scientific research, toxics (all these topics)

Annals of innovative damage control GM flack misuses Thomas Kuhn's philosophy of science (!) to defend Lutz climate skepticism	David Roberts	23 Sep 2008	Gristmill
As I've said before, I don't care if GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz doesn't believe that human beings are causing climate change. It's GM's behavior that deserves our scorn, not the mental states of their executives. But (per Kate below) the defense of Lutz offered by GM's Tom Wilkinson cannot stand. God knows what a corporate flack is doing deploying the work of Thomas Kuhn (author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) to defend the troglodytic comments of one of ...
Topics: climate change skepticism, climate science, climate, scientific research (all these topics)

Common Baby, Light My Ire Many of world's common birds are taking a population dive		23 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 10:21 AM on 23 Sep 2008 Some of the world's most common bird species have suffered big population declines in the last few decades due to habitat loss, invasive species, industrial agriculture, and logging, says a new report from BirdLife International. The report found that in the last 25 years, some 45 percent of Europe's common bird species have been in decline, as have over 80 percent of Australia's ...
Topics: biodiversity, news, scientific research, wildlife (all these topics)

Summer ice in the Arctic has recovered Was the Arctic ice retreat a climate anomaly?	Coby Beck	20 Sep 2008	Gristmill
(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide) Objection: Sea ice at the north pole recovered a whopping 9.4 percent from 2007 to 2008 despite the doom and gloom predictions of the alarmists. Yet another wheel falls off the global warming bandwagon. Answer: It is true that the minimum summer ice extent in the arctic ocean in 2008 was 9.4 percent higher than the minimum in 2007. But calling this a recovery is simply not justifiable, not by a long shot. First ...
Topics: advice, climate, climate change skepticism, climate science, scientific research, How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic, Arctic (all these topics)

Wheat and ethanol: They just don't mix New research shows that ethanol will continue to increase the cost of wheat	Meredith Niles	19 Sep 2008	Gristmill
I, like most Americans, love bread. Crusty, warm, and fresh-baked bread is a carb overload I am willing to indulge in even if it means a few extra minutes of running. But the American love affair with all things baked might be at jeopardy. We all know that oil and water don't mix, but it's becoming increasingly clear that wheat and ethanol are a bad combination as well. New research from the University of Illinois indicates that the high prices for wheat, as well as ...
Topics: ethanol, biofuels, scientific research, food, agriculture (all these topics)

What is this, a TE party? The one clean-tech breakthrough that could lead to a core climate solution: Thermoelectricity	Joseph Romm	19 Sep 2008	Gristmill
The buzzwords of the day: TE with high TZ. The world doesn't need a major technology breakthrough to cost-effectively cut carbon emissions in half by mid-century. Indeed, most such breakthroughs would be difficult to deploy fast enough and on a large enough scale to make a large difference in that time frame. Other key medium-term technologies, like low-cost solar photovoltaics, don't require breakthroughs so much as they need steady technological advances, econ ...
Topics: energy, renewable energy, scientific research, tech, climate science, climate (all these topics)

Can't We All Just Get a Lungfish? Allocating individual quotas could save many fisheries, study says		19 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 10:55 AM on 19 Sep 2008 Retooling the way fisheries are managed could be the key to their long-term health, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Typical fisheries have mostly relied on a free-for-all style of management where scientists determine the overall allowable catch and then fishers go out and compete with each other to try to catch as much as they can as q ...
Topics: fishing, news, scientific research, wildlife (all these topics)

Must 'science' mean 'corporate science'? Wired: Two top Obama science advisors are tied to Monsanto and Amgen	Tom Philpott	19 Sep 2008	Gristmill
I hope the executive branch's "war on science" era ends in January. Heading into a period of climate change, tight fossil energy supplies, growing trouble with food-borne illnesses, declining health metrics, etc, we clearly don't need a bunch of creationists and climate-change deniers knocking about the White House. At the same time, I hope we don't swing in the direction of a hyper-corporate vision of science: the idea that big problems demand big solutions ...
Topics: business, politics, Barack Obama, scientific research, agriculture (all these topics)

The American Physical Society denies the so-called consensus Is this a crack in the climate change consensus?	Coby Beck	18 Sep 2008	Gristmill
(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide) Objection: The American Physical Society with tens of thousands of member scientists no longer believes that the science of global warming is conclusive. So what about that so called consensus? Answer: The APS has not reversed its position on climate change:Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth's climate. Greenhouse gases include carbon dio ...
Topics: advice, climate, climate change skepticism, climate science, scientific research, How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic (all these topics)

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