The Daily Galaxy: Great Discoveries Channel

Explore a Life-sized Blue Whale: An Interactive Dive

To experience the size and beauty and sounds of this largest animal to have ever lived on the planet, just click on the awesome interactive banner of a blue whale at the end of this post (published by the World Dolphin and Cetacea Conservation Society).

Blue whales may be returning to pre-whaling feeding grounds. Scientists have documented the first known migration of blue whales from the coast of California to areas off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since the end of commercial whaling in 1965.

Earth Observatory: Destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest

Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes—has changed during the previous decade. The two satellite images above shows deforestation on the frontier in the northwestern part of the state between 2000 and 2008.

Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece—and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed.

Source: http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html

Mega-Gadget: Igniting the Power of Stars on Earth

The National Ignition Facility, a man-made machine designed to recreate the power source of stars, will be dedicated today. If all goes as planned, the facility’s 192 lasers — made of nearly 60 miles of mirrors and fiber optics, crystals and light amplifiers — will fire as one to smash a fleck of hydrogen fuel smaller than a match head. Compressed and heated to temperatures hotter than those of the Sun, the hydrogen atoms will fuse into helium, releasing bursts of thermonuclear energy.

Last of Africa's Desert Elephants Ravaged by Severe Drought

A rare herd of desert elephants in Mali is being ravaged by one of the worst droughts in living memory, which has left water sources at lowest level in the past quarter of a century.

The 350 to 450 elephants of Gourma, the northernmost herds still alive in Africa, are being forced to trek extreme distances across the fringes of the Sahara to find scarce water. Juveniles are the most affected, as (unlike the bigger bulls) their trunks are not long enough to reach deep into wells - one of the only remaining water sources.

Bike Sharing - The Global Trend to Eco-friendly Urban Transportation

Cities around the world from Montreal's new Bixi program to Copenhagen to Berlin, Barcelona and Lyon have embraced public bike rental programs as global gas prices soar and concerns over global warming from carbon emissions deepen. This is welcome news, since you’d be hard pressed to find a greener mode of transportation - bicycles are the penultimate green transportation: they're cheap, efficient, and emission free. Paris recently initiated its epic Vélib program, supplying its streets with a veritable fleet of 20,000 bikes.

Montreal's program - the most ambitious on the North American continent- will make 3,000 bikes available at 300  wi-fi operated, solar powered stations spread out around the central area of the city.

Shanghai Tower -The Sustainable, Vertical City of the Future? (VIDEO)

20 Million Genes: Design Components of Future Life Forms

"We have 20 million genes which I call the design components of the future. We are limited here only by our imagination."

Craig Venter, Geneticist

Craig Venter has been making headlines over the past years for a wide variety of genetic “miracles”. The controversial scientist has made a lot of wild claims, but surprisingly most of them have panned out. But his latest “crazy” idea might just top them all. Venter recently disclosed that he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel. It’s hard to imagine a better win-win, and he says he’s very close to making the dream a reality. Such a feat could be world changing.

Why We Need To Study Geohacking -Dangers of Reconfiguring The Planet's Ecology

Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren recently outlined options for geohacking, forcibly reconfiguring parts of the planet's ecology.  Since this is a country where you can't set up a windfarm without someone opposing it this set off a storm of protest.  But the most vocal cry was "We shouldn't study it because we don't know how it would work", indicating that the those opponents don't understand what some of their own words mean.

Obama Signs Landmark Wild & Scenic Rivers Bill

President Obama signed the largest conservation measure in 15 years today, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, which designates two million acres of pristine federal lands as wilderness area, prevents oil and gas development on certain other vulnerable lands, and expands the nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers program to protect a thousand miles of rivers.

"This bipartisan bill has been many years in the making, and is one of the most important pieces of natural resource legislation in decades," Obama said at the signing.

The Power of Water VIDEO

Explore a Life-sized Blue Whale: An Interactive Dive

To experience the size and beauty and sounds of this largest animal to have ever lived on the planet, just click on the awesome interactive banner of a blue whale at the end of this post (published by the World Dolphin and Cetacea Conservation Society).

Blue whales may be returning to pre-whaling feeding grounds. Scientists have documented the first known migration of blue whales from the coast of California to areas off British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since the end of commercial whaling in 1965.

Earth Observatory: Destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest

Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes—has changed during the previous decade. The two satellite images above shows deforestation on the frontier in the northwestern part of the state between 2000 and 2008.

Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece—and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed.

Source: http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html

Mega-Gadget: Igniting the Power of Stars on Earth

The National Ignition Facility, a man-made machine designed to recreate the power source of stars, will be dedicated today. If all goes as planned, the facility’s 192 lasers — made of nearly 60 miles of mirrors and fiber optics, crystals and light amplifiers — will fire as one to smash a fleck of hydrogen fuel smaller than a match head. Compressed and heated to temperatures hotter than those of the Sun, the hydrogen atoms will fuse into helium, releasing bursts of thermonuclear energy.

Last of Africa's Desert Elephants Ravaged by Severe Drought

A rare herd of desert elephants in Mali is being ravaged by one of the worst droughts in living memory, which has left water sources at lowest level in the past quarter of a century.

The 350 to 450 elephants of Gourma, the northernmost herds still alive in Africa, are being forced to trek extreme distances across the fringes of the Sahara to find scarce water. Juveniles are the most affected, as (unlike the bigger bulls) their trunks are not long enough to reach deep into wells - one of the only remaining water sources.

Bike Sharing - The Global Trend to Eco-friendly Urban Transportation

Cities around the world from Montreal's new Bixi program to Copenhagen to Berlin, Barcelona and Lyon have embraced public bike rental programs as global gas prices soar and concerns over global warming from carbon emissions deepen. This is welcome news, since you’d be hard pressed to find a greener mode of transportation - bicycles are the penultimate green transportation: they're cheap, efficient, and emission free. Paris recently initiated its epic Vélib program, supplying its streets with a veritable fleet of 20,000 bikes.

Montreal's program - the most ambitious on the North American continent- will make 3,000 bikes available at 300  wi-fi operated, solar powered stations spread out around the central area of the city.

Shanghai Tower -The Sustainable, Vertical City of the Future? (VIDEO)

20 Million Genes: Design Components of Future Life Forms

"We have 20 million genes which I call the design components of the future. We are limited here only by our imagination."

Craig Venter, Geneticist

Craig Venter has been making headlines over the past years for a wide variety of genetic “miracles”. The controversial scientist has made a lot of wild claims, but surprisingly most of them have panned out. But his latest “crazy” idea might just top them all. Venter recently disclosed that he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel. It’s hard to imagine a better win-win, and he says he’s very close to making the dream a reality. Such a feat could be world changing.

Why We Need To Study Geohacking -Dangers of Reconfiguring The Planet's Ecology

Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren recently outlined options for geohacking, forcibly reconfiguring parts of the planet's ecology.  Since this is a country where you can't set up a windfarm without someone opposing it this set off a storm of protest.  But the most vocal cry was "We shouldn't study it because we don't know how it would work", indicating that the those opponents don't understand what some of their own words mean.

Obama Signs Landmark Wild & Scenic Rivers Bill

President Obama signed the largest conservation measure in 15 years today, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, which designates two million acres of pristine federal lands as wilderness area, prevents oil and gas development on certain other vulnerable lands, and expands the nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers program to protect a thousand miles of rivers.

"This bipartisan bill has been many years in the making, and is one of the most important pieces of natural resource legislation in decades," Obama said at the signing.

The Power of Water VIDEO