geekosystem

Deforestation can wipe out trees and cause habitat loss that leads to the extinction of animals like birds and mammals. Some of the impacts of massive, sudden tree loss in places like the Amazon, though, may have been too small to notice until now. Reporting this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers found that deforestation can profoundly change the makeup of bacteria in soil, wiping out microbial communities that help to make ecosystems unique.

The alyssum flowers pictured above aren't just pretty -- they're good for the planet, too. A recent study from the University of Warwick suggests that the common flowers and their relatives could help restore chemically poisoned land to a more livable state by leeching toxins from the ground. As an added bonus, researchers think they could one day harvest those same toxic chemicals  -- now broken down to tiny nanoparticles -- for use in new technologies.

How do you know when an animal has actually become extinct? Environmental agencies throw out data about endangered species all the time, but it's hard to imagine that the last member of a species dying wouldn't be some kind of terribly tremendous event with a column of light shooting into the sky like the quickening... or, you know, something like that. Unfortunately, it seems that animal species' leave the face of this world without a bang or a whimper. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment has declared the Japanese River Otter to be extinct, since no person has seen the species in the wild in over 30 years.

Apple announced on Monday that none of the company's future products would be submitted to the EPEAT. This essentially stated that Apple would be abandoning their environmentalist policies. After they received a fair amount of grief regarding the issue, Apple's Vice President of Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield released an official statement today that Apple products would continue to be included the EPEAT.

If you happen to live in the United States, chances are you've noticed it's been a bit hot lately. That's all anecdotal, sure, but folks across the States are saying the same thing: It's too hot to go outside. But if you're the sort that likes that have some data behind your whining, the National Climatic Data Center has some results that shouldn't come as a surprise. During the month of June, the United States broke 2,284 daily high temperature records. It has now been confirmed that it has, indeed, been hot.

Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal energy company, has been the target of an ingenious prank called "Coal Cares." The site claims it is giving away free "cool" inhalers featuring the likenesses of Justin Bieber, My Little Pony, and others for kids who live within 200 miles of a coal-fire power plant. It also offers "fun" games and activities, likely chosen to help kids remain inside and asthma free. The site is actually the work of prankster activists Coal is Killing Kids, who aim to counteract the lobbying efforts they claim Peabody is making to gut the Clean Air Act. That specific agenda aside, the Coal Cares website is a spot-on parody of the recent efforts the coal industry has made to paint itself as a green company. The soulless, questionable copy and generic clipart is dead on; you can almost hear a vaccuous wind blowing through where the faux-author's heart used to be. Read on after the break for a few choice quotes, and images from the ersatz campaign.

Looks like Cosette from Les Miserables may have been right: There really could be a castle on a cloud someday. Well, techinically it's a water tower, but close enough.

Atelier Ramdam Architects have designed this precarious structure for Latina, Italy. And they're gonna make it rain. Literally. As seen below, the structure will bring evaporated water from the foot of the structure up through the central column to the canopy at the top. The supply will be stored here, partially used to water the vegetation that will be grown at the top. But also emanating from the bottom of the canopy are, you guessed it, real clouds, bringing some rain back down to the basin below and making the whole thing look divinely inspired.