Nature

Droughts are a farmer's worst nightmare: Crops meant for the dinner table wither away in the dry heat leaving people hungry and farmers broke. Not all plants are as sensitive to drought, though, and it is the genetic makeup of these more resilient plants that is of interest to scientists who feel the need to develop crops that can handle drastic shifts in their environments. U.S and Finnish researchers recently discovered the specific gene responsible for controlling the amount of water released by the plant as it absorbs carbon dioxide-more specifically, the gene that controls the plant's stomata. The stomatic pore in a tomato leaf. (Photo: Wikipedia) All leaves are covered...

Environmentalism, ideally, is a broad and pluralistic movement that embraces diverse ideologies and myriad disagreements, unified only by a shared and sincere concern for the health of the natural world. Aside from this core value, how individuals and organizations practice their environmentalism must and should display infinite variety, because how love for the natural world is balanced with empathy for the aspirations of humanity is never easy. Environmentalism in this broadest sense is a value that has acquired a welcome momentum in recent years, but challenging this ideal, pluralistic version of environmentalism are powerful political agendas. These agendas have become mainstream and...

There is one animal that drivers fear more than any other: the deer. More than 1.5 million deer find their ways in front of cars within the United States causing over 1 billion dollars in property damage! The deer population has increased drastically since the first half of the twentieth century, when their numbers were a meager 500,000. Now with an overwhelming number of deer in the country, they are considered a nuisance in many suburban areas and a hazard to each other. Large populations of other species-many of them invasive-like grey squirrels, pigeons, Canadian geese and feral pets also have a negative effect on their environments. Fortunately, there may soon be a way to humanely...

While racing towards Los Angeles from Hawaii on his yacht, Charles Moore decided to stray from the typical route and take what he thought would be an easy shortcut through the North Pacific gyre. Expecting to see nothing by calm, shimmering water in one of the most secluded regions of the ocean, Moore was shocked to find himself surrounded by mounds of garbage instead. For almost a week, Moore would walk on deck just to stare at sun-bleached toys, ropes, cups, and eerie shadows of plastic bags floating underneath the waves. The North Pacific Gyre, noted for calm stable waters, and circular undersea currents, is calculated to contain over 100 million tons of trash. After its discovery in...

Almost ten years ago, Time Magazine proclaimed Paul Watson as one of the major environmental heroes of the 20th century. During the 1970s Watson was part of numerous Greenpeace campaigns against whaling, but he always felt that these placid confrontations had little result against saving whales. Some of these graceful animals even died from attacks with Greenpeace Zodiacs swarming around whaling vessels. According to Watson's biography, everything came to light in 1975, as he was forced to watch a sperm whale die a few feet from his boat after it had been harpooned by Russian hunters. This was just not acceptable. Watson didn't mesh well with Greenpeace and felt that more extreme...

Nanoparticles are all the rage for a variety of different applications, ranging from treatments for cancer to use in automobile sensors. Trouble is, the manmade nanomorsels have been raising concern about side effects in humans and the environment. A University of Missouri research team has devised a method for creating nanoparticles that don't have negative side effects. And the work has garnered the scientists international recognition. The team found that when you submerge gold salts into water and then add soybeans, gold nanoparticles are created. The procedure is simple but can be used in creating very complex nanoengineered components. The beauty of this green process...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capitol, has slowly transformed into a sprawling city over the years, full of silver skyscrapers and modern buildings. The city is home to over 5 million inhabitants and bears little resemblance to the land that used to be covered with date trees and orchards. Riyadh roughly translates to "garden" in Arabic and it is a suitable name for a region with such fertile soil. It is only fitting that the world's largest greenhouse will reside in the garden city of Saudi Arabia. Barton Willmore, a British design and architectural planning company is working with the civil engineers at Buro Happold to create the 160 hectare King Abdullah International Gardens (KAIG). This garden will be housed in two giant interlocking crescent...

Scuttling in the crevices of every home are a variety of pests that seem to thrive on making the human inhabitants miserable. One of the most hated pests are cockroaches, which are almost impossible to eliminate. It does not matter how clean a house is; one inseminated female roach can explode into an infestation within a matter of weeks. Miniscule amounts of food, such as splattered grease, sugar that lands behind the cupboard or even glue is enough to keep the population going. Trails of ants crawling throughout the house, a single chirping cricket serenading you in the middle of the night and slugs eating up your prized garden are no fun either. Borates have long been...

Cows are notorious for lazily standing around, nonchalantly chewing their cud while staring into space. Ambitious cows may also spend some time swatting the occasional fly with their tails. It is a simple life, constantly inundated with bouts of flatulence and burps. In fact, the global cattle population is the largest contributor of methane gases in the atmosphere: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that cattle "account for about 28% of global methane emissions from human related activities". There are 1.2 billion cows in the world, each equipped with four stomachs full of flora that release gases during the digestive process. Each cow emits over 600 liters of methane created when bacteria in their gut...

There is one animal on the island state of Tasmania with the traits of a monster. It is aptly named the 'Tasmanian Devil' (or Tassie). Devils are typically heard before they are seen, emitting obnoxious screeches while feeding which can be heard several kilometers away. The spine chilling cries are hard to describe but can be heard here. As if their disturbing wails aren't enough, devils emit an incredibly offensive odor when stressed and are believed to be extraordinarily aggressive animals. (Even though this is mostly bluff as they tend to avoid confrontation with humans if possible.) Sarcophilus harrisii Devils are the largest marsupial in Australia and have an array of...

The rooftop of the world, the land of snows... with an average elevation of 4000 meters (over 13,000 feet), the Tibetan Plateau is the highest and largest plateau on earth. The plants and animals there are unique-- the snow leopard, Tibetan antelope, Tibetan gazelle, Bengal tiger, wild yak, blue sheep, brown bear, and black-necked crane, to name a few. Visitors to Tibet before 1950 compared it to East Africa, with vast herds of large mammals roaming free through the mountains. Today, precious few remain. - But although the flora and fauna are diverse, the extreme climate has allowed only a relatively small number of them to flourish; species that have been able to...

Ecotourism can take many forms - activist tours, where the line between work and vacation is blurry; adventure tours, where the tourist braves white water in a canoe, or thin air and freezing temperatures on a mountain trek, or any number of other challenges of nature; visits to pristine places, where one can view the most beautiful and unspoiled regions on earth, hopefully through their tourist dollars helping to fund the preservation and restoration of these places, and finally; low impact tourism, where the traveler stays in accomodations and enjoys means of transit that leave no footprint. These distinctions are somewhat arbitrary, of course, since many tour...