The Gulf oil spill isn't just a massive environmental and economic disaster; it's also providing an ongoing flow of material for political spinmeisters. Oil is washing up in political races from Florida to Missouri, and is sullying Republicans and Democrats alike. Host Jeff Young talks with Washington correspondent Mitra Taj about how both parties are playing the spill.

Brazil’s vast savannah has undergone the largest transformation of land in history. Modern science and shear luck have turned the region into a vast ocean of soybeans. Living on Earth’s Bruce Gellerman visited the central savannah to see if it’s environmentally sustainable.

The Guatemalan potato moth has long plagued tuber crops in South America. But as Living on Earth’s Amanda Martinez reports, scientists recently found that a compound in the moths’ saliva can actually more than double potato yields.

Imagine a robot made of small cubes that can join together and change their shape and behavior without human input. A group of MIT researchers have designed these Lego-sized cubes that are programmed to connect and communicate with each other. As Glen Zorpette reports for the IEEE Spectrum Magazine and National Science Foundation series, “Robots for Real,” self-configuring smart robots could have an impact on everyday life.

From anthems about clean energy to ballads on fresh fruit, a number of hip hop’s socially conscious artists are on a green streak. Living on Earth and Planet Harmony’s Ike Sriskandarajah explores the greening of hip hop.

Sargassum seaweed is a critically important habitat for hundreds of marine species. The plant originates in the Gulf of Mexico and is carried by ocean currents to the Sargasso Sea off the eastern seaboard. University of South Alabama marine scientist Bob Shipp tells host Jeff Young that scientists are concerned that oil in the Gulf is killing the sargassum and other marine life.

You may have heard of the plastic trash vortex in the North Pacific Ocean. It’s a region where wind and ocean currents cause plastic to accumulate by the ton. But it turns out that the North Pacific isn’t the only ocean with a plastic problem. Host Jeff Young talks with Giora Proskurowski, an oceanographer with the Sea Education Association, about his recent exploration of the plastic vortex in the North Atlantic.