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Settlers of Catan has plenty of expansions that change the dynamics of the game, forcing the players to work together, putting a focus on exploration, or drawing emphasis to a certain section of the map. A new variation from publisher Mayfair Games will add a new wrinkle to the basic game, allowing some players to get a boost from their oil fields at the possible cost of ruining the entire island of Catan. More »
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Singapore has embarked upon the excavation of an underground oil reserve, expanding the city's industrial port beneath the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It is "no ordinary construction site," the BBC tells us, but an elaborate project of engineering and infrastructure currently underway "several hundred feet underground, below the seabed in Singapore." More »
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The August 2008 war between Georgia and Russia was fought at sea, in the air, on land … and in the press, as both sides tried to spin events in their favor. The shooting has ended. The propaganda war continues. More »
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The major oil fields in the Gulf region have pumped more than half their oil, which is the point at which production usually begins to decline, one expert tells the Wall Street Journal. More »
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Last year's Gulf Oil Spill released 205 million gallons of oil — such a huge amount, it's hard to get your mind around. To help conceptualize it, Chris Harmon created this amazing animated infographic. More »
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A new study demonstrates how high hydrocarbons could be formed from methane deep within the Earth, aside from the compression and heating of ancient animal remains over the eons. More »
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We usually think of fossil fuels as an energy source, but petroleum is also the raw materials used in all the world's plastics. Now leftover chicken feathers could allow us to keep using plastics in a world after oil. More »
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You'd think that blowback from the Deepwater oil disaster would make companies more cautious about drilling deep into the Earth in search of black gold. But a terrific article by Discover's Mac Margolis reveals drilling is only getting more extreme. More »
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Flip on the news and you'll see pundits a-go-go discussing the amount of oil left in the Gulf of Mexico. But how does one actually determine this amount? Diandra Leslie-Pelecky explores the fluidity of the figures and potential clean-up solutions. More »
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Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa have created a simulation of the potential spread of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill over 360 days. Their hypothetical scenario? All sorts of bad. More »
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Damon Lindelof recently wrote a blockbuster movie treatment for the Deepwater Horizon leak. His take? "We're gonna reverse-ARMAGEDDON this shit and call it a sequel." But wait! J.J. Abrams did Armageddon. Here's our idea of what Lindelof's script should resemble. More »
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This white, foamy oil slick appears almost beautiful in this satellite image — but it's set to become the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The Coast Guard is considering setting it on fire to save the environment. More »
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The world reportedly uses 40,000 gallons of oil every second to keep the globe a-whirring. But what would this river of Texas Tea look like? The amount of water per second that flows down India's Jog Falls. More »
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Researchers have created oil droplets that can find their way through a maze. Getting inanimate objects to trace the path to the area they're most needed is a difficult prospect at the best of times. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5448316&view=rss&microfeed=true One of the most well-respected climatologists in the world, James Hansen was pissed off about global warming way before it was cool to be 'green' — like, 1988. He's such a baddass that in 2006 he took on his employer, NASA, and the Bush Administration, publicly accusing them of supressing his research, which provided damning evidence that humans were causing global warming. But he's far from finished. Today marks the 20th anniversary of his climate crusading, and in a speech before Congress today he's planning to ask lawmakers to send the CEOs of oil companies to jail for spreading lies about climate change. More »
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Restaurants across the United States are reporting that thieves are stealing their used cooking oil, turning it into black-market biodiesel made in garage distilleries. In many cities where biodiesel fuel is popular, restaurants can earn up to $1.25 per gallon of the used stuff. Oil pirates, however, are rarely looking to make a buck. They are just whipping up biodiesel for their own uses, cutting out middlemen who go through a complicated certification process with the Environmental Protection Agency in order to distill the fuel from oil. More »
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