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As Linda Howe has reported on Dreamland, the sudden disappearance of honey bees in many parts of the country may be related to pesticide exposure. The latest reports suggest this is not necessarily due to the pesticides sprayed on the plants that bees pollinate, but the pesticides sprayed INSIDE the hives to kill mites.

For the past decade, beekeepers have treated their hives with pesticides to combat two kinds of mites that attack the bees. Entomologist Walter (Steve) Sheppard says, “To keep bees, especially on a commercial level, beekeepers have needed to use some sort of chemical control of these mites. Normally, Varroa mites will kill a colony within two years, if they?re not treated and the use of these pesticides brings with them a risk of accumulation in the wax.”read more

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A couple of months ago, astronomers announced that they had discovered a new planet that might be capable of sustaining life. They got the star right?a brown dwarf called Gliese581?but they picked the wrong planet. Gliese 581c is too hot to support water or life, but its neighbor, Gliese 581d, might be perfect for both.

In Space.com, Ker Than quotes astronomer Manfred Cuntz as saying, “This planet is actually outside the habitable zone. It appears at first sight too cold. However, based on the greenhouse effect, physical processes can occur which are heating up the planet to a temperature that allows for fluid water.” In other words, if this newly-discovered planet ALSO goes through global warming, life may arise there.
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A new and mysterious type of cloud has been identified by NASA. These bright and shiny clouds originate in the polar regions of the earth, and may be caused by global warming. In LiveScience.com, Dave Mosher quotes atmospheric scientist James Russell as saying, “These observations suggest a connection with global change in the lower atmosphere and could represent an early warning that our Earth environment is being changed.”

Art credit: NASA
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UPDATE – As we celebrate Independence Day, we need to ask ourselves: have our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were supposed to free those citizens, actually improved the lives of people in those countries, especially women? Alas, the answer appears to be “no.” UPDATE: We haven’t even given the Iraqis any of the JOBS our invasion created there!

Despite Western intervention, the women of Afghanistan continue to suffer. In BBC News, Soutik Biswas writes that for months, a female government official in Afghanistan has been receiving threatening letters saying she may be the target of a suicide bomber.
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