« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 »

Like Father, Like Son

Owen Garriott belongs to a very exclusive club: one of the first six scientist-astronauts selected by NASA in 1966. He was an engineering professor at Stanford at the time, and scholars of his type did not readily fit into the...

Continue reading "Like Father, Like Son"

September 28, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

A 'Cure' for the Earth

Gaia. When James Lovelock, the Oxford professor, first put forth the notion in the 1960s, it was either ignored or derided as some weird new-age religion. The Gaia theory is hard to sum up in a brief way, but Lovelock...

Continue reading "A 'Cure' for the Earth"

September 26, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

A 'New Day for Energy in America'?

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it's getting the first application in nearly 30 years to build a new nuclear power plant in the U.S.--and the first since the Three Mile Island Accident in 1979. The application is coming from NRG...

Continue reading "A 'New Day for Energy in America'?"

September 24, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (28)

'America at Home'

"What if you could invite people all over the United States, at the exact same moment, every day, to record one aspect, one component, one slice, of life at home?" asked Rick Smolan. Smolan, a photojournalist who’s turned into a...

Continue reading "'America at Home'"

September 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Arctic Ice

Even though autumn begins on Sunday, this is the time of year when the Arctic ice cap reaches its minimum, warmed by the heat that builds up in the atmosphere over the summer. The National Snow and Ice Data Center...

Continue reading "Arctic Ice"

September 20, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

YouNews

What if the news of the day came directly to you, without any editors filtering it? What if you could go online and get websites, or RSS feeds, or whatever, that just gave you the stories most likely to interest...

Continue reading "YouNews"

September 18, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

One Less Shuttle Flight This Year

This just in from Gina Sunseri in Houston: A hydraulic leak in the landing gear of Space Shuttle Discovery threatens to delay the launch of the next flight, STS-120, which had been scheduled for October 23rd. Sources also tell ABC...

Continue reading "One Less Shuttle Flight This Year"

September 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

Whose Atmosphere is it?

Vermont is not usually a battleground. But it's one of a dozen states that's been in court, arguing that if the federal government isn't going to control greenhouse gas emissions, the states ought to. The states won in federal district...

Continue reading "Whose Atmosphere is it?"

September 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (23)

End of the World--or Maybe Not

In about five billion years, current thinking goes, the Sun will use up the hydrogen that fuels it and expand into a red giant, 100 times larger in diameter than it is today. In the process, Mercury, Venus, and possibly...

Continue reading "End of the World--or Maybe Not"

September 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

NASA Decides: Less Drama on Future Shuttle Missions

Gina Sunseri of our staff has sent this note from Houston: NASA has decided to add a fifth spacewalk to the next shuttle mission so they can practice repairing a hole in the shuttle's heat shield should they ever encounter...

Continue reading "NASA Decides: Less Drama on Future Shuttle Missions"

September 10, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (4)