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Dear EarthTalk: What are “agrofuels,” and why are organizations like Friends of the Earth critical about their use?—Bill Wilson, Boise, Idaho Agrofuels, also known as biofuels (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel), are fuels derived from plants instead of from oil or other fossil fuels. What makes them appealing to environmentalists and others, at least in theory, is the fact that they can be a carbon-neutral energy source. Plants take in and store carbon dioxide (CO2) during the process of photosynthesis....

Power company executives amplified their call today for free emission credits to comply with a House climate bill, calling their proposal an “elegant solution” ensuring the public won’t face skyrocketing electric bills. Representatives of the Edison Electric Institute, the American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners urged the House Energy and Commerce Committee to set aside 40 percent of the proposed cap-and-trade program’s allowances for free distribution to electricity generators....

Envy. Socrates viewed it as “the ulcer of the soul.” Shakespeare’s Iago, in Othello, gave us the term “green-eyed monster,” forever tingeing it an emerald hue. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, once resentful individuals trudge through purgatory with their eyes wired shut, never to see the world through jaundiced lenses again. Most of us are well acquainted with this powerful sentiment, often defined as the pain of occupying an inferior position relative to another and a desire for what that other person has....

This story was originally published by Inside Science News Service. (ISNS)—Scientists who decode the genetic history of humans by tracking how genes mutate have applied the same technique to one of the Western world’s most ancient and celebrated texts to uncover the date it was first written. The text is Homer’s “Iliad,” and Homer – if there was such a person – probably wrote it in 762 B.C., give or take 50 years, the researchers found....

You have turned up for your annual medical checkup. The doctor has taken your blood pressure, inquired about your diet and exercise patterns, and asked whether you smoke. Then come some rather pointed questions about your social life: Do you have many friends? Do you socialize? Which groups do you belong to? How diverse are they? How important are these groups to you? Even though these questions are unexpected, you go through the long list of your active memberships: your book club, volleyball team, hiking group, work colleagues, and so on....

Hibernation is a complex solution to a simple problem. In winter, food is scarce. To survive this seasonal famine, animals, such as the arctic ground squirrel and black bear, induce a sedentary state under which physiological shifts keep them alive despite the lack of food, water and movement. Researchers and doctors alike are interested in how these hibernation tricks could help humans with their own health. THREAT: Stroke INSIGHT: Blood flow in the brain of a hibernating arctic ground squirrel drops to a tenth of normal....

The world has blown past the 400 parts per million carbon dioxide milestone, and is unlikely to return below that threshold again in our lifetimes. It’s the biggest climate news of the week and quite possibly, the year. And it’s also a sobering reminder of what our carbon pollution problem is doing to the world. With that in mind, perhaps you’ve ruminated on it and stared at the Keeling Curve, trying to fathom how we got here....

Building on its domestic policy achievements, the United States should pave the way for a global agreement on more stringent, long-term fuel efficiency targets, according to new report by the Center for American Progress (CAP). In 2012, the Obama administration completed historic fuel economy standards that will double the fuel economy of new cars and trucks by 2025. A year earlier, the United States established first-ever standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that call for a 10-20 percent increase in fuel efficiency by 2018....

Once again Kilauea volcano’s lava has intruded into human territory in Hawaii. Scientists are trying to understand how and where magma will next appear on Earth’s surface, to better tell people how to avoid this recurring natural hazard. Mapping these hidden pathways is an ongoing project at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, where I once worked as a staff volcanologist. Kilauea consists of a summit caldera, Halema‘uma‘u, from which regions of fractured rock and erupted lava, called radial rift zones, extend to the southwest and east....

The tumor starts at the back of the girl’s right eye. It extends down through the nasal cavity before engulfing the right side of the jaw, even enveloping some teeth. Such a massive tumor would surely have made eating difficult for the child, who died during the 15th century in what was likely present-day Peru. The girl was wrapped in textiles and a cord net and placed in a pit or an enclosed aboveground space....

By Ronnie Cohen (Reuters Health) – A new study suggests that chemicals in sunscreen may impair men’s ability to father children, government scientists say. But other experts question whether the chemicals wound up in men’s urine from sunscreen or through another route. The FDA has not authorized the substances – benzophenone-2, known as BP-2, and 4-hydroxybenzophenone, known as 4-OH-BP – for use in sunscreens. BP-2 does show up as an ingredient in aftershaves, colognes, antiperspirant and other personal-care products....

Our five senses–sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell–seem to operate independently, as five distinct modes of perceiving the world. In reality, however, they collaborate closely to enable the mind to better understand its surroundings. We can become aware of this collaboration under special circumstances. In some cases, a sense may covertly influence the one we think is dominant. When visual information clashes with that from sound, sensory crosstalk can cause what we see to alter what we hear....

Before going to the gym for a workout or after indulging in cake at the office party, people with diabetes can use a portable monitor to take a quick blood glucose measurement and adjust their food or insulin intake to prevent extreme dips or spikes in blood sugar. The inexpensive finger-prick testing devices that allow diabetics to check their glucose levels throughout the day may sound like small conveniences. That is unless you are diabetic and can remember back a decade or more, when having that disease came with far more fear and guessing and far less control over your own well-being....

Atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida sits the first step in what will surely be a long and arduous task for NASA—returning humans to the moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, set to lift off this week, will orbit the moon in search of potential landing sites and useful resources, such as water ice, that would facilitate a long-term human presence. For starters, LRO will improve maps of the moon, says astrophysicist John Keller of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md....

Another cloud of Russian space debris has bloomed in orbit. An Earth-orbiting object cataloged as #32398 broke up on April 15, the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron tweeted on Tuesday (May 3). Sixteen pieces of space debris associated with the event are currently being tracked, the squadron added. Object #32398 was an ullage motor from a space tug that helped deliver three Russian GLONASS satellites to orbit in 2007, according to journalist and author Anatoly Zak, who runs RussianSpaceWeb....

Key concepts Chemicals Metals Fire Atoms Energy Introduction Have you ever watched a firework show and wondered how all the different colors—amazing reds, yellows, reds, blues, purples, greens and more—are made? The color, or colors, that a firework makes depends on what color-producing chemicals are in it. These chemicals are various metals that burn when the firework goes off, and it’s the burning metals that create the vivid colors. Different metals give off different, specific colors....

By Eugenie Samuel Reich Supersolids–bizarre quantum solids that flow effortlessly, as they have no friction–have come back into the limelight. The first claim to have made one, in 2004, was cast into doubt in June this year by experimental results suggesting that effects attributed to supersolidity might actually result from a different quantum phenomenon. But backers of the supersolid interpretation are now poised to bounce back, with more definitive evidence of supersolid behaviour in a crystal of ultracold helium-4....

No matter where your political party loyalties lie, the recent news of Arizona Senator McCain’s grave brain cancer diagnosis has surely left many of you in disbelief. As a past prisoner of Vietnam war, two presidential runs, and one of the most outspoken Republicans, Senator McCain has gained the political attention of everyone. So his recent diagnosis of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), the most common type of brain cancer, hasn’t been an easy one to digest....

Uber customers looking to catch a ride in Pittsburgh will have the opportunity beginning this month to try the company’s new self-driving car pilot program—the first time the general public will get a taste of Uber’s autonomous automobile technology. But anyone expecting to sit back and watch Uber’s heavily modified Volvo XC90 SUVs do all of the work will probably be disappointed. The ride-sharing company has not offered many details about what to expect during the experiment in Pittsburgh, chosen because Uber’s advanced technologies center is based there and because it gives the company a diverse set of traffic patterns, road types and weather conditions to study....

Guilt is difficult to define, but it pervades every aspect of our lives, whether we’re chastising ourselves for skipping a workout, or serving on the jury of a criminal trial. Humans seem to be hardwired for justice, but we’re also saddled with a curious compulsion to diagram our own emotional wiring. This drive to assign a neurochemical method to our madness has led to the generation of vast catalogs of neuroimaging studies that detail the neural underpinnings of everything from anxiety to nostalgia....