Green Science

Green, clean energy sounds good at first: Harness the power of the wind to run our creature comforts. But could the sounds people hear (and don't hear) from wind turbines endanger their health?

By Julia Layton & Austin Henderson

We humans like to trade one problem for another. We give up drinking only to take up smoking. Will we also exchange a reliance on dwindling fossil fuels for a food shortage caused by ethanol production?

By Robert Lamb

Everyone knows air pollution isn't good for your lungs, but it turns out that it's not doing your heart any favors either. Why do the particulates in the air we breathe interfere with our heart's basic job: to keep things ticking?

By Julia Layton

The worst bad guys in the world of video games aren't virtual. Vampire power, overpackaging and energy-draining consoles make gaming unnecessarily bad for the environment. What are video game manufacturers doing to go green?

By Stephanie Watson

It may look like a wasteland now, but a mysterious mound-building civilization once called Peru's arid valleys home. Did a shift in climate drive them to settle -- and eventually disappear?

By Julia Layton

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust -- unless of course you've been embalmed, buried in a steel and hardwood coffin and interred in a concrete vault. For some people, the luxurious excess that accompanies traditional burial is no longer appealing.

By Maria Trimarchi

Green roofs, long popular in Europe, are making their way into the United States. Find out what a green roof is and how it can solve some problems conventional roofs have.

By Sarah Dowdey

Clean coal -- isn't that an oxymoron? Not anymore. See how energy companies are using coal in cleaner ways to generate massive amounts of electricity. Alternative fuels may be making headway, but coal isn't used up yet. Find out why.

By Sarah Dowdey

Wind energy is great, but what happens when there's no breeze? The Iowa Stored Energy Park will store compressed air underground. Can it replace traditional energy sources?

By William Harris

Environmentalists have found a way to harness the military precision of missile-tracking technology for a decidedly nonviolent mission: replanting forests. So what do C-130 aircraft have to do with reforestation?

By Jennifer Horton

Plants absorb carbon dioxide and feed us oxygen. So it's pretty much a no-brainer: Plowing down our forests is a bad idea. What's driving the destruction? And is anything being done to stop it?

By Debra Ronca & Sascha Bos

As high-yield oil supplies become harder to find, energy companies are turning to oil sands: mixtures of bitumen, sand and water. How do you extract oil from mucky, viscous soil?

By Maria Trimarchi & Desiree Bowie

Haunted by ideas of your body polluting the Earth after you're gone? Microbial fuel cell technology could allow you to harness the energy of your own decomposition to power batteries.

By Maria Trimarchi

You’ve probably seen some plastic labeled “BPA free,” but does that make it safer?

By Jennifer Horton & Sascha Bos

We know that humans are largely responsible for fueling global warming with our carbon emissions. So what if we could seize all that carbon and squirrel it away in a safe place? Well, we can. It's just hard and really expensive.

By Debra Ronca & Mark Mancini

In this mass graveyard, workers dismantle 52,000-ton ships using simple hand tools. Why would anyone want to work at Alang? Is this place doing the world a service by recycling obsolete ships?

By Sarah Winkler

Depending on who you ask, urban sprawl is either the best thing that ever happened to growing families -- or the downfall of civilization and the environment as we know it. Learn about the history and consequences of this American phenomenon.

By Alia Hoyt

Many people think that beautiful, blazing sunsets are one upside to living with the smog that hangs over polluted cities. Are they right? Does smog actually enhance sunsets?

By Julia Layton

Usually we're focused on our personal power consumption -- wondering why our gas bill went up or took a dip. But what if we added up everybody's power consumption? How much would it be?

By Maria Trimarchi

With the global food crisis, some people feel that using food to make biofuel just doesn't make sense. Could algae be a solution? How could algae possibly fuel cars and even airplanes?

By Stefani Newman

Wetlands may look murky and even creepy, but their value is clear. They soak up floodwaters and filter runoff before it enters our lakes and streams. How can we protect these spongy areas?

By Debra Ronca

Are wind farms and other renewable energy sources the closest we can come to free energy? Isn't there some crackpot invention out there that you can set up in your backyard?

By Jessika Toothman

What if you could scrub out carbon dioxide emissions before they ever dirtied the atmosphere? This exciting technology could do just that, but will the benefits outweigh the costs?

By Jennifer Horton

Experts expect more than 1 billion climate refugees by the year 2050. Where will they go and how will the world feed, clothe and shelter them?

By Maria Trimarchi & Sarah Gleim

While it's good to be environmentally accountable, too much eco-angst can spiral into an actual anxiety disorder. What makes people lose sleep thinking about their big, muddy carbon footprints?

By Stephanie Watson