Friday, 25 May, 2012

Hawaii is the world’s capital of biological invasions. A new airborne gadget measures how bad the situation has become; offers aid in fighting weedy trees.

With the Nevada waste dump 20 years late, deadly radwaste still piles up. Would removing the plutonium for new fuel aid proliferators or help with waste storage? The debate continues.

Use a cellphone? Love nature? Fear cancer? Then how can you hate science? Epidemics, environment, technology: We’ve got questions for the marathoners running (still?) for prexydent.

Pilot errors have dropped 40 percent over 20 years, but on-the-ground accidents have increased. Why have pilot errors declined? What work remains to increase airline safety?

By marketing to billions of lower-income people, business can do well by doing good: Affordable green goods for “the base of the pyramid” could improve lives and cut environmental damage. Could this work?

Wildfires are a tragedy, but are human actions making them worse? What is the role of global warming and zoning? Can we build safer houses in safer locations?

Most adhesives can’t be reused. But a radical new design, based on the foot of frogs, lizards and insects, shows how engineers can learn from nature to make smarter materials.

A toddler suddenly begins to learn 10 words a day. Does this reflect some innate genius for language, or could it have a less dramatic explanation? New research de-glamorizes the vocab explosion.

The ancients used fire to cook, smelt metal and make pots. It provided warmth, protection against animals, and became a social focus. Fire changed who we are. Could this explain the enduring allure of fire?

Could non-violent video games be (gasp!) helpful? What do we know about the use of video games in the classroom?