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Army Corps must halt work on destructive Missouri river project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was ordered this weekend to cease work on a Mississippi River flood-control project in Missouri that would have cut the river off from its […]

DNA testing helps to settle claims of chemical exposure

Think you’ve been exposed to toxic chemicals on the job? Hand over your hair. A new DNA testing technique can help verify or refute claims of workplace poisoning by exposing […]

Parenting photos and advice from Grist readers and staff

Click photo to launch slide show. To help kick off our series on parenting and health, we asked Grist readers and staff to send us photos of their little ones, […]

Friday music blogging: Stephen Fretwell

I know next to nothing about Stephen Fretwell aside from his amusingly-appropriate-for-a-guitarist name. I stumbled across his album a couple weeks back and it’s been growing on me. He’s your […]

Me, at Discover Brilliant

From Mon. – Wed. next week, I’m going to the Discover Brilliant conference in Seattle. It will be attended by a who’s-who of smart folks working to green the utility, […]

U.S. EPA falls short of fiscal-year goals for Superfund cleanup

The U.S. EPA had aimed to clean up 40 Superfund sites in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, but only got around to 24 of them. The Bush administration […]

This week in ocean news

• the U.S. Geological Survey announced that the polar bear population could plummet to one-third of its current level by mid-century because Arctic ice is receding faster than predicted ...

• a new 350-foot super-ferry designed to go 40 mph between Hawaiian islands concerned scientists, who thought it would collide with whales and dolphins despite new cetacean-avoiding technology ...

• new DNA studies suggested that the historic population levels of Pacific gray whales far exceeded the 22,000 estimated, with researchers putting the number closer to 100,000 ...

• a six-week survey of the Yangtze River failed to turn up a single baiji, one of few dolphins species to adapt to a freshwater habitat. A survey in the 1990s turned up 13 of the dolphins ...

• an Alaskan man taped himself provoking a monk seal and her pup while vacationing in Hawaii. After he posted the video to MySpace, the man found himself under federal investigation and could receive a $25,000 fine ...

• a lake in Alaska boiled violently with methane ...

A chat with actor Morgan Freeman

It’s 6 p.m. and I’m sitting by the phone in a midtown Manhattan cubicle, waiting for Morgan Freeman to finish a round of golf in Chicago. Freeman is in the […]

Environmental protection trending negative, says report

The Worldwatch Institute yesterday released its “Vital Signs 2007-2008” report, which generally concluded that the earth is flatlining. Only six of 44 studied environmental trends were declared to be positive […]

EPA says oil spill in Brooklyn, N.Y., may be larger than originally thought

A giant oil spill that’s been languishing underground in Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Greenpoint neighborhood since at least the 1950s might not be as big as first thought — it’s likely even […]