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Germany Suspends Pesticide Approvals After Mass Death Of Bees

The German Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has reportedly suspended the approval for eight pesticides after the mass death of bees in one state.

The German Research Centre for Cultivated Plants reported that 29 out of 30 dead bees it examined in Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state had been killed by contact with clothianidin, a product found in one of the seed treatment products.

The suspended products are: Antarc (ingredient: imidacloprid; produced by Bayer), Chinook (imidacloprid; Bayer), Cruiser (thiamethoxam; Syngenta), Elado (clothianidin; Bayer), Faibel (imidacloprid; Bayer), Mesurol (methiocarb; Bayer) and Poncho (clothianidin; Bayer).

Extinguisher

Gusty winds hinder fight against California wildfire

GILROY - Fire crews struggled on Friday to maintain fire lines around a wildfire that chewed through centuries-old redwoods and pushed hundreds out of their homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Bell

Vast cracks appear in Arctic ice

Dramatic evidence of the break-up of the Arctic ice-cap has emerged from research during an expedition by the Canadian military.

Scientists travelling with the troops found major new fractures during an assessment of the state of giant ice shelves in Canada's far north.

The team found a network of cracks that stretched for more than 10 miles (16km) on Ward Hunt, the area's largest shelf.

Cloud Lightning

Mount Semeru volcano in Indonesia's East Java heats up

Jakarta - Indonesian authorities on Thursday urged residents living around the slopes of Mount Semeru in Indonesia's crowded East Java province to keep their distance from the active volcano, which appears to be heating up.

Fish

Dramatic Impact Of Sea-Level Rise On Chesapeake Bay's Coastal Habitats

A new report, Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Habitats of the Chesapeake Bay, shows in vivid detail the dramatic effects of sea-level rise on the largest estuary in the US, which sustains more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals including great blue herons and sea turtles.

Habitats of the Chesapeake Bay
©National Wildlife Federation
Habitats of the Chesapeake Bay at risk from sea level rise.

Attention

Sharks face extinction in world's oceans

Sixteen out of 21 oceanic shark and ray species, which are caught for their valuable fins and meat, face the threat of extinction, the IUCN Shark Specialist Group (SSG) said on Friday.

The SSG cited a study conducted by 15 scientists from 13 research institutes around the world.

Thresher sharks, silky sharks, short-fin mako, and the great white shark are under particular threat as they take a long time to mature and reproduce. Scientists have warned that the current trend could upset the overall balance of the marine environment.

Bizarro Earth

Scientists Show Off California Fault Stress

HAYWARD -- The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a walking tour on Thursday in Hayward, showing off the stress that is building up on the Hawyard Fault. USGS scientists say the Hayward fault is predicted to be the most likely fault in the Bay Area to generate a major earthquake by 2032. The fault runs from the South Bay to San Pablo Bay. The last major earthquake on the fault occured in 1868, though several small earthquakes have shaken the East Bay in recent months.

Scientists say the stress building up on the fault is visible. There are cracks in concrete and in some places, offset of 3 to 4 inches. There is a virtual tour set up on the USGS website showing areas under going stress.

Bizarro Earth

Disaster Earthquake Scenario Unveiled For Southern California

Scientists have unveiled a hypothetical Scenario describing how a magnitude 7.8 Southern California earthquake - similar to the recent earthquake in China - would impact the region, causing loss of lives and massive damage to infrastructure, including critical transportation, power, and water systems.

ShakeOut Scenario
©USGS
This "ShakeMap" is a representation of the shaking produced by the ShakeOut Scenario earthquake. The colors represent the Modified Mercalli Intensity with the warmer colors representing areas of greater damage (from figure 1.2).

Evil Rays

Strange lights recorded minutes before Sichuan earthquake

A Bizarre colorful cloud formation in the sky was recorded on video just before last week's China earthquake at two places near the quake's epicenter.

All throughout the history, there had been incidents of strange things happening before major earthquakes. For the first time, strange clouds were recorded on video just 30 minutes before Sichuan earthquake. Coloured clouds were recorded using mobile phone cameras in Tianshui, Gansu province approximately 450km northeast of epicentre. Later, similar clouds were reported 200 miles away from the quake's epicentre, Wenchuan.

Last year "earthquake lights' were reported before an earthquake in Peru. Scientists believe that this could be due to the emission of radiations(Scalar waves) from the earth's crust.

Image
©Unknown

Evil Rays

Flashback Earthquake cloud, Chinese photographer catches prediction 2 days before earthquake occurred

May, 09, 2008, 2 days before the Chinese deadly earthquake, somebody took those pictures in Linyi, Shandong province, east China. As you can see they capture lot of "line-shaped" clouds. Apparently someone has spotted an Earthquake Cloud and predicted that a 6+ earthquake will happen within 2 days, but they didn't know where. Of course, nobody believed them at that time. Then, 12, May, a 7.8 earthquake occurred in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, west China.

Here are those pictures. (click here to see the original post in Chinese)

Image
©Unknown