Business & Politics

Image Credit: Mehgan Murphy, National Zoo

If you've been to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. lately, you may have noticed that they've been working on the first stage of their "Elephant Trails" project- a bold initiative to build a complex of indoor and outdoor habitats for the zoo's Asian elephants that will allow the endangered animals to thrive. Phase I, which opened to the public yesterday, includes two new outdoor yards and an elephant barn, which is LEED certified and includes 5,700 square feet of livable space, and will be the elephants' future home.

Business & Politics

Handmade is becoming big business -- reeeally big. Etsy -- the online marketplace for handmade items -- announced earlier this week that it has raised $20 million in venture capital financing and has now tripled its valuation at $300 million (not including the funding). With sales up a whopping 72% from last year, business is booming -- not to mention ex-Google exec Adam Freed being roped in as Etsy's new chief operating officer.

Science & Technology

Credit: Photos via facebook.com/meeteater.

I like "Meet Eater," at least on Facebook. Not much happened after I hit the "Like" button to express my, um, admiration. Apparently, though, every time this plant makes a friend on Facebook, an electronic system delivers water and nutrients. No friends, no love? Dead plant. Unhappy Meet Eater.

Travel & Nature

A tiny baby seahorse was measured off the coast of Dorset, England. Image via the Seahorse Trust.

It must have been like finding a needle in a haystack, but somehow, in murky water conditions, diver Neil Garrick-Maidment, the executive director of the Seahorse Trust, spotted a single 1.5-inch-long female baby seahorse "clinging onto a piece of seagrass" off the coast of Studland, Dorset -- a finding so rare he said it was "akin to seeing a yeti in the wild."

Food & Health

photo: Sara Novak

Down here in South Carolina we're known for our southern fried chicken, but what about our southern fried fuel? In a move that could have a big time impact on the way Carolina views the deep fat fryer, city council officials are calling on local restaurants and residents to donate their cooking oil to be turned into biofuel to run the city's garbage trucks. Right now it's just a test run on one of the city's trucks, but if it's successful, it could make a dent in the city's garbage pickup carbon footprint.

Business & Politics

photo via Nike

In an attempt to honor the 29 coal miners who tragically died last year at the Upper Big Branch coal mine, the West Virginia University Mountaineers have teamed up with Nike to create new football uniforms that have the mark of coal. The uniforms are white, but have coal dust on the pants and shoulders. The yellow strip on the hemet is said to represent a miner's headlamp. In the photo featuring the new uniform a player appears to be emerging from a strip mine, leaving behind a desolate landscape.

Fashion & Beauty

Packing paper with recycled trim. Credit: Patti Robinson

When Patti Robinson, a summer camp instructor at The Art Farm in Bridgehampton, NY, sent over some photos of recycled fashion, I was intrigued -- especially with the shape and design of the one, above -- and even more so when she told me that the young campers who crafted these designs ranged between the ages of eight and twelve.

This summer, Patti, a self-proclaimed Project Runway fan, struck up a recycled fashion challenge; it quickly became a camp favorite and evolved into a summer-long program, called "Generation Green Couture." Click through for photos and more from Patti, on how the fun, frugal, and thrifty experiment is increasing the young minds' "eco-consciousness," while fostering the development of creative problem solving skills.

Travel & Nature

Photo: Elephant being bathed in a temple in Thrissur (K.C. Sowmish via The Hindu)

As long-standing icons of its unique cultural psyche, India's threatened elephants are finally getting the protection -- and well-deserved recognition -- they need. In a bid for better conservation, earlier this week the Indian government formally declared the elephant its "national heritage animal", elevating the legendary pachyderm alongside the likes of the majestic tiger, in the hopes of averting a future conservation crisis.