Yet more adverse side effects of fracking have been identified, as new research indicates that it could threaten water supplies in drought-prone areas.
Fracking is a controversial method of extracting gas reserves from underground seams, using high pressure water jets which are injected into the ground to fracture shale rocks and release the natural gas inside.
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A recent study has indicated that the Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland is experiencing a rapid melt that threatens to raise sea levels by up to one centimeter.
The glacier, which is thought to have yielded the iceberg that ended the Titanic’s fated voyage, has begun to melt at an alarming rate, about four times faster than it was reducing in the 1990s. This puts it at the top of the glacier-melting charts, making it the fastest flowing river of ice in the world.
The recent research project, published in the Cryosphere journal, examined images from the German TerraSAR-X satellites to monitor the speed of the glacier.
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The benefits of eating olive oil have been lauded by health professionals for years, but a recent study could provide a new incentive for us to add it into our diet.
A study at the Houston Methodist hospital in Texas is to focus on a major component of olive oil, hydroxytyrosol, and its potential to prevent breast cancer.
The study, which is the first of its kind in the US, will monitor the breast density of 50 pre-menopausal and 50 post-menopausal women who have been identified as having a higher than average risk of developing breast cancer. Each patient will be given 25 mg hydroxytyrosol capsule for 12 months and their breast density levels will then be assessed at three monthly intervals.
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It is no secret that, in civilised society, "Big Brother" is very likely to be watching us whenever we venture into public places and, thanks to facial recognition software utilised by retail outlets, "Big Brother" is not only watching, but also knows our names and many other personal details.
Facial recognition software is already incorporated into many security systems in order to track shop-lifters, but a new use has now been found for its revelations: tracking big spenders.
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