The new system will aim to tell fact from fiction

news.discovery.com - by Alyssa Danigelis - February 21, 2014

Internet trolls and anarchists beware: European computer scientists are working on a system to separate fact from false rumor online.

If all goes well, the lie-detector will be able to categorize an online rumor as speculation, controversy, misinformation or disinformation. Then it will automatically assess the source, zeroing in on factors like automated bots and newly created Twitter accounts, according to the press release. Finally it will display the results on a dashboard, making the truth easier to spot.

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A lined impoundment receives waste at a fracking site in Dimock, Pennsylvania.  J. Henry Fair

Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)
ehp.niehs.nih.gov - Valerie J. Brown - February 1, 2014

Naturally occurring radionuclides are widely distributed in the earth’s crust, so it’s no surprise that mineral and hydrocarbon extraction processes, conventional and unconventional alike, often produce some radioactive waste.¹ Radioactive drilling waste is a form of TENORM (short for “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material”)—that is, naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) that has been concentrated or otherwise made more available for human exposure through anthropogenic means.² Both the rapidity and the extent of the U.S. natural gas drilling boom have brought heightened scrutiny to the issues of radioactive exposure and waste management.

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yale.edu

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH POLL
Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies in November 2013

thinkprogress.org - by Ryan Koronowski - February 12, 2014

A recent survey found that most Republicans want the government to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and regulate carbon pollution. And the vast majority of Americans believe the U.S. should take action to reduce global warming, regardless of any perceived cost to the economy.

The new poll by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication found that 83 percent of Americans want their country to make an effort to reduce global warming, even if it has economic costs. Despite calls for American inaction on climate until other countries act first, 60 percent of Americans think the U.S. should act “regardless of what other countries do.”

Mark Conlin / Getty Images

huffingtonpost.com - by Dominique Mosbergen - February 18, 2014

Last week, a study published in the Feb. 14 issue of Science revealed the Deepwater Horizon disaster may have caused serious damage to the hearts of tuna and other animals affected by the spill.

Indeed, scientists behind the new study say their findings may have implications on mammal hearts, including those of humans.

Since PAHs can also be found in coal tar, air pollution and stormwater runoff from land, the risk to humans and other animals is potentially tremendous, the scientists say.

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Science - Crude Oil Impairs Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Fish

Photo by John Carroll

blogs.pjstar.com - by John A. Carroll, MD -  www.haitianhearts.org - February 18, 2014

The other day I read an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from February 23, 2014 entitled “Undocumented Injustice? Medical Repatriation and the Ends of Health Care”.

This article made me think of OSF in Peoria and I will explain why.

Medical repatriation is defined as “the transfer of undocumented patients in need of chronic care to their country of origin.”

The NEJM article begins with a story:

Traffic moves slowly along Wade Avenue in Raleigh on February 12. Motorists were encouraged to stay off roads.  Lance King / Getty Images

cnn.com - by Ed Payne - February 13, 2014

In the nation's capital, agencies shuttered their doors as the area got up to 11 inches of snow.

The snowfall in Philadelphia was expected to reach 11 inches, while New Yorkers were experiencing what probably will be 15 inches of snow.

In the South, states sprang into cleanup mode as power outages mounted and hundreds of thousands of customers shivered through a cold, dark night.

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whitehouse.gov - nytimes.com - by Coral Davenport - February 5, 2014

WASHINGTON — On the heels of the Senate’s passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration announced the creation of seven regional “climate hubs” on Wednesday to help farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods.

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(ALSO SEE - USDA’s Climate Hubs: Providing Targeted Solutions to Modern Challenges)

Source: Ceres

From Texas to California, drilling for oil and gas is using billions of gallons of water in the country's most drought-prone areas

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH REPORT - Hydraulic Fracturing & Water Stress: Water Demand by the Numbers
(85 page .PDF report)

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg - February 5, 2014

America's oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found.

huffingtonpost.com - by Kate Sheppard - February 5, 2014

WASHINGTON – Between 50,000 and 82,000 tons of coal ash flowed into North Carolina's Dan River on Sunday, prompting renewed calls for long-delayed federal rules on the disposal of coal waste.

The ash and water mixture spilled when a stormwater pipe broke at Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station, a plant that is no longer in operation in Rockingham County, N.C.

The slurry from coal ash can contain potentially toxic elements like arsenic, mercury and lead.

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At Houston Methodist Hospital, Celest Powell, 20, receives an IV saline solution that helps keep patients hydrated.

houstonchronicle.com - by Lora Hines - February 6, 2014

A severe flu season may have contributed to tightened supplies of intravenous saline solution, those ubiquitous bags that hospitals use by the thousands every day to keep patients hydrated and IVs flowing smoothly. . .

Late last year, three manufacturers of intravenous saline solutions, particularly sodium chloride, began alerting hospitals nationwide about shortages. At least one blamed the flu, which can leave patients dangerously dehydrated and in need of hospital care.

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Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010: BP's bill keeps rising. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Latest update on continuing costs of Macondo blowout comes as oil firm reports fall in quarterly and yearly profits

theguardian.com - by Terry Macalister - February 4, 2014

BP has been forced to set aside an extra $200m (£123m) for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, bringing the bill so far to $42.7bn.

The final figure could be far higher, however, as the latest tally does not take account of additional provisions for economic loss claims from a further legal settlement BP has made, the group said. BP is also waiting for a final US court decision over whether it was considered grossly negligent for the Deepwater Horizon accident.

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Illustration by Victor Juhasz

While Obama talks of putting America on the path to a clean, green future, we're flooding world markets with cheap, high carbon fuels

rollingstone.com - by Tim Dickinson - February 3, 2014

. . . America's oil and coal corporations are racing to position the country as the planet's dirty-energy dealer – supplying the developing world with cut-rate, high-polluting, climate-damaging fuels. Much like tobacco companies did in the 1990s – when new taxes, regulations and rising consumer awareness undercut domestic demand – Big Carbon is turning to lucrative new markets in booming Asian economies where regulations are looser. Worse, the White House has quietly championed this dirty-energy trade.

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huffingtonpost.com - by Jeffrey Sachs - February 3, 2014

CLICK HERE - Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL Project - Executive Summary January 2014 (44 page .PDF report)

The new State Department Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone Pipeline does three things. First, it signals a greater likelihood that the pipeline project will be approved later this year by the administration. Second, it vividly illustrates the depth of confusion of US climate change policy. Third, it self-portrays the US Government as a helpless bystander to climate calamity.

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Image: The Phoenix home of David Leeper, a Republican who has installed solar panels on his roof. Samantha Sais for The New York Times

nytimes.com - January 25th, 2014 - John Schwartz

In conservative politics, solar power is often dismissed as an affectation, part of a liberal agenda to funnel money to “solar cronies” of the Obama administration and further the “global warming hoax.”

So one would not expect to see Barry Goldwater Jr., the very picture of modern conservatism and son of the 1964 Republican nominee for president, arguing passionately on behalf of solar energy customers. But there he was last fall, very publicly opposing a push by Arizona’s biggest utility to charge as much as $100 a month to people who put solar panels on their roofs.

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