Science, Tech & Environment

A tech startup called OMG wants to revolutionize cash for hundreds of millions of 'unbanked' people in Asia

July 19, 2018

Bangkok-based OmiseGO envisions a world where cash is digital and free-flowing, stored on blockchains, accessible by smartphones and effortlessly zapped across borders. It's a human right, they say. And they're starting with Asia's farmers, merchants, migrants and factory hands, who are now quite likely to own smartphones but may not have bank accounts.

Science, Tech & Environment

As China gets tough on recycling, will America get cleaner?

PRI's The World

July 18, 2018

China is refusing to take impure recycling and that's forcing communities, like Lynn, Massachusetts, to clean up their act.

Google hit with record $5 billion EU antitrust fine

July 18, 2018

EU regulators hit Google with a record $5 billion antitrust fine on Wednesday for using its Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals.

Science, Tech & Environment

Precision engineering creates modern perfection

Innovation Hub

July 17, 2018

Precision engineering makes the modern world go round. Author Simon Winchester explains why that wasn’t always the case.

Despite devastation, lava tourism is on the rise in Hawaii

Reuters

July 12, 2018

Lava tourism has long existed on Hawaii's Big Island. Visitor numbers spike each time Kilauea, which has erupted almost continuously since 1983, sends a tongue of lava toward the ocean. The current eruption is one of the longest and most intense on record.

Jobs

The feast-or-famine life of lobstering in Maine

Living on Earth

July 08, 2018

The lobster industry has always been an up-and-down business, but a new book looks into how global warming is adding to that already uncertain rollercoaster.

A scientist's response to Antarctic ice loss: 'We can act.'

Living on Earth

July 07, 2018

When it came to figuring how much ice loss was taking place over the last five years in Antarctica, they knew it was a bad situation — but they did not realize it was this bad.

With pipeline decision, Canada's Trudeau draws ire of environmental supporters

Living on Earth

July 01, 2018

When Justin Trudeau was elected as the prime minister of Canada in 2015 he did so on a platform that pledged to reform the country's environmental laws. Recent news of the Canadian government agreeing to fund a sands oil pipeline extension has many who voted for him questioning his motives.

Environment

Britain built an empire out of coal. Now it’s giving it up. Why can’t the US?

PRI's The World

June 18, 2018

The UK will stop burning coal for electricity by 2025. The US, meanwhile, is trying to end the “war on coal.”

On Halekamahina Hill, volcano survivors try to salvage marijuana crop

Reuters

June 15, 2018

The last remaining residents on Halekamahina Hill are trying to harvest a $100,000 marijuana crop. Their neighbors are considering a return to the mainland.