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By now, the apocalypse story – which goes back at least as far as the ancient Hebrews – has fractured into numerous sub-genres. Our favorite, these days, is the soft apocalypse, where the end has come but life goes on. More »
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A strange phenomenon has been developing in the Siberian lake Baikal. A 2.5 mile-wide circle suddenly formed last month in the center of the lake. NASA scientists say it appears the ice is being melted in a perfectly circular pattern. What could do this? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5272325&view=rss&microfeed=true As the Earth slowly warms and weather patterns start to go non-linear, the side-effects for human health aren't always what you'd expect. In coming years, hospitals need to brace themselves for a spike in hospital visits due to respiratory problems, especially during summer. This finding comes out of a new study by a European task force called PHEWE devoted to researching the acute health problems associated with global warming. More »
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As you've probably heard, a containment area for toxic fly ash (a byproduct of fossil fuel production) burst open last month in Tennessee, U.S. As a result, 1.3 million cubic meters of ash slurry oozed over the countryside, covering homes and getting into local rivers. NASA's Landsat 5 satellite captured these images before and after the event. Above, you can see the area in November, before the spill. Dark blue water is unpolluted; pale blue water contains sediment. More »
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This is an aerial view of China's future — vast solar farms that developers hope will fuel the industrial nation, as well as cut down on its choking smog problem. This solar photovoltaic power station, the largest of its type in northwest China, is currently under construction in Xining of Qinghai Province. More »
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The fungi destroyed by global warming might just be the key to preventing the planet from becoming a giant ball of greenhouse gasses. A group of researchers at UC Irvine in California have discovered that rising temperatures are killing mushrooms in the forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern areas. But the dead, dried fungi actually produced far less carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) than their chillier, living counterparts. So much less that the researchers believe it might be enough to reduce global warming by several degrees. More »
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It's the famous Tokyo 109 building (named after io9 of course), now falling into the same eco-ruins that overtook Manhattan in plague wipeout movie I Am Legend. In fact, Tokyo Fantasy has posted a whole series of images that all feature Tokyo in a post-apocalyptic state which manages to look rather lovely due to all the lush greenery. Reminds me of the abandoned amusement park in Miyazaki Hayao's anime Spirited Away. More green doom below. More »
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The ice-clogged, impassible North Pole of yesterday is about to melt away this summer, and may be one of the first examples of economic benefit coming from global warming. When the Pole shrinks away, it creates a wide path through the so-called Northwest Passage, a treacherous and icy route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. With more melting, ships will be able to get from one continent to the next without having to do crazy navigational feats around giant ice sheets. Shipping becomes cheaper and more convenient. And when it becomes a major shipping lane, nations who control the area are sure to get richer. More »
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Crispy noodles are the missing link between today's carbon-emitting cars and tomorrow's clean hydrogen cars. It turns out that the structure of crispy noodles — rigid, twisty, and porous — perfectly matches that of a new polymer developed to trap and reuse hydrogen atoms in new "green" cars. University of Manchester researcher Peter Budd helped develop the polymer, which he calls a 'polymer of intrinsic microporosity,' or PIM. And he explains it entirely in terms of noodles. More »
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Could this parking garage in Santa Monica, California, become the first certifiably "green" parking garage in the U.S.? LEED, a green building organization that awards certifications to structures that are demonstrably eco-friendly, says it may grant its certification to the garage any time now. More »
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This industrial environmentalist building/machine in Madrid is packed with solar cells and trees, and will apparently generate enough energy to sell to local electric companies. Called an "Air Tree," and created by Urban Ecosystems, the mega-device is supposed to have a significantly beneficial impact on the climate. Plus it just looks seriously badass, as you can see in these wide-angle views. More »
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Amado Becquer Casaballe is a photographer who recently had the chance to work on an ice-breaking ship as it floated around Antarctica. He wanted to capture the beauty of this frozen desert before climate change transforms it forever. His images of glowing icebergs and shattered glaciers are truly otherworldly. You can see some in our gallery. More »
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A new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that about 20-25% of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and ozone) are coming from railway, shipping, and car or truck transportation. But the most interesting part of the study are its future projections. "In 2050, as much as 30-50% of total CO2 emissions are projected to come from the transport sector," write the authors. In addition, they say that many of the emissions causing climate change from transportation are not covered in the Kyoto Protocol. Climate forcing from the transport sectors [PNAS] More »
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Wind turbines produce energy by harnessing the wind, and usually they look like windmills. But a new breed of airborne wind turbine is heading into production. Many of them are house-sized and blimp-shaped, inflated with helium and left to churn in the rapid winds that are always blowing 1000 feet off the ground. Others are shaped more like helicopters or ladders. Still others cling to bridges. Someday I totally want one of these floating over my house, powering my Mac while I blog. Check out our gallery of gorgeous, airborne wind turbines. More »
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Now you can use a microwave to transform old tires into energy. Here you see Jay Gill, an employee of New Jersey company Global Resource Corporation, doing just that using an awesomely homebrew-looking setup. The process is completely revolutionary, and the company has just announced it's about to get a ton of money to expand. But of course all we kept thinking about was how that gas chamber looked like a bong. Photos by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images. Energy from Tires [Minnesota Post-Bulletin] More »
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• It's official: the Earth is getting more tropical. Global warming has expanded the tropical band around the center of the planet over the past two decades, and it looks like it will expand more over the next century. [Reuters]
• Researchers repaired major skull damage in mice using human embryonic stem cells. They grew new bone on a special tissue-engineering edifice and popped it right into the mouse skulls. So stem cells are good for something, after all. [Science Daily] Why chimps are smarter than humans and dinosaurs had hooves after the jump.

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We've got some artificial body parts, some bad brains, and some serious toxic sludge in the state of Washington for you in today's science news headlines. More »
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I've got some good science news for you, and some bad.

• Wind power may not be a clean energy source of the future after all. Though Sweden has just built a massive wind farm at sea, most countries have found wind an inefficient and unreliable energy source. [New York Times]

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Written in the 1970s at the height of the last eco-craze, Ernest Callenbach's classic utopian novel Ecotopia will intrigue anyone who wants to see what a sustainable environmentalist country might look like. Surprisingly prescient, and unafraid to look at the dark side of eco-fanaticism, Callenbach shows us a believable alternate United States whose commitment to things like public transportation, zero emissions, and recycling has paid off. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=325548&view=rss&microfeed=true If we want to survive as a species, we will have to live in massive mega-cities. Living at one with nature is just crap idealism from the past, and the suburbs are nothing more than archaic residue of racist white flight patterns. So says futurist-environmentalist Van Jones. He isn't afraid to piss people off, and speak the unspeakable, and you can see him at his best in a recent interview. More »
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Plastic flip flop sandals discarded in the oceans off the coast of Asia have formed a new kind of fauna on the coast of Northern Kenya. So many sandals wash ashore that over the past decade locals have begun harvesting them, turning them into colorful toys, and selling them for more money than they could make from fishing, the area's former main industry. After a 2003 documentary, Flip Flotsam, called attention to Kenya's flip flop harvests, a small nonprofit called UniqEco began methodically helping locals ply their craft via the Flip Flop Recycling Project. More »
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Some Harvard scientists suggest that we could turn back the clock on global warming by sucking CO2 out of the air and de-acidifying the oceans. More »
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Must-see movies are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale. Written by Jason Shankel. More »
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