Look to the west at sunset and you might be able to see a comet in the evening sky! It sounds like the best day for viewing will be March 13th; look for it next to the crescent moon. There’s a cool animation over at phys.org showing its predicted path.
New type of bacteria discovered in Antarctica
Not surprisingly, when Russian scientists drilled into an isolated subglacial lake in Antarctica that had been sealed off from the rest of the world for thousands, maybe millions, of years, they discovered and entirely new type of bacteria that didn’t resemble anything like what’s been found on this planet so far. Amazing stuff…read more here.
Electric-powered tilt-rotor aircraft
The European company AgustaWestland 
has not only designed, built, and flown the world’s first electric-powered tilt-rotor aircraft, but they managed to create a design which looks freakin’ awesome. When the rotors are positioned vertically, they’re shrouded, but as far as I can tell (details are sparse), when the rotate 90 degrees for horizontal flight, they’re then unshrouded. Cool.
Even better, when parked on the tarmac, the rotors can be rotated to the horizontal position and used like wind turbines, charging the batteries from wind power! Neat. At this point, it’s only done some unmanned and tethered test flights, so don’t expect to see it in the skies over your city anytime soon.
(via Inhabitat)
Climate Change infographic
Check out this cool infographic talking about climate change and the impact it’s having on this planet. The thumbnail to the left is only a small portion, click on that for the full image.
(via LivingGreen magazine)
Can the Internet of Things help reduce global warming?
The Internet of Things is best thought of as abundant networked, communicating smart devices all around you. Sensors, mostly, that are all communicating and making available unprecedented amounts of information about objects and the environment. Houses that know what rooms people are in, what rooms they are likely to be in next, and adjust HVAC systems accordingly to reduce energy consumption, for example. I’ve loved the idea of this from a technology geek perspective, but I hadn’t considered the environmental aspect until coming across this article talking about how it could offset billions of tons of CO2 through increased efficiency. Interesting idea…and it makes a lot of sense. We’d have to also consider the CO2 impact of actually producing so many sensors and networked objects, though.