Here are some noteworthy science and environment links folks are Digging today:

 

It probably costs more than the lamp you're putting it in — and it looks like it's being eaten by a tentacled doily — but this bulb lasts 30 times longer than incandescent ones and 12 times longer than compact fluorescents, according to its manufacturer. It's the latest attempt to combine light-emitting diodes, an extremely energy-efficient lighting technology, with the traditional light bulb's shape and function. One of these LED bulbs lasts 10 years and generates as much light as a 60-watt incandescent does, while using an eighth of the electricity. It doesn't stack up very well with these CFLs, as one Engadget commenter points out, but it does have the advantage of being mercury-free. Plus, you can't do this with just any light bulb.

 

Coyotes were once mostly confined to the Great Plains and Southwest, but they've fanned out across North America the past few decades, quietly infiltrating the continent's cities and suburbs like tall, lanky rats. While they're people-shy and generally duck around undetected, a rash of attacks in Colorado has raised some fears that the coyotes are getting more aggressive. They aren't, though, wildlife officials say; they're probably just getting more comfortable around people. Experts suggest yelling and throwing things at a coyote if you see one, but I've found the most successful method is to simply yell "meep, meep" and run away — it'll usually just blow itself up or fall off a huge cliff.

 

"Ocean acidification" may have a few too many syllables to easily become a household name like its sister phenomenon, "global warming," but it has at least as much potential to change the planet, scientists reported at the recent Aspen Environment Forum. As the oceans absorb carbon dioxide — they take in about a quarter of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere — it dissolves to form carbonic acid, which is devastating coral and other shell-building marine animals. Anything that affects coral creates a ripple effect through the oceans' food chains, meaning it also affects us: The global economy based on coral and other marine life is estimated to be about $16 trillion per year.

 

Voluminous, silky hair isn't the only trick shampoo has up its sleeve — it's also helping spread drug-resistant bacteria, British scientists say, along with fabric softeners, disinfectants and other household products. These products contain a type of chemical that normally kills bacteria, but when it becomes diluted in sewers, the microbes can gradually develop resistance to it. Unfortunately for us, the genes that carry resistance to those chemicals also seem to carry resistance to antibiotic drugs, meaning, as one researcher puts it, "we have created an ideal environment for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in our drains and sewers."

 

Despite all the benefits electric cars have over their gas-guzzling roadmates — e.g., no tailpipe emissions, no worries about gas prices or supply — they're still plagued by two main problems: price and performance. Prices are inching lower as technology and infrastructure improves, and newer electric vehicles are beginning to drive faster and farther per charge. Gas 2.0 highlights with this list, however, that some EVs are can already burn rubber, even if they don't burn fossil fuels.

 

— Russell McLendon