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[Update: The original title of the post said that the algae used in the Algenist cosmetics line was genetically engineered. That's not the case—the compounds come from existing microalgae that Solazyme has been able to identify and grow. We've fixed the headline—my apologies.] Trying to make a biofuel startup work is tough. On one hand, [...]
The 125-year-old Coca-Cola Company doesn’t like to mess with its brand image. That’s in part because it’s so valuable—according to Interbrand Coke has the best brand in the world—but also because previous efforts to tweak its image haven’t always worked out so well, and sometimes lead to things like this. So perhaps it’s a measure of [...]
This Friday environmental and public health groups will hold the first National Conference to End Factory Farming in Arlington, Virginia—a gathering which is pretty self-explanatory. Gene Baur heads the Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting animal abuse on farms, sent in a piece outlining the goals of the conference, which I’ll excerpt below:
Maybe it’s just the fact that the official day has been set for October 31—Halloween—but there’s a distinct whiff of panic and fear around the expected birth of the 7 billionth person on the planet. Here’s Roger Martin, chair of the NGO Population Matters, writing in the Guardian recently: The 7 Billion Day is a [...]
From TIME contributor Joe Jackson: As oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in May 2010, and then CEO Tony Hayward made his infamous statement that he wanted his life back, he likely had little fear of it being taken in a court of law. But that reality could be [...]
Water is a fact of life in Thailand and its capital of Bangkok, where one of the easiest ways to get around the traffic-clogged megacity is on water taxis. This is a country, after all, that celebrates a water festival—involving some serious Super Soakers—every year. But weeks of rains have caused the worst floods Thailand [...]
It’s a very good thing that neural tube defects are relatively rare in the U.S., because they are very cruel conditions for a newborn to suffer. The two most common types of such birth defects are spina bifida – in which the backbone and spinal canal do not close properly — and anencephaly, in which [...]
You can’t get much more remote than New Zealand—Auckland is over 1,000 miles away from Sydney, which is itself pretty far down there. But doesn’t mean New Zealand is exempt from modern environmental ills. Earlier this month the Liberian-flagged cargo ship Rena ran aground on a reef off New Zealand’s north island, spilling tons of [...]
There’s a reason why scientists like to refer to the bluefin tuna as the “tigers of the sea.” The fish can grow to as much as 1,500 lbs. (700 kg), and can swim over 40 mph. Scientists who’ve tagged bluefin tuna in the wild to track their movements are amazed at how far the fish [...]
If you’re already daydreaming about your winter getaway to the tropics as the weather gets crisper and gloomier, consider adjusting your plans to include some swimming among the world’s coral reefs – not just because they offer an unparalleled panorama of underwater life, but also because they’re disappearing in the midst of coastal development. And [...]
