Mutated butterflies found near Fukushima | Hot Topics. By Staffon August 14, 2012 at 9:35 AM A mutated adult pale grass blue (Zizeeria maha) butterfly from Fukushima. (Photo: Handout) Researchers found dozens of mutated butterflies near the site of the nuclear accident in Fukushima, prompting officials to say it’s the first sign of damage to the ecosystem. According to NBC News, researcher Joji Otaki of the University of Ryukyus found mutation in roughly 12 percent of 144 commonly-found pale grass blue butterflies collected two months after the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Even more alarming, researcher said the mutation increased to 28 percent six months later and more than 50 percent of the offspring showed some signs of mutation. Researchers said the butterflies have disfigured antennas, smaller-sized wings, indented eyes and different color patterns, NBC News reported. “Since we’ve seen these effects on butterflies, it’s easy to imagine that it would also have affected other species as well,” Otaki said. Dean's World — Defending the liberal tradition in history, science, and philosophy. TripleCrisis. Biomes Blog. The Panda's Thumb. Grist | Environmental News, Commentary, Advice.
RealClimate. Pharyngula. Probably not. But the New York Times reports: A review of studies has found that the health benefits of infant male circumcision vastly outweigh the risks involved in the procedure. Actually, it doesn’t. Not at all. Prevalence of adult circumcision in the United States during the past 6 decades (1948-2010). It does toss in a table purporting to show the tremendous risks of not circumcising baby boys, but this is not new — these are the same sloppy data that the author has been peddling for over a decade.
The author is Brian Morris, better known as the Man Who Hates Foreskins. I suppose it could be because glorious Scandinavian penises are perfect and universally wholesome — that’s what I’ve been told, anyway — but that would be baseless speculation and unwarranted extrapolation of anecdotes into unsupportable evidence, of the sort that Brian Morris does. Take that first condition, the likelihood of urinary tract infections. Or look at his claim of much greater rates of HIV infection. The Intersection.