Leaked document shows EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticide despite own scientists’ red flags Follow the honey: Smoking bees makes them less mad when you move them, but leaked EPA documents might have the opposite effect. It’s not just the State and Defense departments that are reeling this month from leaked documents. The Environmental Protection Agency now has some explaining to do, too. In place of dodgy dealings with foreign leaders, this case involves the German agrichemical giant Bayer; a pesticide with an unpronounceable name, clothianidin; and an insect species crucial to food production (as well as a food producer itself), the honeybee. And in lieu of a memo leaked to a globetrotting Australian, this one features a document delivered to a long-time Colorado beekeeper. All of that, plus my favorite crop to fixate on: industrial corn, which blankets 88 million acres of farmland nationwide and produces a bounty of protein-rich pollen on which honeybees love to feast. It’s The Agency Who Kicked the Beehive, as written by Jonathan Franzen! Hive talking Wimpy watchdogging
Routery WiFi niekorzystne dla naszego zdrowia? - Onet Technowinki W dużej części naszych mieszkań spotkać można routery WiFi, dzięki którym mamy dostęp do globalnej sieci. Te urządzenia nie jest bezpieczne dla naszego zdrowia. A udało się to udowodnić kilku duńskim uczennicom, które przeprowadziły ciekawy eksperyment. Pięć uczennic dziewiątej klasy przeprowadziło niedawno szkolny eksperyment, powodujący spore poruszenie w naukowym środowisku. Chciały więc przekonać się jaki efekt wywołuje u ludzi promieniowanie nadajników wbudowanych w komórki. Obsadziły więc sześć tacek rzeżuchą, a następnie umieściły je w pomieszczeniu bez żadnego promieniowania. Po 12 dniach sprawdziły efekt swego eksperymentu i wykonały jego zdjęcia. Eksperyment dziewcząt wzbudził już zainteresowanie neurobiologów ze szwedzkiego Karolinska Institute, którzy chcieliby powtórzyć go w profesjonalnym środowisku. Źródło: Mnn.com
Sukhoi SU-35 fighter has all the right moves at Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show this week hosted the first foreign demonstration of the Russian supermaneuverable multirole fighter the Sukhoi Su-35. The specific aircraft on show is the latest iteration of the aircraft, designated Su-35S, 48 of which have been allocated to the Russian Air Force as they roll off the production line between 2011 and 2015. Visitors to the air show were treated to a display of the Su-35's impressive aerobatics, including a demonstration of the breathtaking Pugachev's Cobra maneuver. View all Describing the Su-35S as a "4++ generation" jet fighter, Sukhoi claims that the characteristics of the aircraft exceed those of all European tactical fighters including the Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon. Further, the company claims the aircraft can "successfully counter" fully-fledged fifth generation US jet fighters, Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor – a bold statement given the stealth capabilities of the latter. Source: Sukhoi
Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists. The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The leaked document (PDF) was put out in response to Bayer's request to approve use of the pesticide on cotton and mustard. Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). The entire 101-page memo is damning (and worth a read). Related:
Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'? | Nafeez Ahmed | Environment A new study partly-sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution. Noting that warnings of 'collapse' are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that "the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history." Cases of severe civilisational disruption due to "precipitous collapse - often lasting centuries - have been quite common." The independent research project is based on a new cross-disciplinary 'Human And Nature DYnamical' (HANDY) model, led by applied mathematician Safa Motesharrei of the US National Science Foundation-supported National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, in association with a team of natural and social scientists.
Russia Responds To U.S. Magnitsky Act By Placing 18 Americans On Blacklist MOSCOW — Russia on Saturday banned 18 Americans from entering the country in response to Washington imposing sanctions on 18 Russians for alleged human rights violations. The list released by the Foreign Ministry includes John Yoo, a former U.S. Justice Department official who wrote legal memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques; David Addington, the chief of staff for former U.S. The move came a day after the U.S. announced its sanctions under the Magnitsky Law, named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested in 2008 for tax evasion after accusing Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates. The U.S. "As we've said many times before, the right response by Russia to the international outcry over Sergey Magnitsky's death would be to conduct a proper investigation and hold those responsible for his death accountable, rather than engage in tit-for-tat retaliation," according to the statement. A federal judge, one FBI agent and four U.S.
Bees Solve Hard Computing Problems Faster Than Supercomputers We already know bees are pretty good at facial recognition, and researchers have shown they can also be effective air-quality monitors. Here's one more reason to keep them around: They're smarter than computers. Bumblebees can solve the classic "traveling salesman" problem, which keeps supercomputers busy for days. They learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they find the flowers in a different order, according to a new British study. The traveling salesman problem is an (read: very hard) problem in computer science; it involves finding the shortest possible route between cities, visiting each city only once. Bees need lots of energy to fly, so they seek the most efficient route among networks of hundreds of flowers. To test bee problem-solving, researchers Lars Chittka and Mathieu Lihoreau tested bees' response to computer-controlled artificial flowers.
Facebook Snowden could spark a new Cold War Venezuela on Tuesday night appeared to be the final taker for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden after an erroneous tweet by a senior Russian official announced the fugitive had accepted the country’s offer of asylum. In fact, Snowden remains in the transit lounge of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, apparently still choosing between offers from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia — drawing attention to the burgeoning relationship between Moscow and those Latin American critics of the United States. The former security contractor isn’t the only thing they have in common: Natural gas, billions of dollars in arms shipments and similar geopolitical agendas also tie them together. With Russia positioning itself as a global rival to Washington, those countries seem to be falling in line as part of a Kremlin drive to provide some pushback in the US backyard. His relationship with the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been most prominent. “Who is the guilty one?
How to Extract Delicious Fresh Honey from Bee Hive Honey Frames Having bees has obvious rewards and some not so obvious. A clear golden jar of honey just waiting to be spread on some warm homemade bread is an obvious reward for sure. This is the main reason most people get started beekeeping, and makes it all worthwhile. But caring for a miraculously organized group of insects and taking pride in their work is unexpectedly moving. When I spy one of my bees sipping a drink from the beads of water on a growing curly kale, or hear the industrious hum around my tomato plants, I feel the same warm feeling that I do when watching my chickens dust-bathing, and scratching for bugs. I will show you how easy the honey extraction is. As someone who loves to harvest and collect and create things from the farm, the honey extraction is an extremely rewarding thing.
Science or Art? Beautiful Illustrations of Animals From 170 Years Ago - Wired Science inShare1 Cacicus montezuma, aka Montezuma's oropendola -- a bird with some of the most delightful vocalizations you'll hear. (Biodiversity Heritage Library) Sipuncula are marine worms. They're also known as peanut worms. (Biodiversity Heritage Library) These guys are sea squirts -- squishy marine invertebrates. "Actinozoa" is a bygone classification in zoology that once included such critters as marine polyps, corals, jellies, rotifers, and sea urchins. <div class="slide" data-slide-id="635650" ><img title="" alt="" width="650px" src=" data-image-width="660" data-image-height="1175" /><p class="caption">The now-extinct Dodo bird, a former inhabitant of Mauritius. Published in 1844, the Atlas de Zoologie: ou collection de 100 planches contains illustrations of a number of creatures, some of which no longer walk this planet.
From Russia With PR Commentaries published on CNBC.com and the Huffington Post were written by seemingly independent professionals but placed on behalf of the Russian government by its PR firm, Ketchum. Today, Vladimir Putin wrote an op-ed [1] about Syria in the New York Times. The piece was placed by the public-relations giant Ketchum, Buzzfeed reported [2]. Several opinion columns praising Russia and published in the last two years on CNBC’s web site and the Huffington Post were written by seemingly independent professionals but were placed on behalf of the Russian government by its public-relations firm, Ketchum. The columns, written by two businessmen, a lawyer, and an academic, heap praise on the Russian government for its “ambitious modernization strategy” and “enforcement of laws designed to better protect business and reduce corruption.” There’s nothing unusual about Ketchum’s work on behalf of Russia. “People write op-eds because they have agendas.
Honey Bee Die-Off Caused By Multiple Factors Including Pesticides | News & Notes A federal study attributes the massive die-off in American honey bee colonies to a combination of factors, including pesticides, poor diet, parasites and a lack of genetic diversity. Nearly a third of honey bee colonies in the United States have been wiped out since 2006. The estimated value of crops lost if bees were no longer able to pollinate fruits and vegetables is around $15 billion. The report comes on the heels of an announcement Monday by the European Union that they are banning the use of pesticides that may be harmful to bees for two years. U.S. beekeepers have been reporting annual hive deaths of about 30 percent or higher for much of the past 10 years, but this past winter marked the worst loss ever — nearly 40 to 50 percent or more. In a “show of concern,” the Environmental Protection Agency sent three representatives to the San Joaquin Valley in California for discussions. In Europe, the decision to institute the moratorium was not without controversy.
The Giant Methane Monster That Can Wipe Out the Human Race Photo Credit: Cardaf/Shutterstock July 4, 2014 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. There's something lurking deep under the frozen Arctic Ocean, and if it gets released, it could spell disaster for our planet. That something is methane. Methane is one of the strongest of the natural greenhouse gases, about 80 times more potent than CO2, and while it may not get as much attention as its cousin CO2, it certainly can do as much, if not more, damage to our planet. That's because methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and there are trillions of tons of it embedded in a kind of ice slurry called methane hydrate or methane clathrate crystals in the Arctic and in the seas around the continental shelves all around the world. If enough of this methane is released quickly enough, it won't just produce the same old global warming. But here's where it gets really scary.