Image credit Gizmodo There is a trend in architecture to try and actively promote health and exercise; The New York Times Building has prominent, bright stairs for circulation; Tom Mayne’s San Francisco Federal Building’s elevators… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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photo via flickr There are a lot predators in Congress, so maybe it’s not a total surprise that the Senate has joined the House to protect sharks by banning shark finning, the brutal practice of cutting off a shark’s fin and throwing its body back into the sea. Specifically, the ” Shark Conservation Act ” prevents vessels from coming back to land with only fins and with no sharks attached to them. No word yet if President Obama will sign the bill…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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photo: Steve Garvie / Creative Commons You may not have been debating whether African elephants living in savannah or forests were two separate species, but it’s been an unanswered question among scientists for a while. A new study in the journal PLoS Biology claims to put the question to rest though, determining though DNA sequencing that African elephants are in fact two separate species–in fact they are genetically furth… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo credit: Osaka University via Discovery News In order to study how language evolves, scientists in Japan have created a mouse that can tweet and chirp like a bird. Apparently the mutation was a complete accident as they bred generations of genetically engineered mice with various mutations to see what happens. They’re now hoping to capitalize on by coaxing out the mutation in future generations. They hope that the singing mice will reveal clues about language evolution such as the formation of dialects. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Study Finds Sources of Estrogen in Water, More Due to Agriculture Than Birth Control
December 22, 2010 No Comment
Image: “Are Oral Contraceptives a Significant Contributor to the Estrogenicity of Drinking Water?” by Amber Wise, et. al. at ACS Publications You may have heard the rumor, or even bought into the popular belief, that taking birth control pills is causing high levels of female hormones in the environment, leading to the feminization of frogs, fish, and other aquatic species. If that is true, you might be thin… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image credit houseplans.com Dan Gregory, editor of Houseplans.com , writes that Lester Walker, author of American Shelter and a Little House of My Own, now has his plans for sale on the site. It is a lovely little 250 square foot design, from a talented and well known architect. A set of plans costs $ 2500… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Images via Blue Water Satellite Using satellites helps us monitor everything from animal migrations to forest cover to water supply levels. And now Blue Water Satellite has come up with another perfect use — monitoring toxic blooms of blue-green algae in lakes, rivers and reservoirs. Blue-green algae makes news as a foul-smelling killer found everywhere from China to
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Just in time for Christmas, everyone’s favorite radical environmental activist group has whipped up a Gulf spill -themed board game that pits Greenpeace against the “evil” oil companies. There’s no word whether Greenpeace’s game, Deep Sea Desperation, was inspired by BP’s own dubiously-designed 1970′s board game … … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: Jun Sato/WireImage/Getty Images From sexy Leo’s mega donation to tigers to Kevin Costner’s surprise knowledge of oil clean-up technology, celebrities were on fire this year. There were a few mistakes, however….such as NBC’s “Tonight Show” debacle, which sent a barely used set to landfill. Here’s a look back at the year in green hits and misses when it comes to Hollywood’s A-listers.
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Image: Kew It looks like there’s yet another reason for some holiday cheer this season: Scientists have discovered a new, exotic species of mistletoe in Mozambique. The new mistletoe is rather striking looking — folks might hesitate before pecking beneath this plant, at least before the third or fourth round at the office Christmas party…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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