News | Energy & Sustainability 'Artificial Leaf' Hits Development Hurdle Company founded to commercialize solar hydrogen device goes back to drawing board for cost reasons By Richard Van Noorden and Nature magazine | May 23, 2012 Image: artificial leaf, american chemical society, semiconductor From Nature magazine Not all prototypes make it out of the laboratory, but the 'artificial leaf' is so elegant that its design seems to beg for commercial production. Described in Science last year by a team led by Dan Nocera at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the catalyst-coated wafer is a silicon version of a photosynthesizing leaf: it turns sunlight into storable fuel by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. But Sun Catalytix, the company founded in Cambridge off the back of ... Continue reading →

Now that the weather’s finally balmy, most of us are craving some serious sun. But what’s the best way to protect your skin from harmful rays? With its annual sunscreen ratings, the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) has you covered (pun totally intended). 15 Sun Safety Tips From Dermatologists The group scrutinized the labels of more than 1,800 sunscreens to see how effective and safe they really are—which is no easy task thanks to the FDA, says Nneka Leiba, MPH, one of the report's authors and senior research analyst at EWG. "The FDA spends a lot of resources regulating food and very little on regulating cosmetics," she says. Evidence of the agency’s unwillingness to regulate personal care products came in early May when FDA delayed ... Continue reading →

This limits growth. When automobile manufacturing was a cutting-edge industry, not only did the entrepreneurs get rich and the workers earn a decent salary, but whole regions boomed. Between 1900 and 1930, 1.3 million people moved to Detroit, quintupling its population. By contrast, the combined populations of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in Silicon Valley have grown by only about one-third during the 30-year computer boom. The pace of growth is even slowing down and has been below the national average for the past 20 years. There’s nowhere for extra people to go. Ironically, the pioneers of high technology have forgotten some of the basic technologies that make modern prosperity possible—detached homes with small yards, single family homes that share connecting walls, elevators that ... Continue reading →

After four years of threatening to sue Minnesota over its climate change policies, North Dakota finally did. First thing you should notice: it’s North Dakota’s lignite coal industry, electric companies, and their trade association who are suing Minnesota, and the state is the front man. You see, John Dwyer, the president of North Dakota’s coal industry council for the past 30 years, is more powerful than any governor or attorney general. He’s outlasted a bunch of them, and according to long-time observers of Bismarck politics, he calls the shots on utility matters. The coal industry’s argument is very simple: by placing restrictions on the burning or importing of additional coal in the electric sector, Minnesota is both discriminating against North Dakota and violating the Commerce ... Continue reading →

Coal Exports and Carbon Consequences II How much is 145 million tons of coal? There are at present six proposals to export coal from Northwest ports. If all of these proposals are built, and if all of them operate at full capacity, the Northwest would be shipping 145 million tons of per coal year. When burned, that coal will produce roughly 262 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. It’s such a staggering figure, that it’s a little hard to grasp. So here’s some context: The coal export proposals are, in other words, a disaster for the climate. In aggregate, they are actually far worse than the Keystone XL pipeline. If you want to dig into the numbers on a project by project basis, here ... Continue reading →

Susan G. Komen 3-Day � This year Linda and I are lacing up our walking shoes again!! Before we start our walk, we'll be boarding a plane and flying across the country to San Francisco and joining thousands of other walkers for what promises to be an amazing 3 days and 60 miles to fund breast cancer research. In October of 2010, just shy of my 1 year anniversary marking the end of my chemotherapy treatments, I walked for the first time with my team in Washington D.C.. I admit that in the days leading up to the walk, I became very nervous. My emotional wounds were still very, very raw and physically, I was not back to my usual self. I was concerned it ... Continue reading →

Some readers may wonder why I chose to write my column this week about the International Criminal Court, rather than the obvious subject – the G8 meeting in Japan. The reason is that I had a thoroughly discouraging lunch with my colleague, Alan Beattie. When I mentioned that I might write about the G8, he said – “Let me guess, you will say…” and proceeded to reel off a string of cliches, which had indeed been the basis of my putative column. Alan then forwarded me a generic column on international institutions that he has written. It really says it all – and I think I may simply reproduce it, every year, round about G8 time. It goes as follows: By reporters everywhere An ineffectual ... Continue reading →