Researcher Kamal Meattle lives in New Delhi -- and breathing the air landed him in the doctor's office with diminished lung capacity. He embarked on research to find a way to clean the air around him using houseplants (much of this work had already been done by NASA and the folks at Biosphere 2). In this four-minute talk, Meattle shares the very simple results -- using just three species of common houseplants, you can create measurably cleaner indoor air, increase oxygen levels, and decrease indoor air... READ ON

On this Friday afternoon, I bring you a quiet, contemplative topic: birds on power lines. Here are three of the better birds-on-power-lines videos available on the web. First up, birds flocking around a series of power lines, in the evening. Sort of "musical chairs" for birds. By Wes Johnson: powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo. (Go to Vimeo to watch in HD.) Next up, birds from Rhode Island on a wire filmed from below. Watch as they scoot back and forth, turn around, and fly away.... READ ON

Richard Preston is best known for his book The Hot Zone, a thriller about the Ebola virus. But while he's not writing, Preston has a hobby: he climbs some of the largest trees in the world -- redwoods ranging up to 38 stories tall, thirty feet in diameter, and over 2,000 years old. Now that's a tree. Preston gave a TED Talk last year explaining the history of these trees, and what it's like to climb them. It's a fascinating look at another kind of life, that exists in a completely different... READ ON

The balance of nature took about four billion years to settle into the pattern the earth now holds. When humans change one thing, large or small, it begins a chain reaction that we often can't foresee. We don't know everything there is to know about Mother Nature yet. Killer... READ ON