• Why private waste management is one of the nation's most hazardous jobs

    Why private waste management is one of the nation's most hazardous jobs

    Jan 04, 2018 09:54 PM EST

    ... but gentrifying area now known as East Williamsburg. From Hi-Tech, the garbage would get loaded onto long-haul trucks and carted to landfills and recycling centers hundreds of miles away. From there, Caban headed toward the Williamsburg Bridge. He would spend the second half of the night in Manhattan ...

  • Could indoor farming help address future food shortages?

    Could indoor farming help address future food shortages?

    Nov 11, 2017 08:57 PM EST

    ... tomatoes and strawberries as well. The plants grow directly out of vertical columns. Similar to Dutch researchers, the company also uses l-e-d lighting, water recycling, and climate control. No genetically modified seeds or pesticides are used in production. Instead, it’s the environment that’s modified, carefully crafted ...

  • Humans have made 8.3 billion tons of plastic. Where does it all go?

    Humans have made 8.3 billion tons of plastic. Where does it all go?

    Jul 19, 2017 06:10 PM EST

    Plastic materials are impossible to avoid. From water bottles and shampoo containers, snack wrappers and Tupperware, to polyester clothes and electronics, we use and eventually throw out most plastics. Landfills and the natural environment are the final destinations for more than three quarters of non-degradable plastic trash, according to ...

  • In ‘The Future of Cities,’ innovative responses to urban issues

    In ‘The Future of Cities,’ innovative responses to urban issues

    Mar 04, 2017 09:15 PM EST

    ... into solar light bulbs. IVETTE FELICIANO: Boyson also studied American cities. He met resident Abess Makki in Detroit, where the city’s debt crisis caused water shutoffs in 2014. Makki created City Water, a phone app that allows residents to monitor their water usage in real time...or report leaks ...

  • This plantation-turned-university grows environmental entrepreneurs

    This plantation-turned-university grows environmental entrepreneurs

    Oct 10, 2016 11:37 PM EST

    ... SAM LAZARO: Across campus, fruits and vegetables are grown in unlikely containers, with unlikely tools. JOSE ZAGLUL: All the bottles, you can fill them with water, with -- and then it's like drip irrigation. FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The campus tries to model the ideal carbon-neutral world it wants ...

  • The amazing, complicated science of the Nobel winners explained

    The amazing, complicated science of the Nobel winners explained

    Oct 05, 2016 11:17 PM EST

    ... is all about, phase changes. You might remember this from high school. Phase changes occur -- it's the difference between steam becoming -- condensing down to water, and then ultimately freezing into a solid. Those are phase changes we understand. When it gets to the quantum level, the way things shift ...

  • Aboard a Mediterranean rescue ship, migrants share horror stories from Libya

    Aboard a Mediterranean rescue ship, migrants share horror stories from Libya

    Jul 19, 2016 11:44 PM EST

    The sea route from Libya to Italy is dangerous, even deadly, for African migrants and refugees who are desperate to cross. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from a Doctors Without Borders rescue ship that’s attempting to save people victimized in Libya from then dying at sea.

  • Gigantic, floating screen sets course to sift plastic from oceans

    Gigantic, floating screen sets course to sift plastic from oceans

    Jun 24, 2016 04:09 PM EST

    If the prototype is successful, a full-scale 100-kilometer-long barrier will be strung out in the Pacific Ocean to collect some 68 million kilograms of floating plastic and trash.

  • Supermassive black holes spawn galactic deserts without new stars

    Supermassive black holes spawn galactic deserts without new stars

    May 26, 2016 04:01 PM EST

    Astronomers find a supermassive black hole that stifles star formation by causing galactic warming.

  • Beyond debt default and Zika, Puerto Rico struggles as trash piles up

    Beyond debt default and Zika, Puerto Rico struggles as trash piles up

    May 14, 2016 09:21 PM EST

    As Puerto Rico’s government grapples with an economic crisis, a Zika outbreak, and widespread landfill closures, another disaster is brewing -- trash on the island. Whenever it rains, several feet of black, contaminated water and trash flood the homes of people living near the Martín Peña Channel. NewsHour’s Ivette Feliciano reports.