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BPA Hormone Disruptor Now Contaminates Earth's Oceans, Scientists Warn

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© NaturalNews
Earlier this year, research linked bisphenol A (BPA), a common component of plastics and a powerful hormone disrupter, to heart disease. Now, in the March issue of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, researchers have reported yet another newly discovered danger posed by BPA. Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale University, and his research team have found for the first time that BPA exposure during pregnancy can cause abnormalities in the uterus of offspring and permanent alterations in DNA.

But at least you can avoid plastics and therefore avoid exposure to the BPA, right? Unfortunately, another group of scientists has just announced that's getting harder and harder to do. Bottom line: there is now solid evidence that Earth's oceans have been contaminated on a global scale with BPA.

Katsuhiko Saido, Ph.D., of Nihon University in Chiba, Japan, and his colleagues announced their startling and worrisome findings at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society held in San Francisco recently. He stated that the massive BPA contamination of oceans resulted from hard plastic trash thrown in the seas as well as from another surprising source -- the epoxy plastic paints used to seal the hulls of ships.

Meteor

More Earthquakes Near Iceland Volcano

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© Agust Rafnsson
An earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter Scale took place under Eyjafjallajokull glacier in South Iceland near the active Fimmvorduhals volcano this morning.

The quake was accompanied by a number of smaller earthquakes under the northeast portion of the glacier.

According to volcanologist Einar Kristjansson, despite today's seismic activity, all measurements still indicate a slowing down of the volcanic eruption, RUV reports.

Bizarro Earth

Into the Abyss: British Expedition Explores the Deepest Undersea Vent Ever Found

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© UnknownOne of the world's deepest volcanic vents, which is churning out super hot minerals
A British team has discovered the world's deepest undersea volcanic vents, spewing out super hot minerals more than three miles under the sea.

Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton were exploring the Cayman Trough in the Caribbean using a remote-controlled robot submarine.

They discovered slender spires made of copper and iron ores, pumping out water hot enough to melt lead 3.1miles down.

The 'black smokers' are nearly half a mile deeper than has ever been seen before.

The newly explored area is a 'hell on Earth,' with a water pressure of more than 7,000lbs per square inch.

'This is the same weight as two small hatchback cars and five hundred times normal atmospheric pressure,' lead researcher Jon Copley told the Daily Mail.

Arrow Down

Landslide Derails Train in Northern Italy, 11 Dead

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© AP Photo/Matteo RensiFirefighters search the wreckage of a train derailed near Merano, northern Italy.
A landslide hit and derailed a train in northern Italy on Monday, killing 11 people and leaving some 30 injured, officials said.

The accident happened near Merano, a small town close to the Austrian border about 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Venice.

With the wreckage still on the tracks, rescuers were working to pull out bodies and find possible survivors. The area was cordoned off, said Giuseppe Marazzi of the local firefighters.

He said that 11 people were killed and about 30 were injured, including seven who were hospitalized in serious condition.

Bizarro Earth

Severe drought persists in southwest China








The severe drought in southwestern China is persisting, worsening the situation for tens of millions of people short of drinking water. Experts say recent rainfalls in the region is far from adequate.

According to the latest statistics released by the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief, the situation remains "grave".

Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.2 - Spain

Spain Earthquake
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 22:08:10 UTC

Monday, April 12, 2010 at 12:08:10 AM at epicenter

Location:
37.078°N, 3.470°W

Depth:
616.7 km (383.2 miles)

Distances:
25 km (15 miles) SE of Granada, Spain

95 km (60 miles) ENE of Malaga, Spain

95 km (60 miles) WNW of Almeria, Spain

370 km (230 miles) S of MADRID, Spain

Bizarro Earth

'Solar Radiation Management' or Manhattan Project 2.0?

Photo of Jutta
© VHeadlinesJutta Schmitt
  • Shielding Electronics from Electromagnetic Pulses
  • Every technology on the market today is based on alternating current technologies in relation with semiconductor technologies and if these were seriously threatened this would mean, in the final analysis, that everything that we nowadays need to live, work and recreate ourselves, could be destroyed.
    -- Uwe Behnken --
    University of Los Andes (ULA) senior lecturer in political sciences, Jutta Schmitt writes: It's intriguing. Just barely a week after the Asilomar Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies had taken place in Pacific Grove, California, we heard honorable knights for the defense of global climate integrity, such as the American Enterprise Institute's Resident Fellow and Co director of the AEI geo-engineering Project Lee Lane, advocate a global imposition of geo-engineering technologies on behalf of the advanced, industrialized states of the world in the firm conviction, that "geo-engineering experiments shouldn't require global agreement," because these would in any case be guided by the shining light of the government of the United States and its noble constitutional obligation to promote the welfare of the American people. This is how Lane evokes 'American national interest,' this magic, self-sufficient concept that justifies the use of any means in order to obtain, that is, impose the desired objective.[1]

    Bizarro Earth

    Magnitude 6.8 - Solomon Islands

    Solomon Earthquake
    © USGSEarthquake Location
    Date-Time:
    Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 09:40:30 UTC

    Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 08:40:30 PM at epicenter

    Location:
    10.913°S, 161.130°E

    Depth:
    60.2 km (37.4 miles)

    Distances:
    100 km (65 miles) WSW of Kira Kira, San Cristobal, Solomon Isl.

    205 km (130 miles) SE of HONIARA, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

    245 km (150 miles) S of Auki, Malaita, Solomon Islands

    2025 km (1260 miles) NNE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia

    Igloo

    Cold, Even by Siberian Standards

    Oimyakon Cabin
    © Bolot BochkarevThe dim winter's sun illuminating a cabin in Oimyakon, Siberia. The photo was taken on January 20, 2010, just after the morning low temperature reached minus 74 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 59 degrees Celsius).
    Russia's chief meteorological official says this past winter may go down in the record books as the coldest ever for Siberia.

    "The winter of 2009-10 was one of the most severe in the European part of Russia for more than 30 years, and in Siberia it was perhaps the record-breaking coldest ever," said Alexander Frolov, head of state meteorological service Rosgidromet.

    He told reporters that while statistics for the coldest eastern part of Siberia have not yet been thoroughly analyzed, western areas received the second-harshest winter in 110 years.

    In Far East Russia's frigid outpost of Oimyakon, the temperature on Jan. 20 plunged to minus 74.0 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere this past winter.

    Bizarro Earth

    US: Invasive fish and mussels team up to transfer toxic substances into Great Lakes walleyes

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    © David JudeA round goby.
    Two notorious Great Lakes invaders -- the zebra mussel and the round goby -- now play a central role in transferring toxic chemicals called PCBs up the food chain and into Saginaw Bay walleyes, one of that region's most popular sport fish.

    The links between zebra mussels, round gobies and contaminated Saginaw Bay walleyes is a disturbing example of unanticipated problems that can occur when non-native species get loose in the Great Lakes, said University of Michigan fishery biologist David Jude, lead author of a paper on the topic published online today in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

    "This zebra mussel-to-goby link in Great Lakes contaminated areas is one of the main conduits of PCB transfer to top aquatic predators such as the walleye, and it plays a substantial role in PCB transfer to birds, mammals and reptiles in the region as well," said Jude, a research scientist at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment.

    Between 2005 and 2007, Jude's team collected walleyes, round gobies and various other fish species, as well as zebra mussels and zooplankton, in the Tittabawassee River, the Saginaw River and Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. Then they measured levels of PCBs in all those organisms - the first such study in the Saginaw Bay region.

    "Though the levels of PCBs in Saginaw Bay walleyes have declined sharply in recent years, these toxic substances continue to show up at levels high enough to warrant concern," Jude said.