How to Build a City That Doesn’t Flood? Turn it Into a Sponge City
Cities encourage potentially devastating floods by laying down asphalt and pavement. Could this be avoided by making them "spongier" and more absorbent?
Rethinking Bioengineered Skin
A boy with a rare condition was losing his skin, until a medical team was able to produce artificial skin. Healing damaged skin has long been a challenge.
Coffee-Powered Buses, Cannabis Megafarms, and a Fashionable Facelift
Britiain's red double-deckers will run on spent coffee grounds. California cannabis farms may now mushroom in size. Fashion is due for an ecological shift.
Why Scientists Couldn’t Save the Vaquita, the “Panda of the Sea”
It might be the end of the line for the vaquita, the world’s rarest marine mammal. A dramatic last-ditch attempt to capture one has failed.
Do We Have Moral Obligations to Robots?
The recent film Blade Runner 2049 engages with questions raised by Karel Čapek and Isaac Asimov: What do we owe our creations (and what do they owe us)?
Why It’s So Difficult to Save Sharks
Will a ban on shark fins help shark populations? Since sharks are slow-growing and long-lived, once shark stocks are depleted, they take a while to rebound.
#MeToo and the New Era of Internet Celebrity
We may want to support the #MeToo victims, but many of us also feel allegiance to our favorite celebrity. And the internet is at the heart of that dynamic.
Why We Need to Start Listening to Insects
The study of wingbeat has come an incredibly long way and could lead to breakthroughs crucial for human populations facing insect-borne disease and pests.
Rat Wars, Radiation Leaks, and Other Dirty Secrets
This week in sustainability news: rats v. kiwis, radiation links in midcentury Soviet Union, and an American town with no running water.
Was Lydia E. Pinkham the Queen of Quackery?
She developed an immensely popular, if questionably effective, herbal remedy for “female complaints.” Pioneer in alternative medicine or...?