ApocaDocuments (10) for the "Biology Breach" scenario from this week
[see full week] ~ [see full Biology Breach scenario and stories]
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Sat, Jun 28, 2008
from Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand):
Algal sludge greets Olympic sailors
... in Qingdao, the 2008 Olympic sailing venue, this week for a training camp only to find the sailing course blighted by tonnes of the algae.... Astonishing photos taken by coaching staff show conditions that create the illusion the sailors -- world No 1 men's pair Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page and women's crew Tessa Parkinson and Elise Rechichi -- are training on a lush green lawn instead of open blue water.... "We're not exactly sure what sort of algae it is, but it's not kelp -- it's very fluffy and spongy. It looks like the guys are sailing on grass." ... "This week, their boat's called Dead Calm -- quite appropriate, really, given the circumstances," Browne joked. ...
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"Calm" is not how we think of it, in the Apocadocs context.
ApocaDoc
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Fri, Jun 27, 2008
from ThaiIndian News:
'Mild' malaria strain is more deadly, says study
The new research has shown that P. vivax is far from benign, and is responsible for a significant illness with high rates of severe disease and death.
The paper also shows that in many cases, victims are infected with a mixture of both parasites and that this results in an even higher risk of severe disease than infection with a single parasite.... But P. vivax accounts for 400 million cases every year in Asia, with about 300 cases reported annually in patients returning to Australia from malaria endemic countries. In Indonesia, the parasite has developed resistance to standard treatments. ...
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Light is hard, and easy is dangerous:
P. vivax is harder than light.
ApocaDoc
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Fri, Jun 27, 2008
from Indian Catholic (India):
Radioactive wastes contaminate Jharkhand's water
Record level of rains this year has ironically contaminated the water sources of villages near Turamdih uranium mines in Jharkahnd state.... The overflowing waste ponds have contaminated the water sources. The villagers fearing death have reportedly stopped fetching water from their wells and ponds.
...
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Nobody wants to glow in the dark
(except fireflies).
ApocaDoc
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Thu, Jun 26, 2008
from ABC News:
U.N.: Toxic Waste Exports on the Rise
Many poor countries accept toxic waste from abroad, such as old computers, rusted ships and pesticides, in a shortsighted bid to lift themselves out of poverty, despite the dangers to human health and the environment, a U.N. rights official said Thursday.... "Is it worth the short term monetary gain? Is it worth people falling sick ... precious water sources contaminated permanently?" he asked. "I believe that we need to think of a better solution to generate income and development." ...
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The market forces say:
Yes.
ApocaDoc
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Thu, Jun 26, 2008
from Herald Online (South Africa):
Pollution fears as prawns die in thousands
THOUSANDS of pink prawns have washed up dead on the banks of the Swartkops estuary, apparently as a result of pollution from the Markman canal....
"The whole river was pink. We feel fairly certain there was a connection between this swarming, the die-off and what we saw and smelt coming out of the Markman canal last week." ...
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Swarming prawns, pink river.
A wedding, or a funeral?
ApocaDoc
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Wed, Jun 25, 2008
from McClatchy Washington:
No bigger than a thumbnail, yet this mussel is a huge pain
With no natural predators and a high reproductive rate, the quagga mussel has become a growing worry throughout the United States, clogging municipal water pipes, taking food from native species and possibly stimulating the growth of the deadly bacteria that cause botulism.... The quagga — which is even hardier than its better-known cousin, the zebra mussel — started out in the Caspian or Black Sea, reached the Great Lakes in the ballast of ships, and in early 2007 hitched its way West on industrial and recreational boat hulls.
The mussels, in densities of up to thousands per square yard, cling to boats, docks and even other shellfish...
Scientists are especially concerned with the quagga's potential ability to invigorate toxic botulinum bacteria. The quagga mussels deplete oxygen from the water, creating ideal conditions for the bacterial spore, which exists naturally in the water, to vegetate and become dangerous. ...
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... and the deoxygenated water is lethal
to most aquatic species.
They are as evil as their name sounds:
Quagga!
ApocaDoc
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Wed, Jun 25, 2008
from Business Standard (India):
Genetic panel to decide on Doritos corn chips today
The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of the environment ministry is likely to consider tomorrow whether Doritos corn chips of PepsiCo USA should be allowed to be sold in the Indian market.
The hearing comes in the wake of a complaint by Greenpeace India that the tests on the chips have confirmed the presence of GM Mon 863 and NK 603, both of which are Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) corn varieties.... Meanwhile, PepsiCo India, in a statement, said: "While Doritos is a PepsiCo brand, the product in question is not manufactured in India, and we neither import it nor authorise others to do so." ...
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We can't control who buys or sells our product, we only manufacture desire and maximize profitability.
ApocaDoc
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Wed, Jun 25, 2008
from MetroWest Daily News:
Tests to begin for Nyanza underground cleanup
Long gone are a 12,000-ton vault that oozed chemicals and the infamous green and purple sludge lagoons atop Megunko Hill.
But one last known piece of contamination from the former dye company site still lingers deep underground in Ashland.
Federal contractors plan to return to town this summer to start designing the cleanup of dense chemicals that have sunk below the water table to the bedrock beneath, causing a plume of contaminated groundwater.... Nyanza operated from 1917 to 1978, also polluting the Sudbury River with mercury that is being eyed in a separate EPA cleanup process. ...
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There's gonna to be
a whole lot of cleanin' goin' on
in the next decade.
ApocaDoc
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Tue, Jun 24, 2008
from Globe and Mail (Canada):
First nations join pool of Fisheries petitioners
"The government has often used economics to rationalize wiping out or eradicating a particular species, or wiping out habitat for a species. They rationalize it with this thing called 'no net loss'," he said.
"In other words they are arrogant enough to think that man is able and capable of making a decision on wiping out habitat, God's creation, and replacing it with some man-made habitat. And I don't think it's possible.
"That's one of the policies I'd like the Auditor-General to look at, that goofy policy called 'no net loss'. ...
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Goofy indeed: 'no net loss' of microbes? 'no net loss' of fungi? 'no net loss' of insects?
ApocaDoc
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Mon, Jun 23, 2008
from Environment News Service:
Toxic Algae Poisons Klamath River and Two Reservoirs
In 2004, the Karuk Tribe determined that the massive blooms of blue-green algae behind PacifiCorp's Iron Gate and Copco dams was the toxic algae Microcystis aeruginosa.
This algae secretes a potent liver toxin known as microcystin. Since the discovery, tests of these reservoirs have shown some of the highest recorded levels of the toxic algae in the world ... can exceed water quality standards set by the World Health Organization by as much as 4,000 times. ...
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PacifiCorp brags: "One of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the US."
ApocaDoc
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Other
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