Alex Weber, 18, has just published a study that analyzes how these balls enter and degrade in the water.

Diminutive but Electrifying The Toyota FT-EV electric car concept that debuted at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show is based on the platform of the 57 MPG Toyota iQ microcar that recently went on sale in Europe and that is apparently already a hit in

From crush-worthy Crash star Thandie Newton's celebrity-favorite Toyota Prius (pictured) to Paris Hilton's GMC Yukon Hybrid, these seven celebrity hotties are

Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain 2004 to 2009 Prius Included in Toyota's September 2009 Recall Toyota has just announced a huge recall. About 3.8 million vehicles are included, and that includes the 2004 to 2009 Prius hybrid. Since that's probably a

Photo: Toyota Update: Kaizen Fail: Toyota Recalls 437,000 Hybrids Worldwide, Mostly 2010 Prius Models 311,000 Third Generation Prius Hybrids to be Recalled by Toyota It seems like Toyota has yet to hit rock bottom. Last week the NHTSA announced that it

Photo: Toyota Ouch We all knew it was coming, but now it's official. Toyota has formally filed a voluntary recall for 437,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide. Most of those are third generation Prius hybrids, but they're also recalling the few Prius PHEV out

Apologies for the bad Photoshop job... Photo: Zipcar Logo, Toyota Less Than 1% of Zipcar Fleet, But... I'm pretty sure that many TreeHugger readers are also Zipcar customers (car-sharing in general is booming), and chances are that with that crowd, the

It's been a rough year for Toyota, which has been plagued by recalls, but the Japanese car maker's top selling Prius is still scoring points for the embattled company. Kelley Blue

I love this little vehicle. If it ever becomes commercially available outside of carsharing schemes, I may have to get one. Or maybe I should just start a carsharing scheme in my city....

There are now 11 mass-manufactured electric cars that come in under $27,000 in California... after federal and California incentives.

It's ugly, but it sure can keep that car from cooking, and it is going to be seen from a long distance.

It's a TreeHugger dream: an all electric wooden car designed to last forever.

It makes perfect sense to make cars easier to see, night and day

Vinyl man (pictured) may be disappointed. "The hundreds of thousands of lunch boxes given away by California state health officials over the last several years were designed to promote healthful habits, bearing slogans such as "Eat Fruits & Vegetables

Photo credit: What Rhymes with Nicole Target may finally be feeling the heat from consumer, health, and environmental groups such as the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), which has been vociferous in its campaign to get the nation's

Joining gDiapers, the US Postal Service and more, Surface iQ's commercial wallcoverings have earned Cradle to Cradle certification. The only printed commercial grade wallcovering to have earned this certification, Surface iQ's products have an

Architects usually keep their proprietary research locked up and closely held. Perkins + Will has done the opposite and made it a public service. Launched at Greenbuild the Precautionary List is a compilation of available data on chemicals and

It clogs our oceans and tampers with our bodies, yet without it, all modern life would skid to a stop. Susan Freinkel's new book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, explores the rise of plastic into ubiquity, hails it for its life-saving wonders, and explores

In which Steven shows once again how far ahead of the pack he was.

Steven M. Johnson's great idea for ultralight camping combines your dinnerware with your goggles.

Why turn your car into a living room when it can also be a kitchen?

Steven M. Johnson shows how the well-equipped mobile worker got around twenty-five years ago.

Last April, airport authorities became suspicious of a traveler arriving to LAX from Vietnam after noticing bird droppings on his socks and feathers peeking from the cuffs of his pants. A closer inspection of the man,

As far as endangered species go, it's mostly bad news, with the occasional positive story. Well this news seems to fall somewhere in the middle: in late August, a group of Laotian villagers in the Annamite Mountains captured a saola,

Strong and lightweight bamboo features prominently in this beautiful renovation of a rooftop cafe.

Yesterday I introduced the Do Lectures 2011 with a flash of party glitter from Steve Edge and the statement, Things are not just the way they are. This first emerging

If you think data center jobs are boring, think again! The IceCube Observatory's data center on Antarctica is an amazing opportunity for adventurous geeks.

Re-introducing vocational training in high schools could benefit students in countless ways, from preparing them for skilled, lucrative careers to giving them practical skills that make them feel useful.

Image credit: Marjukka Grover Because Water is so Vital, Even Enemies Can Find Common Ground There's no doubt that as our climate gets weirder, the world will increasingly face a severe water crisis. Given the fact that we absolutely cannot live without

Back when 20% of Pakistan was underwater, I wrote about the influence of deforestation on the flooding--deforestation caused in no small part by illegal logging at the hands of the so-called timber mafia, a group with

We know that illegal logging contributed to the devastation caused by last summer's flooding in Pakistan, when up to 20% of the nation was underwater. New research now sheds light on how so much rain fell: A rogue

After Pakistan's extensive hydroelectric power resources dried up in 2008, Australian coal was marketed to satisfy the growing power consumption

It's like that 1965 movie Crack in the World, where drilling for geothermal energy causes all kinds of problems. There are such high hopes for real geothermal power; there is a lot of heat down there that can vaporize water and run turbines.

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne has already been named Britain's greenest city. But that reputation looks set to be cemented as the city begins drilling for geothermal energy in the form of hot

Energy policy and energy use are not forces of nature beyond our control. It's all about choices; different choices set us off on different paths, but don't prevent us from switching course.

Whether it's coffee or tea, Katherine and Margaret love their steaming mugs of deliciousness.

Although the health benefits of tea are roundly lauded, an Arkansas man recently found out that too much can be devastating.

More than just a comfortable habit, science has shown that sipping tea throughout the day improves and prolongs creative performance.

Schemata Architects gives it a new image and a nice sauna.

This quiet retreat has an interesting interior of overlapping layers that welcomes the outdoors in.

When I asked whether vegans can eat carrots grown with manure, some commenters found the question despicable. But my intention was not to question anyone's commitment, nor to lessen the

It seems that GMOs are again steamrolling their way through our legal system. Back in December it seemed there may be a light at the end of the tunnel when a federal judge ordered that 258 acres of genetically modified sugar

A new tea set to become the world's most expensive is being fertilized with panda feces, and is touted as having cancer-preventing properties.

From ancient urine helping to track climate change to space-age toilets that monitor our health, pee may be coming to our rescue.

Straight outta Humboldt, this app is a great intro to the "art and craft" of brewing your own compost tea for boosting microbial activity in the soil and improving yields.

Given how dreadful most new housing is these days, this is at least the minimum builders should build and customers should expect.

Selling energy efficiency is hard, but the UK Labour Party got it right.

These delicately formed hand-crank and motor-activated art installations blossom and grow perpetually.

This week is all about climate change and its myriad ripple effects. Melting Arctic ice has opened up an international controversy over deep-sea land rights, and Russia will now make a bold move by planting its flag 14,000 feet below the surface. New

According to the Spanish newspaper El País last week, Spain will be the first big buyer of CO2 emission rights from Eastern Europe, in order to fulfil the Kyoto Protocol. In 2007, Spain's emissions had