Gowanus cure for what ails?

The Gowanus Canal doesn’t kill microscopic life forms, it makes them stronger — and that could lead to medical benefits for humans.

Ikea furniture retailer opening first NYC store

After many years in the suburbs, Ikea is moving to New York City.

Fuel prices, soft economy may sink boating business

This may be shaping up as the year of dockside boating.

City’s Coney Island Design Revised to Break Deadlock

The Bloomberg administration has revised its redevelopment plan for the Coney Island waterfront in an effort to break a deadlock with some landowners and elected officials while still preserving the area’s historic amusement district, which includes the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone roller coaster.

DEVELOPERS TO GET A SECOND SHOT AT GOVS IS.

Private developers will soon get another crack at turning Governors Island into a major attraction.

CIRCLE LINE IN HOT WATER

Circle Line took the city for a ride by ducking nearly $423,000 in back taxes and franchise fees, according to Comptroller Bill Thompson.

BORN-AGAIN ECOIST

This weekend’s inaugural Go Green Expo, self-proclaimed “largest green living and sustainability event ever to hit NYC” will have you going eco in no time.

Mercury Migrating Out of Rivers to the Shore

Mercury contamination can be a big problem in rivers, as it moves up the food chain accumulating in top predators. But what goes into the river largely stays in the river, or in creatures that feed in it — aquatic insects, fish and fish-eating birds.

Revival of a River Alters a City’s Course in Sports

As the nation’s top kayakers and canoeists dipped their paddles in the Oklahoma River over the weekend while competing for a spot on the United States Olympic team,

Cheyenne Diner bound for Brooklyn

A reborn Cheyenne Diner could be serving up bison burgers, French fries and chocolate egg creams on Brooklyn’s Red Hook waterfront by the summer.

TIPS ON BUYING FISHING BOAT INSURANCE

BoatU.S. Angler is a membership program that’s part of the nation’s largest association of recreational boaters whose mission is to protect the interests of boat-owning freshwater anglers. With that in mind, it recommends that anglers should ask these five questions when shopping for insurance for their fishing boats:

The Clean Boating Act of 2008

The Threat to Recreational Boating.

Attempt to Sail 1,000 Days Non-stop Reaches One Year Mark

Reid Stowe, in his quest to sail the longest sea voyage in history (1,000 days, non-stop), is at the one year mark despite many hardships and challenges. Today he is sailing somewhere north east of New Zealand in stormy seas.

Little Germany never recovered from tragedy

Before it was the Lower East Side, Loisaida, or the East Village, the community that developed around Tompkins Square Park was known as Kleindeutschland, or Little Germany, and was the fifth largest German population in the world.

Court Steps Into Utilities Case

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an environmental case in which utility companies want to revive an industry-friendly regulation put in place by the Bush administration.

Ahoy! Maritime Trove Lands in Philadelphia

The four-day, 50-dealer Philadelphia Antiques Show, the gold standard for Americana, opens tomorrow in a new location: the Navy Yard. The site complements the naval theme for the show’s special loan exhibition, “Philadelphia Collects Maritime.”

West Side Redevelopment Plans in Disarray

For three years, it has been one of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s abiding ambitions: to transform the warehouses, factories, parking lots and railroad tracks between Pennsylvania Station and the Hudson River into a glimmering high-rise business district.

Not a drop to drink

The Gowanus Canal has the promise of big-bucks development, the star power of its own movie, “Lavender Lake,” and is eligible to be on the National Register for Historic Places, but Newtown Creek is finally ready to surpass its rival in the malodorous spotlight.

Red Hook will be Brooklyn’s Napa Valley

Bordeaux. Napa. Chianti. Red Hook?

Gas Plant in L.I. Sound Is Rejected

In his first major policy decision on the environment, Gov. David A. Paterson on Thursday blocked the nation’s first floating liquefied natural gas plant,