By Ryan Johnson Climate change in the Western U.S. means more intense and frequent wildfires churning out waves of smoke that scientists say will sweep across the continent to affect tens of millions of people and cause a spike in premature deaths. That emerging reality is prompting people in cities and rural areas alike to […]

By Ryan Johnson You can be born with good genes and study hard and still not meet your potential. Your environment has a lot to do with how smart you are. Euthenics refers to the practice of improving humanity’s environment in order to maximize its potential. Throughout history, we’ve tweaked our surroundings in such a […]

By Ryan Johnson From monitoring deforestation to designing low-carbon materials The AI renaissance of recent years has led many to ask how this technology can help with one of the greatest threats facing humanity: climate change. A new research paperauthored by some of the field’s best-known thinkers aims to answer this question, giving a number […]

By Ryan Johnson A group of leading business have launched a global initiative aimed at jumpstarting the plastics circular economy. During the first episode of the BBC’s long-awaited series War on Plastic, television chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and presenter Anita Rania shed new light on how vast our plastic problem has become. In one of the starker moments of […]

By Ryan Johnson When I worry about the Amazon Rainforest, I typically worry about deforestation. Maybe I should start worrying about climate change, too. A new study out Monday shows that climate change plus deforestation equals disaster for the Amazon: The average number of tree species present in a given patch of rainforest could decline […]

By Christopher Thompson Every stage of the plastic lifecycle releases harmful carbon emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to global heating Plastics are among the most ubiquitous materials in our economy, our lives, and our environment. They are also among the most pervasive and persistent pollutants on Earth. In recent years, stark images of beaches, waterways […]

New research presented at the the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology has demonstrated a novel topical formation containing cannabidiol (CBD) is effective at killing bacterial infections in the skin. The formulation was also found to kill certain antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We have known for some time that certain cannabinoids found in marijuana display impressive […]

By Ryan Johnson Ghost nets float throughout the world’s oceans. The abandoned fishing gear travels with the currents, trapping marine life along the way, polluting the waters and killing dolphins, sea turtles, and fish. Now a recent haul in the Pacific shows there may be an effective way to pick up this trash relatively rapidly. […]

By Christopher Thompson The textile industry has had a reputation for massive waste and water usage for years, but a focus on moving away from fast fashion, the textile industry could become more sustainable. Everything we buy has to end up somewhere, right? We all know waste is a problem. And yet single-use consumerism has […]

By Ryan Johnson We make good-faith efforts to help the planet by recycling, but what we really need to do is even simpler Вid you ever decide to get off a jammed freeway and take the backroads even though deep down you knew that it wouldn’t be any faster? Are you constantly switching to the […]