Green Science

In 2023, the U.S. bottled water industry was worth $94 billion, even with the rise of popular reusable water bottle brands.

By Julia Layton

Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment of history. What can you do to make a difference? We've got 10 tips for you.

By Katie Lambert & Sarah Gleim

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

Electrifying dance moves might impress your friends, but they usually don't help power the club you're dancing in. What's piezoelectricity, and how could it help twist the future of energy generation?

By Maria Trimarchi

When you're camping, it's nice to have a light in your tent. But lanterns can catch fire and flashlights eventually run out of batteries. Does the sun offer a better solution?

By Julia Layton

They may seem like a fun water sport or a noisy nuisance, but whatever your stance on personal watercraft, there's no denying they pollute. So how bad are they?

By Julia Layton

If ranchers and landowners invest in grass banks, will their payout be nothing but green? Or is grass banking a temporary solution, delaying Mother Nature's inevitable bankruptcy?

By Jennifer Horton

We've been warned plenty about the mercury content of fish. And most of us know our new high-efficiency CFLs also contain the shiny neurotoxin. So which source should cause us more concern?

By Julia Layton

Is the same substance that makes your shampoo so sudsy really going to give you cancer? Here's the real dirt on whether sodium lauryl sulfate is bad for you.

By Julia Layton & Valerie Stimac

Can you walk to restaurants from your home? Or do you have to hop in the car for every outing? How do you determine your neighborhood's walkability without taking to the streets yourself?

By Maria Trimarchi

When Thomas Malthus warned that the human population would eventually outpace Earth's resources, he wasn't anticipating the green revolution. So why do rising food costs have some folks worried we're running at capacity?

By Julia Layton

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

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

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

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

Plastic bags are generally unsustainable. Even if they are biodegradable, they take roughly 1,000 years to fully break down. Minnesota company NatureWorks has come up with a green plastic bag, but how eco-friendly is it?

By Josh Clark

Earth Day is the ideal time of the year to form new eco-oriented habits. Here are 10 things you can do to celebrate our planet all year long.

By Julia Layton & Sarah Gleim

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