Flashback: GM crop taints honey two miles away, test revealsEvidence that genetically modified (GM) crops can contaminate food supplies for miles around has been revealed in independent tests commissioned by The Sunday Times.
The tests found alien GM material in honey from beehives two miles from a site where GM crops were being grown under government supervision. It is believed to have been carried there by bees gathering pollen in the GM test sites.
The disclosure, showing that GM organisms can enter the food chain without... (more)
|
|
German Biologist: Global Warming Is Good For US Biologist Josef Reichholf discusses the benefits of a warmer climate for animals and plants, large cities as centers of biological diversity and the myth of the return of malaria.
Josef Reichholf is unconvinced by those who argue that global warming will threaten animals and plants with extinction, and cause malaria to spread in Europe.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Reichholf, are you worried about global warming?
Josef Reichholf: No. P... (more)
|
|
Study suggests cancer risk from depleted uraniumDepleted uranium, which is used in armour-piercing ammunition, causes widespread damage to DNA which could lead to lung cancer, according to a study of the metal's effects on human lung cells. The study adds to growing evidence that DU causes health problems on battlefields long after hostilities have ceased.
DU is a byproduct of uranium refinement for nuclear power. It is much less radioactive than other uranium isotopes, and its high density - twice that of lead - makes it usefu... (more)
|
|
Collapsing Colonies: Are GM Crops Killing Bees?A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.
Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association (DBIB... (more)
|
|
Could Global Warming Be Halted by Controlling the Weather? Frustrated with the limits of public policy to tackle global warming, some scientists say the time has come to engineer a way to control the weather. The idea might seem appealing, says a science scholar, but it could have potentially harmful ramifications.
Climate engineering has become a popular topic among a group of scientists who are skeptical of the potential other environmental remedies, from carbon taxes to alternative energy, James R. Fleming, a pro... (more)
|
|
Consumers in dark over risks of new light bulbsWASHINGTON – Brandy Bridges heard the claims of government officials, environmentalists and retailers like Wal-Mart all pushing the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and money-saving compact fluorescent lamps.
So, last month, the Prospect, Maine, resident went out and bought two dozen CFLs and began installing them in her home. One broke. A month later, her daughter's bedroom remains sealed off with plastic like the site of a hazardous materials a... (more)
|
|
British Children under three 'should not watch TV' Children under three should see no television and it should be severely rationed for older youngsters, an expert told MPs yesterday. Parents should restrict them to a recommended daily allowance, said Dr Aric Sigman.
He believes too much watching increases the risk of health and learning problems and said the Government must take action.
He also believes there should be no sets in children's bedrooms and new mothers should be warned of the... (more)
|
|
Wi-Fi: Children at risk from 'electronic smog'- Revealed - radiation threat from new wireless computer networks
- Teachers demand inquiry to protect a generation of pupils
Britain's top health protection watchdog is pressing for a formal investigation into the hazards of using wireless communication networks in schools amid mounting concern that they may be damaging children's health, 'The Independent on Sunday' can reveal.
Sir William Stewart, the chairman of the Health Protection Agency, wants pupils t... (more)
|
|
Power lines link to cancer in new alertA secret report has raised fresh fears of a link between power lines and cancer.
The confidential study, obtained by the Evening Standard, urges ministers to consider banning the building of homes and schools close to overhead high-voltage power cables because of possible health risks.
It says a ban is the best way to reduce significantly exposure to electromagnetic fields from the electricity grid system.
The report was drawn up by scientists, electr... (more)
|
|
YouTube deletes video of McCain singing 'Bomb Iran'YouTube confirmed Friday that it had erroneously deleted and would restore a video of presidential candidate John McCain singing an impromptu ditty about starting a war with Iran.
The Arizona senator joked about attacking the sovereign nation during a campaign stop in South Carolina this week, singing, to the tune of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann": "That old, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway."
According to a video recorded by wh... (more)
|
|
Sex and the internetWHEN the internet took off in the 1990s, it was demonised as a steaming cauldron of porn. It has certainly made pornography more widely and easily available than ever before. The online porn industry is difficult to measure, but was valued at $1 billion in 2002 by America's National Research Council. Google, which publishes its “zeitgeist” list of top search queries, redacts sex-related terms from the rankings for fear of causing offence. But the popularity of pornography is clear fr... (more)
|
|
Chinese make first artificial snowfallChina claimed yesterday to have caused a snowfall for the first time as part of its increasingly ambitious attempts to control the weather.
Officials in the meteorological bureau in Tibet said they had used "rain-seeding" techniques to trigger a snowfall over the city of Nagqu last week.
"This proves it's possible for humans to change the weather on the world's highest plateau," said Yu Zhongshui. The bureau said it had produced just under half an inch of snow at a ... (more)
|
|
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some ... (more)
|
|
Russia Works on Industrial Development of Moon - Expert Russia is working on a space transport system that could eventually lead to the industrialization of the moon, the Reuters news agency quoted a Russian space expert as saying.
Thirty-eight years after the United States put the first man on the moon, Russia could reach it using Soyuz rockets, the head of the Russian space company RKK Energia, Nikolai Sevastianov, told the Vedomosti daily.
“It is time to think about industrial developm... (more)
|
|
Warning over GM plants containing human genesFarmers could soon be growing GM crops that contain human genes and can produce insulin.
The Canadian firm Sembiosys is growing insulin in the seeds of safflower, a seed oil plant, in trials in Chile, the U.S. and Canada. The company claims it will be able to sell a plant-based form of insulin within three years.
The GM industry see this as part of a new wave of plants which could help change public opinion in its favour. Experts already claim to have modified tobac... (more)
|
|
Children spending long hours at nursery more prone to poor behaviour, says study· Greater confidence offset by rise in antisocial actions
· Childcare scheme to help working class parents
Children who spend more than 35 hours a week at nursery show higher levels of antisocial behaviour than those spending less time in daycare, according to government-funded research.
An evaluation of a £370m government scheme to expand childcare and encourage parents back to work found children were more likely to display antisocial b... (more)
|
|
What's happening to the bees?Beekeeper James Doan first began finding empty hives last fall. Entire bee colonies seemed to have up and vanished, leaving their honey behind. Noting the unusually wet fall in Hamlin, N.Y., he blamed the weather. Unable to forage in the rain, the bees probably starved, he reasoned.
But when deserted hives began appearing daily, "we knew it was something different," he says. Now, at the beginning of the 2007 pollination season, more than half of his 4,300 hives are gone. "I'm just... (more)
|
|
As bee colonies disappear across the nation, experts are wondering whyLouie Foy has been charming Mother Nature’s pollinators for more than 40 years.
Foy, who keeps bees at his home in Verona, makes honey from his tiny pets and knows everything about them — when they breed, what makes them angry, when they die.
But for the past three weeks, Foy has been stumped. He can’t figure out what drove some 30 of his colonies away.
“They just disappeared,” Foy said. “I have a few dead ones left... (more)
|
|
Military beefs up Internet arsenalWASHINGTON — The U.S. military is quietly expanding capabilities to attack terrorist computer networks, including websites that glorify insurgent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, military officials and experts say. The move comes as al-Qaeda and other groups fighting in Iraq and elsewhere have expanded their activities on the Internet and increased the sophistication and volume of their videos and messages. Much of the material is designed to raise money and recruit fighters for Iraq.
... (more)
|
|
Web users read more of a story, study findsPeople looking at news websites spend longer reading stories than those reading print newspapers, according to research.
A laboratory study of 600 people found that online readers on average got through three quarters of each story they chose to read.
When presented with identical stories in a broadsheet newspaper, readers managed just 62 per cent of the text, while readers of print tabloids gave up after reading 57 per cent, according to the Poynter Institute in Am... (more)
|
|
High schoolers turn in plagiarism screeners for copyright infringementFour students from Arizona and Virginia have filed suit against plagiarism detection system Turnitin.com, arguing that the service engages in massive copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed this week in a Virginia federal court, claims that the infringement is willful and that Turnitin's parent company iParadigms owes $150,000 for every violation.
Turnitin gives school districts an automated tool to search for instances of plagiarism. Students are generally required to submit t... (more)
|
|
GM crops cause 'breakdown' in Indian farming systems Genetically modified crops have helped cause a "complete breakdown" in farming systems in India, an authoritative new study suggests.
The study threatens to deal a fatal blow to probably the most powerful argument left in the biotech industry's armoury, that it can help to bring prosperity to the Third World.
Professor Glenn Davis Stone, professor of anthropology and environmental studies at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, has spent more th... (more)
|
|
| 
