3D printers are fairly small machines can make just about any metal or plastic object simply by following precise instructions from a computer. A recent study indicates that 3D printing is good for the environment, can save you money, and could be the basis of many new businesses. Michigan Technological University researcher Joshua Pearce tells Steve Curwood about his team’s unexpected findings.

In this week's trip Beyond the Headlines, Peter Dykstra, published on ehn dot org notes that the green mountain state, Vermont, is not wholly friendly to green energy, and federal safety inspectors are so overworked their job is impossible.

For people with the slippery hobby of ice-climbing, cold winter weather is essential. And as Courtney Flatt from EarthFix reports, climate change is making frozen ice-walls more unpredictable in the Pacific northwest.

J Craig Venter is one of the most dynamic figures in genome science. His latest book "Life at the Speed of Light" looks forward to the possibilities for food, medicine and energy, now that humans can create synthetic life and transmit its code across vast distances at the speed of light.

Sulfur in gasoline makes automobile engines less efficient and creates more pollutants, which pose a public health threat. The EPA has released new regulations to cut the amount of sulfur in gasoline. Dan Greenbaum from the Health Effects Institute tells host Steve Curwood that the new rules are expected to save money and prevent more than 2,000 premature deaths.

Life originated from substances that somehow managed to progress from chemical reactions to self-replication. Exactly how that happened, and what exactly was the very first molecule to flip from chemical to biological is a matter of enthusiastic debate, as Meisa Salaita reports in the latest in our Small Matters series.

Roughly one third of all Europe's natural gas arrives via pipeline from Russia, and the current standoff in the Crimea has European leaders worried about the reliability of energy supplies. Energy analyst Joe Stanislaw from Deloitte LLP tells host Steve Curwood that energy insecurity may prompt some European countries to explore domestic fossil fuel extraction.