Jun 14 Do Dying Trees Lead to More Human Deaths? The Debate Continues The emerald ash borer has been attacking all 22 species of North American ash trees in the last few years, killing nearly every tree it infests. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Flickr user Darkroom Daze. The hypothesis: Trees improve people's… Continue reading
Jun 11 Google: We Turned Over Information on a ‘Tiny Fraction’ of Users By Larisa Epatko In his first U.S. television interview since the latest news broke of the government's surveillance program, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond told PBS NewsHour senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown on Tuesday that the company has given the U.S. government information… Continue reading
Jun 11 Why Government Should Be Paying You for Your Information By Jaron Lanier What if government paid for the information it collected on its citizens? Jaron Lanier, widely regarded as the father of virtual reality and the author of “Who Owns the Future?”, suggests that would be one step toward balancing the… Continue reading
Jun 10 Watch From Glowing Cats to Robo-Bugs, Book Explores How Biotech Creates Weird Wildlife From Glowing Cats to Robo-Bugs, Book Explores How Biotech Creates Weird Wildlife… Continue watching
Jun 10 In Costa Rica, Farmers Start to See Value of Biodiversity By Larisa Epatko In Costa Rica, birds, bats and bees serve vital roles in controlling pests and pollinating crops. Now, researchers are measuring the contributions of these critters to encourage farmers to move away from the single-crop model and toward biodiversity. Continue reading
Jun 10 Lawmakers Debate Leaks As National Security Whistleblower Reveals His Identity Edward Snowden speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. Photo by The Guardian via Getty Images "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong." That statement came from Edward… Continue reading
Jun 07 Watch Shields and Brooks on NSA Big Data Discovery, Christie’s Election Maneuver Shields and Brooks on NSA Big Data Discovery, Christie's Election Maneuver… Continue watching
Jun 07 Will You Work Forever? EmbedVideo(6642, 482, 304); Video shot and produced by David Pelcyger Next week, PBS NewsHour will launch an interactive project on the so-called "death of retirement." Many of us will continue to work well past the traditional retirement… Continue reading
Jun 07 Alzheimer’s Disease: Your Questions Answered More than 5 million Americans now suffer from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in the United States, and that number could easily triple by 2050 as the population grays. If the latest projections hold true, that will mean… Continue reading
Jun 07 Obama Administration Defends Surveillance Programs By Christina Bellantoni A look inside the NSA Threat Operations Center located at Fort Meade, Maryland. "They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type." That's the memorable closing quote from an unnamed "career intelligence officer" who provided the Washington Post… Continue reading