The US, China and four of the other largest-polluting countries yesterday opened a "counter-Kyoto" conference by declaring that voluntarily adopted technological advances could solve the problem of climate change. Independent View full entry
Scientists in Germany have discovered that ordinary plants produce significant amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas which helps trap the sun's energy in the atmosphere. BBC View full entry
A volcano on an uninhabited island in Alaska erupted for the first time in 20 years Wednesday, spewing ash about five miles into the sky. The 4,134-foot Augustine Volcano last erupted in 1986. Read. View full entry
A New Mexico homeowner traps a mouse, then throws it onto a pile of burning leaves - except it catches fire, runs back inside, and burns the house to the ground! Whoops. CNN. BBC. View full entry
Japan struck by deadly snowdrifts (pics) :: Tectonic slopes of the Indonesia Landslide :: Scorched Earth :: Napa's muddy mess :: Explosions on the Moon :: Red Rain & alien microbes :: How to create a Mach 6 wind tunnel View full entry
Herbert Muschamp's new and quasi-epic meanderings about the fate of New York's 2 Columbus Circle, encompassing men's lingerie, AIDS, art galleries... NYT. View full entry
The Financial Times reports, "The US government has plans to build a high-security prison in Afghanistan to hold terror suspects, including some who would be transferred from the controversial US naval base at Guantánamo Bay. The site selected for the jail is Pol-e-Charki, a rundown... View full entry
Architectural Record , in partnership with the Tulane School of Architecture, has announced two International design competions to propose new housing for New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. View full entry
Marcel Duchamp's infamously inverted R. Mutt urinal has been attacked with a hammer - by a French conceptual artist called Pierre. Dada meets Dada. NYT. View full entry
The artist John Latham died in London on New Year's Day, he was 84 years old. indep His work takes up a special place in Britain's art history. He was best known for his art activism of the sixties: burning the Encyclopedia Britannica (Skoob Tower Ceremony: National Encyclopedias, 1966) or... View full entry
So, enough about the tallest building -- how about the longest prime number? The most recent find: 9.1 million digits long. And if you manage to string one together over 10 million, you'll get $100k in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. Go break that record! Guardian | via View full entry
"The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea?" That's the annual question posed by Edge magazine, and answered by... View full entry
A new radio segment on the "geo-spatial web," where the digital realm is exploding into the physical world. On Point | Via Glowlab View full entry
"Into the void of the post-Katrina policy landscape, littered with half-ruined proposals, crumbling prescriptions and washed-out initiatives, an obscure and very conservative congressman has stepped in with the ultimate big government solution." That is, a "housing recovery plan [that] would make... View full entry
While Bono tries to change the world by hobnobbing with politicians and Sir Bob Geldof plays host to his mega-benefit concerts, Willie Nelson has birthed his own brand of alternative fuel. It is called, fittingly enough, BioWillie. NYT View full entry