So Far, 2014 is the Hottest Year on Record—Since 1880
This year is the hottest year on record since 1880 globally. What’s going on with our temperatures?
Why We Should Be Thankful For the Cold
Thanksgiving is upon us, and, in many places, so is the frigid weather. But don’t wish for warmer temperatures—not if you care about the survival of life on earth.
Space: The Final Frontier of … Profiteering
Two recent crashes of commercial spacecraft have unearthed a new risk to the heavens: the possibility that money-driven incompetence is replacing the nobler aims of space exploration echoed in the phrase “for all mankind.”
After $40 Billion, America’s Biggest Nuclear Dump Is Still Leaking
Begun in 1989, America’s biggest radioactive contamination waste site—run by the Department of Energy—has cost taxpayers roughly $40 billion so far and may take another 40 years and an additional $100 billion before the cleanup is done, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And critics argue workers are getting sick while waste is still leaking.
Tusks for Terrorists: Ivory, Elephant Poaching and the War on Terror
African terrorist groups are funding themselves through the sale of ivory from illegally slaughtered elephants. That connection is giving the fight against poaching a martial makeover, styled after the wars on drugs and terrorism.
Will Big Oil Pollute Woods Hole Research on Climate Change?
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an important voice in climate change research, is about to take oil company funding. Is it going to be another case of industry buying academic influence? WhoWhatWhy takes a closer look.
A Cautionary Tale: Tar Sands Oil and Health. Part 2
Plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline—designed to pump 35 million gallons of tar sands oil a day through the heart of America—are on hold, stalled by legal challenges about its route to Gulf Coast refineries from Canada. Yet there are very few answers to questions about the health risks involved in moving that kind of oil, as pipeline accidents in Michigan and Arkansas are demonstrating. WhoWhatWhy takes a look at those questions in the second part of a series.
Coming Soon to a Puddle Near You: Mosquitoes and Dengue Fever
Thanks to increased travel, and possibly global warming, mosquitoes are bringing more diseases from the tropics to North America. One in particular—dengue fever—can be deadly.
Poultry Eaters do the Funky Chicken
If you’re not big on the idea of antibiotics injected into your chicken dinner, you may be even less so after reading our story. It turns out that in the uber-quest to build the perfect cluckers, consumers may have been taken for suckers.
Ukraine: We All Get the Tyranny We Deserve
In the drama over who controls Ukraine, Americans know exactly which side we are on. Or do we?
No Comment Necessary
A fracking well explodes, killing a worker, and a fire burns for days. Read Chevron’s nifty solution for the neighbors.
Part 3: Climate Changes, Washington Freezes
In the third installment of our three-part look at underreported aspects of Climate Chaos, we cover a Washington conference which revealed terrifying new dimensions of the problem…but couldn’t quite get around to causes and cures.
Part 2: Denying Climate Change….
Washington won’t act to slow the chaos of climate change, even as the Navy prepares to patrol an open Arctic Ocean and the oil industry pushes to be able to start drilling in newly ice-free Arctic waters.
Part two of a three-part WhoWhatWhy investigation.
Laugh it Up, Hurricane Boehner
Climate change is hardly funny, but some activists see poking fun as part of their message.
Earth, Wind and…Neon?
If there is a cooler way to see the earth’s air currents on the move, we don’t know what it is.
Part 1: To See Climate Change in Florida
You don’t need to go to the North Pole to see evidence of climate change and rising seas. Just go to Florida.
Tigers Forever: Saving the World’s Most Endangered Big Cats
Wild tigers have disappeared from 90 percent of their historic range, and their population stands at a tiny fraction of a century ago. WhoWhatWhy science contributor Sharon Guynup collaborated with National Geographic photographer Steve Winter to raise an alarm about the state of this imperiled species in Tigers Forever: Saving the World’s Most Endangered Big Cats (National Geographic Books).
Classic WHO—Seaweed as Fuel
‘Ground-breaking’ scientific research could unleash the huge potential of aquatic biomass in creating a sustainable energy supply. (This first appeared on our site in February, 2012.)
Why We All Should Be Whistleblowers
The truth about whistleblowers—and why they do what they do. Turns out they’re not crazy; though the rest of us might be. An inspiring video talk on how we all could be whistleblowers.
More Dutch Bike Insights
Two new short documentaries on the astounding things the Dutch are doing with bikes. This is wheelie, wheelie cool.