Author: jimdistasio

The era of big seaweed is upon us

A new research project in Puerto Rico explores how changes in seaweed farming can combat climate change.

Marine researcher Loretta Roberson believes rethinking how we grow seaweed has the potential to clean up oceans, replace fossil fuels and protect coastlines from violent weather. She’s headed to Puerto Rico early this year to put her theories to the test. By Rebecca Fanning Medill Reports On the southern coast of Puerto Rico, there’s a […]

The River Whisperer

The Chicago Architecture Foundation's River Cruise gives patrons a 90-minute, up-close look at the design gems surrounding the Chicago River.

  The co-director of the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise dishes on the waterway’s history, its recent transformation and the ‘craziest thing’ he’s ever seen while hosting a tour.   By Emily Clemons Medill Reports Chicago offers plenty of activities for visiting tourists and adventurous locals alike – ghost tours, gangster history jaunts and more […]

The Cretaceous Shuffle

After almost two decades as the Field Museum's crown jewel, Sue the T-Rex is being relocated to the museum's Evolving Planet exhibit to make way for a larger dinosaur specimen.

After 17 years front-and-center, the Field Museum’s toothy crown jewel Sue is moving upstairs to make way for an even larger predator. By Adam Cohen Medill Reports Almost 67 million years after her death, the world’s most famous dinosaur named Sue is moving once again. In February, the Field Museum’s iconic Tyrannosaurus rex will be […]

Fighting the war against phosphorous

The Chicago River is the single largest contributor to the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” but recent recovery efforts seek to reduce dangerous levels of phosphorous making its way south.

Almost a year after the settlement between environmental groups and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, progress is inching forward in reducing dangerous levels of phosphorous in the Chicago River. By Morgan Levey Medill Reports It’s common knowledge amongst environmentalists that phosphorus is a harmful nutrient in bodies of water, making them uninhabitable […]

Last dance in the Big Easy

Filmmakers (from left) Josh Freund and Sam Radutzky go behind the scenes with the band Papa Grows Funk in their music documentary, "Do U Want It."

The new ‘funkumentary,’ Do U Want It?, is director Josh Freund’s cinematic love letter to the band Papa Grows Funk and the New Orleans music scene. By Morgan Levey Medill Reports For 90 minutes on a winter evening a vortex opened in Chicago’s Davis Theater and the crowd was transported down south, to the land […]