July-September 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 3)
FEATURES
CONFESSIONS OF A HIT MAN Cover Story
Our mark was an invasive pest that had made a remote tropical island its home. But good and evil are not so easily discerned in ecological systems, even when a place looks like Eden.
by Jeffrey A. Lockwood and Alexandre V. Latchininsky
How does tourism drive deforestation? How are divorce rates linked to resource consumption? WhatÃs the connection between clean water and international terrorism?
by Jonah Lehrer
THE PROBLEM OF WHAT TO EAT Cover Story
Organic farming and eating locally make intuitive sense. But does conventional wisdom about eating sustainably hold up to the science?
by Natasha Loder, Elizabeth Finkel, Craig Meisner, and Pamela Ronald
INNOVATIONS
POWER WALK
New device harvests energy one step at a time
by Justin Matlick
BRANCHING OUT
Artificial trees could help offset carbon emissions
by Justin Matlick
WHALE WATCHING WITH A JOYSTICK
Military-style drones keep tabs on humpbacks in Australia
by John Weier
CALL AND RESPONSE
An automated howl recorder tracks recovering wolf populations
by Courtney Humphries
FLUSH OFTEN
Ballast-free cargo ship could slow the spread of invasive species
by John Weier
WATER FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR
Tabulating the water impact of everything from tea to T-shirts
by Justin Matlick
CROSSING GUARDS
High-tech buoys prevent collisions between whales and ships
by Justin Matlick
LIGHTEN UP
CARTOONS BY P.S. MUELLER Print Only
ESSAY
JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT Print Only
by Natalie Angier
JOURNAL WATCH
Logging threatens leatherbacks
Bird song complexity reflects population health
Mounting evidence for human-caused climate change
Biodiversity boosts productivity
BOOKS
Amazon Expeditions: My Quest for the Ice-Age Equator by Paul Colinvaux
Lost Worlds: Adventures in the Tropical Rainforest by Bruce M. Beehler
The Last Wild Wolves: Ghosts of the Rain Forest by Ian McAllister
Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal about the Current Threat—and How to Counter It by Wallace S. Broecker and Robert Kunzig
The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment by Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich
THINK AGAIN
A Tale of Three Tuna
by Trevor Corson