Thirty years ago, the scientist James Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a planetary-scale control system which kept the environment fit for life. He called it Gaia, and the theory has become widely accepted. Now, he believes mankind’s abuse of the environment is making that mechanism work against us. His astonishing conclusion – that climate change is already insoluble, and life on Earth will never be the same again. The world has already passed the point of no return for climate change, and civilisation as we know it is now unlikely to survive, according to James Lovelock, the scientist and green guru who conceived the idea of Gaia – the Earth which keeps itself fit for life. In a profoundly pessimistic new assessment, published in today’s Independent, Professor Lovelock suggests that efforts to counter global warming cannot succeed, and that, in effect, it is already too late. The world and human society face disaster to a worse extent, and on a faster timescale, than almost anybody realises, he believes. He writes: ” Before this century is over, billions of us will die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic […]
Congressman Barr and I have disagreed many times over the years, but we have joined together today with thousands of our fellow citizens-Democrats and Republicans alike-to express our shared concern that America’s Constitution is in grave danger. In spite of our differences over ideology and politics, we are in strong agreement that the American values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the unprecedented claims of the Administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of executive power. As we begin this new year, the Executive Branch of our government has been caught eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has brazenly declared that it has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted by Congress to prevent such abuses. It is imperative that respect for the rule of law be restored. So, many of us have come here to Constitution Hall to sound an alarm and call upon our fellow citizens to put aside partisan differences and join with us in demanding that our Constitution be defended and preserved. It is appropriate that we make this appeal on the day our nation has set aside to honor […]
PHOENIX As much of Arizona enters an 11th year of drought conditions, the state could experience its driest winter season in centuries. And that has officials worried about agriculture, water supplies and the threat of wildfires. Arizona’s mountains are virtually bare, with snowpack conditions worse than they were at the same time in 2002 a year that set records as one of the driest in five centuries. Rural areas are bracing for water shortages by early summer if rains don’t come. January and February typically bring much of the snow needed to refill reservoirs and keep rivers and forests healthy. But a stubborn weather pattern has been steering every storm north of Arizona so far this winter. The Salt and Verde rivers’ watersheds received just 0.14 of an inch of rain in November and December, and none has fallen in Phoenix since Oct. 18. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Larry Martinez, water supply specialist for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service. “It’s quite shocking to a lot of folks who depend on the snow. There could still be a miracle turnaround; don’t underestimate Mother Nature. But the trend doesn’t […]
British scientists are seeking permission to create hybrid embryos in the lab by fusing human cells with rabbit eggs. If granted consent, the team will use the embryos to produce stem cells that carry genetic defects, in the hope that studying them will help understand the complex mechanisms behind incurable human diseases. The proposal drew strong criticism from opponents to embryo research who yesterday challenged the ethics of the research and branded the work repugnant. Plans for the experiments have been put forward by Professor Chris Shaw, a neurologist and expert in motor neurone disease at King’s College London, and Professor Ian Wilmut, the Edinburgh University-based creator of Dolly the sheep, as a way of overcoming the shortage of fresh human eggs available for research. “The fertility of rabbits is legendary,” said Prof Shaw. “The most important thing is that with animal eggs, we have a much better chance of generating stem cells and if we wait for human eggs, it’s going to be maybe a decade before we can do this. If we can use animal eggs, we could maybe have stem cells within one or two years,” he added. Scientists use eggs in research […]
Scientists have discovered a variant gene that confers a sizable extra risk of Type 2 diabetes and that is carried by more than a third of the American population. The finding is being reported on Monday in the journal Nature Genetics by researchers at Decode Genetics. The company specializes in finding the genetic roots of human diseases by studying the Icelandic population. Decode Genetics first found the genetic variant in Icelanders and has now confirmed the finding in a Danish and an American population. An immediate practical consequence of the discovery, Decode’s chief executive, Kari Stefansson, said, will be a diagnostic test to identify people who carry the variant gene. If they know of their extra risk, he said, they will have an added incentive to stay thin and exercise. Diabetes, which allows excess sugar to build up in the blood, leading to damage throughout the body, has reached significant proportions in many parts of the United States. It is a leading cause of blindness and loss of limbs. Type 2 diabetes, the predominant form, is typically diagnosed in adults and adolescents, though it is creeping into younger age groups. The 38 percent of Americans who […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
