Energy
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Two Wrongs from the Right
July 23, 2010
The deaths of a climate scientist and of meaningful climate-change legislation bode poorly for a prosperous energy-independent future.
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Slow Burn
June 24, 2010
Since 1962, a coal fire has been raging beneath Centralia, Pennsylvania, and it may continue burning for centuries. When the very ground beneath your feet catches fire, how can you extinguish the blaze?
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A Titanic Challenge
June 11, 2010
What might a glut of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico—and a dearth of them on Saturn's moon, Titan—imply about humanity's long-term prospects?
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Bottom of the Barrel
May 21, 2010
A new book argues that marketplace innovations will make the future brighter, better, and more prosperous, but is such unbounded optimism rational?
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On the Horizon
April 30, 2010
As a disastrous oil spill spreads across the Gulf of Mexico, it also rekindles hope for renewed political action on climate change and energy.
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Leading Lights
April 02, 2010
Aligning economic value with currently unpriced things—in nature and society—could be the ticket to global sustainability.
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Long Time Coming
March 26, 2010
The story of one of history's most infamous math problems illustrates the difficulties facing congress in the wake of healthcare reform.
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Zero-Sum Game
February 19, 2010
With two power-players—Bill Gates and Barack Obama—placing their bets on nuclear energy, another round of debate begins over its place in a carbon-free future.
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Illuminating Dark Economies
February 08, 2010
Measuring economic activity from outer space is a new frontier in the struggle to quantify humanity’s impact on the natural world.
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Pushing a Power Portfolio
October 30, 2009
As alternative energy funding plans are rolled out, a long-running debate over nuclear rages on Earth and in space.
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The Environmental Revival
October 27, 2009
Which modern enviro concepts are throwbacks to the past? Four experts discuss the technologies, laws, and states of mind that have their roots in the first wave of the environmental movement.
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Catching the Wind in Rural Malawi
October 13, 2009
With a tinkerer’s imagination and farmer’s grit, William Kamkwamba transformed junk into the beginning of one small town’s green energy revolution.
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A Rocket for the 21st Century
September 29, 2009
Former astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz explains how his plasma rocket engine could revolutionize space travel and why we need nuclear power in space.
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Illuminating Dark Economies
September 21, 2009
Measuring economic activity from outer space is a new frontier in the struggle to quantify humanity’s impact on the natural world.
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An In Vitro Beef
August 31, 2009
Even if meat isn’t murder, that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
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Why In-Vitro Meat Is Good for You
August 31, 2009
Jason Matheny on the world’s addiction to meat and how to grow ground beef in a test tube.
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Here Comes the Sun (and Wind)
August 27, 2009
Four experts discuss the balance between pristine land and renewable energy, the pros and cons of photovoltaics versus solar thermal, and how much rooftop solar can help.
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Crash Course in Relativity
August 25, 2009
A Seed editor documents, chapter by chapter, her experience reading Why Does E=mc2?
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Much Ado About Carbon Offsets
August 13, 2009
Five experts debate if carbon offsetting is the quick, efficient way to decarbonize the global economy, or the loophole that will derail such efforts.
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A Bloom in Biofuels
August 05, 2009
The same organisms that created the oil and gas now powering our industrial society and warming the globe can also be used to make carbon-neutral fuels.
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Who Owns Green Tech?
July 30, 2009
Five experts discuss how intellectual property can be adapted to spread green tech, what we can learn from Pasteur, and how to inspire people to innovate.
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Getting Solar Off the Ground
July 28, 2009
William Maness on why alternative energy and power grids aren’t good playmates and his plans for beaming solar power from space.
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Week in Review: July 10
July 10, 2009
A year of magical thinking on climate change, making headway on the science of medical science policy, a new human genome, probiotics for famine victims, and China’s science budget.
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The Coming Oil-Free Utopia
July 08, 2009
In $20 a Gallon, Christopher Steiner argues that rising oil prices will not unravel society, but rather change it for the better.
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Week in Review: July 3
July 03, 2009
Climatic signals are mixed, China takes a step toward academic freedom, and the European Union continues its love-hate relationship with biotechnology.
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
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Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
