Topic: Pete Spotts

Good Reads: Innovation and survival as seen through caveman cosmetics factory, post-Jobs Apple

Today's Good Reads focuses on offbeat news stories, including the discovery of a 100,000-year-old caveman cosmetics factory in a South African cave, and a profile of a young executive at Apple who may keep the creative juices flowing.

Top 5 'rare earth' minerals: What are they?

Setting off speculation that China is manipulating exports to punish certain trade partners, Beijing announced in July it was slashing its six-month export quota of so-called 'rare earths' by 72 percent. Speculation continued this week with reports of an expanding embargo of the minerals. But the so-called "rare earths" are neither rare nor does China have a lock on them. Although China produces 97 percent of the world's rare earths, it contains only 30 percent of the world's supply. The United States, Russia, and Australia all have significant reserves of the 17 elements essential in semiconducters, lasers, and other high-tech gadgets. While mining them has proved uneconomical at usual world prices and environmentally harmful, that may be changing. Click through the following slides to read how rare earths are important to your daily life.

Six lessons from the BP oil spill

What the tragedy of the BP oil spill has taught us about regulations, technology, and how our energy diet must change.

Talk to the Editor for March 4: The planet and beyond

Talk to the Editor: The planet and beyond

The Monitor's Pete Spotts explores science issues, ranging from the health of our home planet (earthquakes, global warming) to the future of space missions.

Obama on tsunami warning: Listen to local authorities.

President Obama stepped outside the Oval Office this afternoon to urge citizens to listen to local officials in light of today's tsunami warning.

Bright Green fades to black

The Bright Green environment blog ends. Thanks to those who helped make it possible.

Climategate, global warming, and the tree rings divergence problem

Much discussion of the Climategate e-mails has centered on "tricking" tree ring data that may not confirm global warming. What's the divergence of data all about and does it really confirm cooling instead of warming?

What's the buzz on the Orionid meteor shower last night?

Peak viewing time for the Orionid meteor shower occurred late last night and early this morning.

The tropics are expanding, says a new study

Thursday's coverage: Naming names in Iran, moon mapping, financial regs

Tuesday's coverage: witness in Tehran, banned in Darfur, housing starts

Today's agenda: Missing Air France jet, GM bankruptcy, Israeli buffer zone

Today's coverage agenda: Israel's Arabs, gay marriages, recession's end

Today's coverage agenda: North Korea, Sonia Sotomayor, gay marriage

Atlantis astronauts stay in orbit; dream of pizza

Today's news stories: Tamil Tigers, Supreme Court, NRA, Netanyahu

New study: Less sea rise expected from possible Antarctic melt

Morning briefing: Why the big response to flu?

Satellite collision highlights space-junk threat

The collision between a US and Russian satellite some 500 miles above Siberia has raised concerns about the threat posed by orbital garbage.

Energy Secretary: Climate change could wipe out Calif. farming

Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned that, if climate change continues unabated, California's agriculture could vanish by the end of the century.

Do volcanoes change the climate?

Mount Redoubt, an active stratovolcano in the state's Aleutian Range, is twitching and belching like someone who just downed a case of Mountain Dew, signs that geologists say tend to precede an eruption.

Report calls climate change 'irreversible'

Even if all the world's smokestacks and tailpipes were to suddenly stop spewing CO2, if all the trees everywhere were to be left standing, and if all the remaining coal, oil, and gas were to stay in the ground, the planet would still be feeling the effects of global warming a millennium from now.

Obama raises $750 million for campaign - ends up getting job

Light pollution harms not just stargazers

It throws wildlife out of whack and diminishes public safety.