Microwaves derived from solar power and transmitted by orbiting satellites to electric power stations on Earth are being planned in order to create future energy self-sufficiency for the U.S. But are microwaves safe for plants here on Earth?
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Temple University instructor and prison activist Allen Hornblum is testifying in a lawsuit brought by prison inmates who say they have been injured and maimed due to years of illegal medical tests. The lawsuit, filed in October 2000 on behalf of 298 former inmates, claims the testing exposed the inmates to infectious diseases, radiation, dioxin and psychotropic drugs ? all without their informed consent.
Alfons J. Skorski, 52, has a scarred leg he says resulted from an athlete’s foot test at Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison in 1970. A week later his foot lost all feeling and he could walk only “by taking a step forward with my left foot and dragging my right foot.”Even now, he says, “if I don’t concentrate on that right foot it will still droop down, causing me to trip.”read more
If there are other planets like Earth out there, at least one in three probably harbors life, according to Charles Lineweaver and Tamara Davis of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. If life can arise on planets unlike ours, then the odds on finding life are even more favorable.
We can get important knowledge from the fact that life on Earth seems to have evolved very quickly, say the researchers. According to the earliest fossil records, life took no more than about half a billion years to gain a foothold, once the planetary conditions were amenable. This time scale might actually have been much less – even instantaneous in geological terms.
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A lawsuit was filed in May saying that chocolate contains levels of lead and cadmium that could be dangerous to children. The American Environmental Safety Institute went to court in Los Angeles claiming that some of the nation’s largest candy makers have known about the presence of the heavy metals in their products, but have not done anything about it.
“We will prove in court that the chocolate companies have knowingly and intentionally exposed consumers, especially children, to potentially dangerous levels of lead and cadmium without providing a clear and reasonable warning of the health risks,” says Roger Carrick, the institute’s attorney. The suit names Mars Inc., Hershey Foods, Nestle USA, Kraft Foods North America, See’s Candies and Rocky Mountain Chocolate. read more