Damaged Reactor in Japan

As if the issues concerning Japan were not pressing enough after the earthquake, Japan is now dealing with the potential effects of the damage done to one of its nuclear reactors. Analysist say that Japan is not only at high risk for radiation, but the radiaton might not also seep down into their water supply. This story relates to our last unit because we were discussing energy alternatives and their possible risks. One of the energy alternatives we discussed was nuclear energy and how it was controversial in hte United States due to the skewed perceptions about nuclear disaster. This relates because the crisis in Japan does exemplify some of the concerns many have about nuclear energy. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T2#

Damaged Reactor in Japan

As if the issues concerning Japan were not pressing enough after the earthquake, Japan is now dealing with the potential effects of the damage done to one of its nuclear reactors. Analysist say that Japan is not only at high risk for radiation, but the radiaton might not also seep down into their water supply. This story relates to our last unit because we were discussing energy alternatives and their possible risks. One of the energy alternatives we discussed was nuclear energy and how it was controversial in hte United States due to the skewed perceptions about nuclear disaster. This relates because the crisis in Japan does exemplify some of the concerns many have about nuclear energy.

Cocoa Farmers Urged to Spray Crops

Sorry this is late, I thought it was best now or never since I just took the test Wednesday.

http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2011/02/28/us-probably-began-global-fire-ant-spread

Genetic evidence now spotlights the United States as the source of recent fire ant invasions in the rest of the world. The aggressive, stinging fire ants aren’t native to the United States but rather to a broad swath of South America. Yet the southern United States, invaded by fire ants in the 1930s, has sent off at least eight separate waves of fire ant invasions to other countries in recent years, says entomologist Kenneth Ross of the University of Georigia in Athens. A ninth invasion probably hopscotched from the South to California before hitting Taiwan. Basic fire ant biology gives the species ways of traveling. In the ants’ native range, they survive flooding by fleeing their nests with their young and gripping each other to create a living raft of ants that floats until the flood subsides. If they’re afloat for longer than they can survive without food, adults eat the young. Such a capacity for fasting allows fire ants to endure days or even weeks as international stowaways in any kind of cargo.

Scientists discover new forms of 'zombie ant' fungi

Scientists in Brazil have found a new fungi that kills carpenter ants. This unique fungi kills ants when they bite into a leaf vein consisting of poison. Their jaws lock and they die. This fungi has numerous spores that differ from each other so it has a better chance of effecting their hosts efficiently. These spores can latch onto the exoskeleton of an ant and grow a stalk in the ant's head which alters its behavior. The ant then crawls down from the tree to the forest floor where conditions are warmer and more favorable for the fungi, and the fungus develops a fruiting body with spores that go on to effect more ants. Ouch.

Anxiety in Japan grows as rescue workers find more bodies

Japan struggles to recovr from the devestation of Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake not only took an astonishingly high death toll over two thousand but also has plummettted Japan's economy. This disasterous effects of this earthquake is now forcing the Japanese government to insurge about a trillion dollars to prevent a crash and keep investors interested. Not to mention the damage done to many of the nuclear power plants, which is leaving a good part of the island powerless. This earthquake has proved to be the most powerful earthquake to ever hit Japan and nearly rendering them helpless.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/14/japan.disaster/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1#

Pesticides Linked to Parkinson's Disease

People who used the pesticides paraquat or rotenone develop Parkinson’s disease approximately 2.5 times more often than those who have not used pesticides. Obviously, these pesticides are toxic to nervous tissue. According to Freya Kamel, Ph.D., a researcher in the intramural program at NIEHS and co-author of the paper appearing online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, "Rotenone directly inhibits the function of the mitochondria, the structure responsible for making energy in the cell, and paraquat increases production of certain oxygen derivatives that may harm cellular structures. People who used these pesticidesnor others with a similar mechanism of action were more likely to develop Parkinson's disease." Paraquat has long been restricted and rotenone is only to be used to kill invasive fish species; therefore, these pesticides are not used at home.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-links-pesticides-parkinson-disease.html