Oil Sand Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level. Todd Korol/Reuters An oil sands mine Fort McMurray, Alberta. For the study, financed by the Canadian government, the researchers set out to develop a historical record of the contamination, analyzing sediment dating back about 50 years from six small and shallow lakes north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, the center of the oil sands industry. Layers of the sediment were tested for deposits of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, groups of chemicals associated with oil that in many cases have been found to cause cancer in humans after long-term exposure. “One of the biggest challenges is that we lacked long-term data,” said John P. Smol, the paper’s lead author and a professor of biology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
The researchers found that to the contrary, the levels of those deposits have been steadily rising since large-scale oil sands production began in 1978. “We’re not saying these are poisonous ponds,” Professor Smol said. Flesh choice: A meat-lover’s guide to giving it up. I once saw a turkey carcass in a New York City garbage can. It did not look good. I said to myself, I’m never eating meat again. A few hours later, I ate meat. If you have ever driven between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the 5, you may have seen a disgusting cattle ranch on the east side of the road. It is like an insect swarm of cows. I really like meat. I never thought I would bother trying to give up meat. In case you don’t know why, here are several reasons: Livestock use about 30 percent of the world’s arable land.
So I have decided to go six weeks without eating meat. This is not my first time giving up meat in earnest. I’ve decided not to eat meat because it’s healthier, and because it’s better for the planet, but mostly because deep down, I think eating animals is weird. Enough about meat — let’s talk about you. Meat’s OK if it’s organic. I can’t undertake this six-week thing pretending it’s the beginning of forever. Obama to Announce $2 Billion Plan to Get U.S. Cars Off Gasoline. President Obama visits the Edison Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, Calif., in 2009. Credit: White House/Lawrence Jackson This afternoon, President Barack Obama will ask Congress to direct our cars, trucks and buses to a realm that doesn’t include gas stations. During a visit to Argonne National Laboratory, he will call for $2-billion energy security trust fund dedicated to research to boost automobile efficiency, enhance battery technology and expand the use of biofuels, among other clean-energy efforts.
The ultimate goal: getting the country off oil. Obama had briefly mentioned the idea of an energy security trust in his State of the Union address in January, as a means of providing a long-term, reliable stream of money to researchers. The White House has argued that energy innovation is not only good for cutting carbon emissions to tame global warming, but that it also plays an important part in growing the economy. Why It's So Hard For Scientists To Study Medical Marijuana. Eighteen states (plus the District of Columbia) allow cannabis use for certain medical conditions. Despite that, scientists have a harder time doing research on the potential medical benefits of marijuana than they do on "harder" drugs like ecstasy or magic mushrooms. The public may think of pot use as no big deal, but federal laws make it difficult for researchers to obtain legal supplies. Clinical researchers can get permission from the DEA to grow or create restricted compounds like LSD, MDMA or psilocybin in the lab; not so with cannabis.
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 placed marijuana in the most restrictive use category, Schedule I, deeming it a drug with no medicinal value and high potential for abuse. To do clinical research with marijuana, you need a DEA license, and you need to get your study approved by the FDA. The federal government's position on marijuana, according to a January 2011 document featured prominently on the DEA's homepage, is that. Boston Marathon Explosion. The 2 Boston suspects, in photo released by FBI. Wharton's Entire San Francisco Campus Earns LEED Gold Certification. Sited close to the Bay Bridge with views out over the water, Wharton’s new San Francisco campus is also conveniently located near public transit.
The school offers up graduate level classes and an expanded MBA program in a high tech, digital learning environment. Rather than constructing a new facility, the school opted to renovate and adapt aa floor in the former Hills Brothers Coffee Plant, a 1920s Romanesque Revival facility featuring brick walls and arched walkways and doors. If it weren’t for the views of the Bay Bridge, you might think you were in a historic east coast school. The building and original sign are also national landmarks. Gensler designed the adaptive reuse of the 37,000 sq ft facility, which includes state-of-the-art group study rooms and amphitheater-style classrooms with HD video conferencing for broadcasts of networking events, speaker series and classes back to Philadelphia and across the world. . + Gensler + Wharton San Francisco Images ©Wharton San Francisco.
Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science - Climate Change - Environment. A secretive funding organisation in the United States that guarantees anonymity for its billionaire donors has emerged as a major operator in the climate "counter movement" to undermine the science of global warming, The Independent has learnt. The Donors Trust, along with its sister group Donors Capital Fund, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is funnelling millions of dollars into the effort to cast doubt on climate change without revealing the identities of its wealthy backers or that they have links to the fossil fuel industry. However, an audit trail reveals that Donors is being indirectly supported by the American billionaire Charles Koch who, with his brother David, jointly owns a majority stake in Koch Industries, a large oil, gas and chemicals conglomerate based in Kansas.
Millions of dollars has been paid to Donors through a third-party organisation, called the Knowledge and Progress Fund, with is operated by the Koch family but does not advertise its Koch connections. Borges, Paradox and Perception. Republicans Accuse Obama of Using Position as President to Lead Country. WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Responding to reports that President Obama is considering signing as many as nineteen executive orders on gun control, Republicans in Congress unleashed a blistering attack on him today, accusing Mr. Obama of “cynically and systematically using his position as President to lead the country.” Spearheading the offensive was Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas), who charged the President with the “wanton exploitation of powers that are legally granted to him under the U.S. Constitution.” Calling him the “Law Professor-in-Chief,” Rep.
“President Obama looks down the list of all of the powers that are legally his and he’s like a kid in a candy store,” Rep. The Texas congressman said that if Mr. Noting that the President has not yet signed the executive orders on gun control, Rep. Get the Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza. Safe Drinking Water Elusive for Many in California. Ms. Garcia’s well water, like that of her neighbors, is laced with excessive nitrates, a pollutant associated with agriculture, septic systems and some soils. Five years ago, this small community of 49 homes near the southern end of the Central Valley took its place on California’s priority list of places in need of clean tap water.
Today the community is still stuck on that list, with no federal help in sight. Monson’s situation has parallels in places around the country, large and small, seeking federal funds under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Environmental Protection Agency distributes these funds to state agencies that are supposed to identify problems and underwrite solutions. The state’s most recent priority list contained 4,925 applications. Monson, an unincorporated town in Tulare County, has a particular bureaucratic challenge. Local philanthropy, in the form of a Tulare County Rotary initiative, has tried to help, donating filters like the one under Ms. Mr. I Love My Science Job! Tickets in Philadelphia, PA, United States.