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Palm oil - which appears in a dizzying amount of food and cosmetic products, and is a feedstock for biofuel - poses many environmental problems. It's the largest driver of Indonesian deforestation, which destroys habitat and contributes to climate change. And ponds of wastewater at palm oil refineries release immense amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 34 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

In this case study, the complexity of the Malaysian palm oil industry is examined through the perspective of various stakeholders, namely, villagers, corporations, orangutans, smallholders, conservationists, and an average consumer. Students learn about the plight of the orangutan and the environmental impacts of the palm oil industry but also understand the influence of global markets and the effect of their own purchases. Students are challenged to make ethical decisions, propose policy recommendations, and examine their own contributions to the demand for palm oil. The aim of the case is to provide students with tools to personally champion change. The case is appropriate for undergraduate students in wildlife, ecology, biology, or related classes but can also be tailored for advanced high school science courses.

infographic on oil use and spills

hose who would much rather prefer to burn the midnight oil than get up early in the morning can find solace in a new research that suggests they might be genetically predisposed to being nocturnal. It is your genes that allow you to be more productive at night-time instead of the day. Researchers from the University of Leicester in the UK have identified about 80 genes that are closely linked to a preference for either morningness or eveningness. Though these genes were identified in fruit flies and appear unrelated to your own body clock, most of these buggers are found in us mammals as well.

President Obama approved a bill on Monday banning soaps, toothpastes, and bodywashes that contain a harmful ingredient. That ingredient is microbeads - tiny, nearly impossible-to-dissolve plastic particles that enter water streams by the billions. The beads are typically found in cleansing products because they can be used as tiny scrubbers, helping to wipe away oil and dirt from the skin or teeth. A recent study found as many as 1.7 million of the tiny particles per square kilometer in the Great Lakes region's Lake Erie, where much of our trash ends up.

comprehensive data repository and analysis tools with many data sources to graph and investigate