Volume 11, Number 3
Features
Black Is the New Green
In a deft act of ecological jujitsu, Johannes Lehmann wants to borrow an 8,000-year-old technology to interrupt the natural carbon cycle and return some of the infamous black stuff to the soil.
By Carl Zimmer
Can Cities Feed Us?
For every acre of land cultivated in a high-rise urban farm, 10 to 20 acres of current cropland could go wild.
By Sarah DeWeerdt
Genetically Modified Conservation
It sounds like an oxymoron, but genetic engineering is already ushering in a new brand of agriculture that slashes pesticide use and thrives in a warmer, wetter world.
By Erik Vance
Sea Sick
A gang of drug-resistant infections, presumably on the run from hospitals and landfills, is cropping up in marine mammals, weaving a web of disease that extends deep into the ocean.
By Rebecca Kessler
Solutions
Coconut Cars
Recycled coconut husks could be transformed into auto parts
Unfurling a Toxin Trap
Ferns scrub arsenic from polluted land
Slow Mow
A new type of grass could save million of gallons of fuel per year
The Shape of Things to Come
Biologists are developing edgy new leaf shapes that give plants a leg up on climate change
This Won’t Hurt a Bit
Genetically modified mosquitoes could deliver vaccines to people and endangered wildlife
Power on Sail
Ocean liners fitted with gigantic kites transform offshore winds into liquid fuel for delivery at the next port
Journal Watch
Bushmeat in airline luggage
Slowing deforestation sparks fires
High-yield crops reduce carbon emissions
Gobies wipe out jellyfish scourge
Foods that fuel dead zones
Closing one protected area to save another
Organic farming’s biodiversity toll
Ozone pollution thwarts plant communication
Stopping malaria in a warmer world
Massive marine census published
Lighten Up
Cartoons by Pete Mueller Print Only
Essay
The Sea above Us By Hugh Raffles Print Only
Book Marks
Beyond an Unreasonable Doubt
Charles Alexander dissects the anatomy of climate-change denial in three new books.
Plus: Science poetry from Toxic Flora
Think Again
We Have Met the Enemy—and It Isn’t Ignorance
By Chris Mooney