A Ph.D. student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a new method for storing large amounts of hydrogen at room temperature using a version of the super-material graphene. Reportedly his material is inexpensive, easy to produce, and can store almost twice the amount of hydrogen than the U.S. Department of Energy’s ultimate target of 7.5% by weight at room temperature.

I love blimps and zeppelins. Besides my fascination with steampunk and my hatred of airplanes, there is something just inherently cool about airships. I’ve never gotten a chance to ride on one, but I would jump at such a chance.

Maybe, just maybe, one day I will. And if this AIRCRUISE zero emissions airship ever gets off the ground and past the pretty-picture design stage, it is definitely the airship I would want a ride on.

 American Farm Bureau takes hard-line stance against climate legislation, EPA
At the opening of the four-day American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Seattle, Washington over the weekend, AFBF president Bob Stallman pushed for a tough stance against climate legislation currently being debated in Congress. Stallman called called for American farmers and ranchers to “aggressively respond to extremists” and “misguided, activist-driven regulation,” adding that “the days of their elitist power grabs are over.”

Well, telling us something we should have learned in high school, a new study by researchers from the University of California shows why it is so difficult for the US to move forward on critical environmental issues.

The basics of it is that there is a severe misrepresentation of rural interests in the US political system. When you get into the details, you see how unbalanced this actually is and how this results in the US being an environmental laggard in the global community.

According to Edmunds.com’s Green Car Advisor blog, ever since the news about potential Prius braking problems broke in the mainstream media, shopper interest in the Prius on Edmunds.com has risen significantly. “Both consideration and purchase intent for the Prius have risen about 10 percent among car shoppers doing research on Edmunds.com since the Prius brake story became news earlier this week,” said John O’Dell in a post on Green Car Advisor.

It’s a very simple idea, and one that is intuitive to many mothers.  My midwives did it for me, and it felt very natural.  Kangaroo Mother Care is a USAID and Save the Children program that teachers mothers to place premature infants on their bare chests to act as a human incubator.  This program is saving lives and empowering women, and it’s good for all babies, not just preemies.

What is Kangaroo Mother Care?

Toyota’s certainly been having a hell of a time recently. Millions and millions of cars recalled, public relations disasters, seemingly aloof executives—the scope of the whole thing is so mind-boggling to me that it’s almost hard to imagine that this is the same Toyota I grew up with. So I’ll admit it, I’m a Toyota fan boy. My family owned way more Toyotas than anything else and my first car was an ‘84 Tercel hand-me-down I got from my parents.

Aloo Saag over Basmati Brown Rice

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yields: 4 servings

I recently stumbled upon a great recipe for Spaghetti Squash Pancakes from Mollie Katzen’s book, The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without. It’s a winner. Although the original recipe calls for spaghetti squash (quite delicious) and gives the option of using all-purpose flour or rice flour, the recipe can accommodate any kind of squash and a variety of gluten-free flours. The topping possibilities are also endless, giving you the option to play with flavor combinations. Happy eating!

Dance is a good antidepressant! Studies show dance boosts happiness and benefits overall health by:

stimulating the hippocampus, the brain area that regulates moods.
sparking new nerve growth in the brain with body coordination.
building repeated mental patterns and creating new pathways with each new move learned.
relieving and preventing depression with endorphins and releasing several other happy hormones.

Carrots straight from the farm are dirty little freaks. Knobbly, hairy, misshapen and covered in soil, these root vegetables bear no resemblance to the neon orange and uniformly shaped clones found in your average supermarket plastic bag. But I love knowing where the vegetables came from and supporting local farms through my veg bag of organic produce (British equivalent of a CSA). I enjoy confronting an array of unfamiliar vegetables or familiar vegetables in unfamiliar guises like a large green ball of cauliflower that’s nearly 90% leaves. My favorite new game is figuring out how to use all these vegetables in delicious vegetarian dishes.

Can you imagine having to quit school because you have begun menstruating?  That’s exactly what faces many girls in Uganda.  A donation to Globalgiving can change that.  Just $30 “buys sanitary pads for one girl for one year ensuring that she stays in school”.

Project Needs and Beneficiaries
Many rural Ugandan girls drop out of school at puberty because of a lack of sanitary pads, teen pregnancy and early marriage. Only 38% of today’s kindergarten girls in Uganda will complete primary school. Only 13% will attend secondary school. This project will improve access to education for poor rural girls in Kabarole District, Western Uganda through peer education programs, improved sanitation and the self-sustainable production of locally produced, ecologically friendly sanitary pads.