How Living Off the Grid Works
Source: How Stuff Works
People who choose to live “off the grid” often do so for environmental reasons. This article explains the steps to take to disconnect from public utiltites.
Science & Nature
Luck and Skill Untangled: The Science of Success
Source: Wired
Science writer Samuel Arbesman and financial analyst Michael Mauboussin discuss the relationship between skill and luck and how it affects success.
Conflict resolution: Wars without end
Source: Nature
Learn how researchers are using data and systems analysis to attempt to resolve intractable conflicts.
Wildlife thriving around Chernobyl nuclear plant despite radiation
Source: The Guardian
Depending on which experts are talking, the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine and Belarus is either a thriving wildlife sanctuary or a deadly no-man’s land. How well has nature repaired itself after the man-made 1986 disaster?
Trash-mapping expedition sheds light on “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”
Source: The Guardian
A garbage dump twice the size of Texas? In the Pacific Ocean? Find out what scientists and volunteers have discovered and what they are saying about this human-caused disaster.
Does Your Dog Really Love You?
Source: CBS News
Find out what news correspondent Anderson Cooper thinks about his dog’s intelligence and how little we know about dogs.
El Niño
Source: National Geographic
Learn about the periodic weather system known as El Niño and how it affects weather on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
Horror Films for Apes Are Teaching Scientists About Long-Term Memory
Source: Smithsonian
Japanese science researchers observed how apes use their long-term memory by showing “horror” movies to chimpanzees. They used an eye tracker device to record the chimps eye movements in response to the key action scenes in the movies.
Wild Things Next Door: Dangers of Exotic Pets
Source: ABC
This news clip gives an overview of the dangers of keeping exotic animals as pets.
Why We Need the Wild
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Professor David Gessner of the University of North Carolina Wilmington reviews the nature writing in Jason Mark’s recently-published Satellites in the High Country, and he touches on some transcendental ideas in the process.