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Below are current event articles that relate to events, topics, and people found in Passion for Life.
Before and After: Cleaning up Our Cities
Smithsonian.com
3/21/2011
Around the world, cities plagued by smog have tried to clear up the skies among the skyscrapers. Discover their successes by comparing photos from before and after changes were made by local governments.
Why Are Birds Falling From the Sky?
Nationalgeographic.com
1/6/2011
A mysterious rain of thousands of dead birds darkened New Year's Eve in Arkansas, and this week similar reports streamed in from Louisiana, Sweden, and elsewhere. (See pictures of the Arkansas bird die-off.) But the in-air bird deaths aren't due to some apocalyptic plague or insidious experiment—they happen all the time, scientists say. The recent buzz, it seems, was mainly hatched by media hype.
Arcimboldo's Feast for the Eyes
Smithsonian.com
1/3/2011
The job of a renaissance court portraitist was to produce likenesses of his sovereigns to display at the palace and give to foreign dignitaries or prospective brides. It went without saying the portraits should be flattering. Yet, in 1590, Giuseppe Arcimboldo painted his royal patron, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, as a heap of fruits and vegetables (opposite). With pea pod eyelids and a gourd for a forehead, he looks less like a king than a crudité platter.
A Plague of Pigs in Texas
Smithsonian.com
1/3/2011
About 50 miles east of Waco, Texas, a 70-acre field is cratered with holes up to five feet wide and three feet deep. The roots below a huge oak tree shading a creek have been dug out and exposed. Grass has been trampled into paths. Where the grass has been stripped, saplings crowd out the pecan trees that provide food for deer, opossums and other wildlife. A farmer wanting to cut his hay could barely run a tractor through here. There’s no mistaking what has happened—this field has gone to the hogs.
Devastation From Above
Smithsonian.com
1/3/2011
J. Henry Fair was stumped. He couldn’t figure out how to photograph whatever might be hiding behind the walls and fences of industrial plants. Then, on a cross-country flight about 15 years ago, he looked out the window and saw a series of cooling towers poking through a low-lying fog. “Just get a plane!” he recalls thinking.
Fate of the Cave Bear
Smithsonian.com
12/2/2010
Hervé Bocherens says his colleagues find his research methods a little "crude." He dissolves 30,000-year-old animal bones in hydrochloric acid strong enough to burn through metal, soaks the bone solution in lye, cooks it at about 200 degrees Fahrenheit and freeze-dries it until what's left is a speck of powder weighing less than one one-hundredth of an ounce. The method may be harsh, but the yield is precious—the chemical biography of a cave bear.
Harry Potter Is Hurting Owls in India?
Discovery.com
11/5/2010
Harry Potter, the boy wizard from the famous movie and novel series, is causing India's owl population to decline, suggests India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh. According to a BBC report, Ramesh believes the dwindling owl population in India is due, in part, to parents gifting their kids with owls after the children hear about Harry Potter's favorite pet, Hedwig.
Painting of Henry VIII's 'Lost' Palace For Sale
Discovery.com
11/4/2010
It was among Henry VIII's grandest undertakings: a castle to outshine the castle of his rival, King Francois I of France. And so it was named "Nonsuch," as in no other palace could ever equal its magnificence. But, after taking eight years to construct, the Nonsuch Palace would end up standing for less than 150 years. In the 1680s, the grand estate fell into disrepair and was lost to history.
The Woman Who Brought Van Gogh to the World
Smithsonian.com
11/2/2010
When Vincent van Gogh tragically killed himself in 1890, many of the works that would later gain him posthumous fame and fortune were barely dry. In the last ten weeks of his life, which he spent in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, Van Gogh experienced a period of unprecedented productivity, often painting an entire canvas in a day. Van Gogh in Auvers: His Last Days, a new book written by Wouter van der Veen and Peter Knapp, compiles the paintings Van Gogh produced during that time, interspersed with correspondence and information about the artist later in his life.
The Colorado River Runs Dry
Smithsonian.com
10/5/2010
From its source high in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River channels water south nearly 1,500 miles, over falls, through deserts and canyons, to the lush wetlands of a vast delta in Mexico and into the Gulf of California. That is, it did so for six million years.
EcoCenter Air
Smithsonian.com
6/1/2010
In December 1952, a deadly smog settled over London. Trapped by cooler air above, the dirty cloud enveloped the city for four days. Rich with soot from factories and low-quality home-burned coal, the Great Smog, as it came to be known, caused some 12,000 deaths that winter.
Saving the World's Most Endangered Sea Turtle
Smithsonian.com
5/1/2010
Cape Cod Bay churns as a frigid gust flicks froth into the air and the surf claws at the beach. I find a tangle of black seaweed on the sand, lift a handful of the wet mess and glimpse the lines of a shell. I grab more seaweed and uncover what I’ve been searching for: a Kemp’s ridley turtle, a member of the world’s most endangered species of sea turtle.
Air Pollution as Seen From the Skies
Smithsonian.com
4/20/2010
Chinese cities have some of the worst air quality in the world. Much of the country’s electricity comes from burning coal, which releases millions of tons per year of sulfur dioxide and particulates into the air.
Lessons From The Past: Research Examines How Past Communities Coped With Climate Change
Sciencedaily.com
5/29/2009
Research led by the University of Leicester suggests people today and in future generations should look to the past in order to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. The dangers of rising sea levels, crop failures and extreme weather were all faced by our ancestors who learnt to adapt and survive in the face of climate change.
What’s the Deal about New Deal Art?
Smithsonian.com
5/20/2009
Sweeping a long arm in an arc around the walls of a new exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, deputy chief curator George Gurney fires off a string of locales. “This is Seattle, Washington,” he says. “This is St. Paul, Minnesota. That’s Peterborough, New Hampshire.” He continues through New England to Pennsylvania, California and New Mexico.
Global Warming and Tropical Cyclones: a Vicious Cycle?
Discovery.com
5/14/2009
Global warming can change storm patterns. In turn, storms might help fuel global warming. A new study suggests that tropical cyclones shoot water high into the atmosphere. The result may be a small but significant contribution to the greenhouse effect.
The Nature of the Fiscal World
Conservationmagazine.org
5/1/2009
As economic prospects turn grim, conservationists are locked in a familiar, highly polarized debate over the downturn’s potential costs. On one side are those who believe the recession may trigger dramatic environmental setbacks because only wealthy, growing nations are willing and able to fund conservation initiatives.
Antarctic ice nearly size of N.Y. City breaks up
MSNBC.com
4/29/2009
New satellite images from the European Space Agency show massive amounts of ice are breaking away from an ice shelf on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, researchers said Wednesday.
Man's Greatest Crimes Against the Earth, in Pictures
Discovermagazine.com
4/8/2009
Click the link below to see some rather impacting pictures of how humans abuse the earth.
Rare elephants shot dead in Indonesian jungles
MSNBC.com
3/31/2009
Two Sumatran elephants used to patrol protected forests were killed with single shots to the head each, Indonesian wildlife officials said Tuesday. The carcasses were found near their rangers' camp.
Land conversion contributed to 1930s drought. Could it happen again?
Conservationmagazine.org
3/18/2009
In the 1920s, farmers conquered the Midwest’s great prairie plains, turning them into the amber waves of grain we know them as today. But the change did not come without consequences. Research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that large-scale land conversion was the tipping point that turned a regular La Nina-style drought cycle into an environmental catastrophe.
Whatever Happened To... Acid Rain?
Discovermagazine.com
3/13/2009
At the end of the last century, a great environmental crisis came from above in the form of acid rain. As the precipitation “killed” lakes and streams, alarming studies reported massive die-offs of trees and fish. A 1984 Congressional report estimated that acid rain caused the premature death of about 50,000 people in the United States and Canada. But in the last decade, acid rain has all but fallen off the radar. So is the threat really over, or just in hiding?