This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tom’s of Maine for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. Today, as probably every day of my life, a big part of my day was helping people. I started my day focused on that, and it's hard to think of a day when that
President Obama, speaking at the annual “Chevron remembers Nagasaki” memorial service, today praised the US oil giant for its role “in helping all of us learn from history.” Speaking in San Fransisco moments before the crowd-pleasing pyrotechnic recreation of the 1944 blasts in Japan, Obama cited the role of the oil industry in working
Each year at this time, the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE, Arizona State University) convenes a meeting of taxon experts (i.e., experts in classifying organisms) to select the ‘top ten new species’ discovered in the preceding year. It’s no easy task; last year some 18,000 new species were “officially described” (most being microbes).The IISE
by Patrick O’Keeffe The Kimberley Coast, located on the north-western edge of Australia, is under significant threat from a boom in liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, as companies swoop on large gas fields off the West Australian coast. The most controversial of these projects, is the Browse Basin development, which involves the development of a
Half mile-wide objects that NASA and ESA experts are calling “strange” and “mysterious” have punctured holes in Saturn’s “weirdest” ring, known as the F ring…Ok, that’s three words that mean unusual, so you know that something odd is happening… The objects were observed by the Cassini orbiter probe and took some time and careful hunting by
Hey Folks, here’s my photo blogging feature from RARE…the Recycled Art and Resource Expo…a three day event happening now in Bellingham, Washington (continues through Earth Day, Sunday April 22, ’til 3pm). So, if you’re in the neighborhood, I enthusiastically recommend that you stop by for the half day of events (and catch a
For the past decade or more, every April 12, citizens from all over the world commemorate Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering 1961 spaceflight (the first human in space), and also the launch of the first Space Shuttle mission (twenty years later to the day),with special events large and small — collectively termed Yuri’s Night – World
HostelBookers, a budget accommodation specialist I’ve used numerous times, has announced that it is supporting WWF’s Earth Hour, the world’s largest campaign for action to protect the planet, in a number of ways. On March 31, 2012 at 8.30pm, the global skyline will be plunged into darkness as hundreds of millions of people, landmarks,
Democrats Stand Up to House GOP Senate Democrats have stood up to the constant assault on the environment a bit and told the House GOP to “stop polluting [a] middle-class tax bill with poison pills,” as Brad Johnson of Think Progress writes. “Instead of finding commonsense solutions, the Republicans are talking about things that
Well, of course, Bill didn’t do it single-handedly. However, if there’s one person to credit with getting thousands of people to submit to arrest in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, and getting over 10,000 to circle the White House in protest, and hundreds of thousands to oppose the project online, it’s Bill McKibben.
Seriously, it did. Extreme weather has slammed the world in the past year or two, one clear result is rising food prices. Here’s a ‘fun’ infographic, Extreme Thanksgiving, on extreme weather and rising food prices, via resource media (click to enlarge):
Readers may recall a post here on PS (August, 2011) concerning a new computer chip that ‘thinks’ like a brain cell (i.e., responds to new information), due to its clever engineering and close linkage of processing and memory (see link to this article below). These were created through a joint IBM/DARPA project. These were referred
A recent study out of Vermont Law School finds that coal can’t provide U.S. energy security (who knew?) and comes with a myriad of downsides and societal costs (really?!). “The United States’ energy security won’t improve—and economic, social and environmental risks will expand exponentially—if the nation switches from oil to coal for most of its
Last year it was 10/10/10 (and so on back in time)…but this year’s date triplet seems a little different…Why? Well, ’cause it goes up to eleven, you see…. Although in the UK it’s written 11/11/11…The soon to be 11/11/11 date (tomorrow) has sparked a strange, unofficial, world-wide (well, Facebook wide ) holiday…Nigel Tufnel Day! And
Though looking at Ireland from space is always stunning, with it’s masses of dark green spread across the vast majority of the island, in this image there is something even more spectacular; the electric blue plankton bloom to the south. Captured by the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite on 23 May, 2010, using the Medium
The world’s fourth largest island and the subject of quite a funny animated film, Madagascar is caught on camera by the European Space Agency’s satellite Envisat on 30 June, 2009. The image was caught using the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument and shows very clearly the beautiful green and browns of the island. Source:
The Aegean and Libyan Seas in the eastern Mediterranean are split by the island of Crete, which is seen in prominence in this Envisat image.
I love autumn (or fall if you are that way inclined) and I love getting to see images of it spreading across a country from above, like this image below which was taken on October 9, and shows the northeastern portion of North America.
For many of us, we’re never going to see an aurora. We simply live too far away from the poles. We might be able to make do with photos people have taken from the ground, but even that doesn’t match up with the video and image below, which show the aurora australis over Antarctica on September 11, 2005.
The black spots below are not problems with the photography, but rather lakes in what is normally the arid Gobi Desert in the Chinese Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia.
Scientists working with NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne research campaign started their third year of survey flights and captured this image of the sea ice covering the Weddell Sea.
Captured on the 8th of September by the European Space Agency’s Envisat Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) are the Canary Islands, at the bottom of this image, off the west coast of Africa.
The Great Lakes – one of the most amazing geographic sites to see from space – is pictured below in what NASA describes as a ‘contradiction’ of colours.
We are all a movement for change for the better, whether that be towards a sustainable future, or whether it’s towards ending corporate rule over our economy. We must stand together for change, change that happens, change that makes sense, change that is in our hands, not in the hands of the 1% and not in the hands of people who put religion and their personal morals over our freedom.
I seldom do opinion pieces, but sometimes, one opinion gets expressed – one amongst so many – that finally pushes me passed that proverbial tipping point. Case in (tipping) point, Tuesday’s op-ed by New York Times columnist David Brooks entitled ‘Milquetoast Radicals’ — a putative criticism of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. Brooks’ main complaint – apart from the so far lack of a single coherent message (that presumably the media can then attack and dismiss) — is that protesters lack “big ideas”, offering only a litany of “small” complaints, thus offering only “small solutions.” As if it were the job of protesters to formulate economic policy for the country.
Once again using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on board their Aqua satellite, NASA have provided this stunning image of the Antarctic Peninsula.
In this stunning black and white image taken by the European Space Agency’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) on board Envisat, we get to see Spitsbergen, Norway’s largest island.
For those of you not living in North America or are stereotypically American and aren’t aware of the world beyond your own three metre personal space, Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes of North America, and can be seen beautifully surrounded by the beginnings of autumn colour.
The European Space Agency ERS satellites have provided the data to create this amazing image of the varied elevations in the Bachu region of western China.
Many of us will never see an aurora with our own eyes, so we resort to videos and images on the internet. One of the most amazing I’ve ever seen is this series of still images collated into a timelapse video taken from the International Space Station on September 17.
Taken by a member of the ICESCAPE mission on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy as it steamed its way south in the Arctic Ocean towards the edge of the sea ice on July 20.
Everyone has heard about the beautifully romantic city that is Venice, and sometimes we even get to see inside the city thanks to movies like The Italian Job and Casino Royale. However this beautiful image taken by Ikonos-2, a commercial satellite that provides panchromatic and multispectral high-resolution imagery for the European Space Agency shows us another, but just as spectacular view of the city.
The cloud that is seen streaking away from the Minnesota Fires in the image below is a ‘pyrocumulonimbus’ cloud, formed as a result of the fires beneath it.
Deep in the heart of Australia’s outback rests a massive rock. Known for a long time as Ayers Rock, but known for an even longer time as Uluru, the sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high, though most of its bulk lies underground.
I think that there is probably nothing as beautiful as a full disc image of Earth, though I would like it if I could find one that didn’t focus on the Americas. Either way, this most recent image was taken on August 24, 2011, by the NASA/NOAA GOES-13 satellite.
In this spectacular video of images taken by the GOES-13 satellite we can see the growth of Hurricane Irene over Haiti and approaching the Bahamas on August 22 through to August 24.
The Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite captured this natural-color image on June 15, 2009 of Omulyakhskaya and Khromskaya Bays which lie along the northern Siberian coast, southeast of the Lyakhov Islands while the ice still lingered on the sea surface and on some inland water bodies.
This impressive shot from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite was captured on August 14, 2011 and shows a massive phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea, located north of Norway and Russia.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this image of Franz Josef Land as the clouds parted on August 14.
A collaboration between IBM and DARPA has produced “next generation” computer chips that adapt to unexpected inputs due to their structural mimicking of the brain’s neurons. Applications for these “neuro-synaptic chips” include analyzing financial market fluctuations and even predicting tsunamis.
NASA released this utterly breathtaking image of Earth as seen from space on October 17, 2000. You can clearly see North and South America thanks to the combined efforts two satellites.
This beautiful image shows southern Namibia and northern South Africa on Africa’s lower-west coast thanks to the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite.
Move over ‘Surround Sound’, here comes ‘Surround Haptics’: a technological advance that permits users of games or viewers of films to experience physical sensations, such as the jolt from a car collision or even the touch of a hand.
Captured on June 27 of this year by the crew on the International Space Station, this photo of the Massachusetts coastline was taken at an angle, allowing for the sunglint shown prominently in Cape Cod Bay.
In Russia’s far east is the Kamchatka Peninsula, which drops down between the Pacific Ocean on its east and the Sea of Okhotsk on its west side. Show central in this image is an isolated volcanic group that includes the most active volcano in Eurasia; Klyuchevskaya Sopka.
A beautiful image taken in White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa, that I found while trundling through Flickr.
Some top climate science stories from the pastw eek or so (other than what we’ve already covered):
The Petermann Ice Island-A (PII-A) iceberg can be seen in this July 20th image floating off the coast of Newfoundland, almost a year after it calved off the Petermann Glacier on the northwest coast of Greenland.
