Honeybee Deaths On The Rise

“Colony collapse disorder” the mysterious, decade-long die-off among honeybees, is getting worse. A survey of about 5,000 beekeepers in the U.S. has found that they’ve lost about 42 percent of their colonies over just the past year. Even more alarming is the fact that honeybee deaths spiked in the summer, when bees are usually healthiest. “What we’re seeing with this […]

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Tremors from fracking

Prague, Okla Tremors from fracking: Scientists have linked Oklahoma’s largest earthquake—a 5.6 magnitude quake near the town of Prague, in 2011—to hydraulic fracturing, supporting claims that the process increases seismic activity. Fracking, as it is known, injects water and chemicals into petroleum deposits in order to extract trapped gas. This week, researchers at the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University, and […]

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Destroying Antarctica While Attempting To Save It

Destroying Antarctica

Are the scientists working to save Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem inadvertently contributing to its destruction? Could they possibly be Destroying Antarctica? A new study has linked a chemical used in flame-retardants—called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)—that is contaminating the Antarctic environment to Australia’s Casey research station. Researchers found that dust and treated wastewater at the station contained PBDEs and another chemical that […]

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Africa’s disappearing lions

Africa’s lions are dwindling toward extinction at an alarming rate, Duke University researchers say. Using new high-resolution satellite data from Google Earth, they’ve discovered that the savanna habitat that lions need to survive has shrunk by 75 percent over the past 50 years and is far more fragmented than conservationists previously realized. Over the same period, the lion population is […]

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The 5.1 earthquake that rattled Southern California

La Habra, Calif. Quake fears: The magnitude-5.1 earthquake rattled Southern California, raising fears that the tremors could presage the long-dreaded “Big One”—a catastrophic quake that could devastate the region. The temblor and its more than 100 aftershocks originated in La Habra, Calif., along the Puente Hills thrust fault that stretches from the suburbs of northern Orange County into Hollywood. Residents […]

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