The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent. They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent news about resurgent Wall Street pay has seemed to suggest that not even the Great Recession could reverse the rise in income inequality. But economists say - and data is beginning to show - that a significant change may in fact be under way. The rich, as a group, are no longer getting richer. Over the last two years, they have become poorer. And many may not return to their old levels of wealth and income anytime soon. For every investment banker whose pay has recovered to its prerecession levels, there are several who have lost their jobs - as well as many wealthy investors who have lost millions. As a result, economists and other analysts say, a 30-year period in which the super-rich became both wealthier and more numerous may now be ending. The relative struggles of the rich may elicit little sympathy from less well-off families […]
A new federal study suggests that fish cannot escape mercury pollution. The study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, tested fish from nearly 300 streams across the country for traces of mercury, and found that every sampled fish contained the substance. Although all the fish had traces of mercury, only a quarter had levels considered unsafe for human consumption. Over a thousand fish were tested from 1998 to 2005 for the study. ‘This science sends a clear message that our country must continue to confront pollution, restore our nation’s waterways, and protect the public from potential health dangers,’ said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. Mercury can cause learning disabilities in young children, and can also damage the nervous system if consumed. According to researchers, the majority of mercury found in the streams was from coal-fired plant emissions. The mercury released from smokestacks finds its way into streams due to rainfall. Once in the waterways, the mercury is converted into methylmercury, which allows it to work its way through the food chain. The highest levels of mercury were found in fish that lived in blackwater streams along the coasts […]
Scientists have identified a new source of chemical pollution released by the huge amounts of plastic rubbish found floating in the oceans of the world. A study has found that as plastics break down in the sea they release potentially toxic substances not found in nature and which could affect the growth and development of marine organisms. Until now it was thought that plastic rubbish is relatively stable chemically and, apart from being unsightly, its principle threat to living creatures came from its ability to choke or strangle any animals that either got caught in it or ingested it thinking it was food. But the latest research suggests that plastic is also a source of dissolved substances that can easily become widely dispersed in the marine environment. Many of these chemicals are believed to toxic to humans and animals, the scientists said. The scale of plastic pollution in the sea has only been widely recognised in recent years when sailing yachts reported vast areas of ocean, such as an area estimated to be twice the size of Texas in the North Pacific, that seem to be permanently covered in a layer of floating marine litter caught up […]
Scientists are only months away from creating artificial life, it was claimed yesterday. Dr Craig Venter – one of the world’s most famous and controversial biologists – said his U.S. researchers have overcome one of the last big hurdles to making a synthetic organism. The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work. But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels. They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics. The prediction came after a breakthrough by the J Craig Venter Institute in Maryland. Researchers successfully transferred the DNA of one type of bacteria into a yeast cell, modified it and then transferred it into another bacterial cell. The pioneering ‘gene swap’ was performed on a simple species of bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides. Carole Lartigue and colleagues removed the bacteria’s entire genome and inserted it into the yeast – an organism that is distant from bacteria on the tree of life. Yeast is easier to manipulate in […]
MINNEAPOLIS — The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination took openly gay clergy more fully into its fold Friday, as leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gay and lesbian people from serving as ministers. Under the new policy, individual ELCA congregations will be allowed to hire homosexuals as clergy as long as they are in a committed relationships. Until now, gays and lesbians had to remain celibate to serve as clergy. The change passed with the support of 68 percent of about 1,000 delegates at the ELCA’s national assembly. It makes the group, with about 4.7 million members in the U.S., one of the largest U.S. Christian denominations yet to take a more gay-friendly stance. ‘I have seen these same-gender relationships function in the same way as heterosexual relationships – bringing joy and blessings as well as trials and hardships,’ the Rev. Leslie Williamson, associate pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Des Plaines, Illinois, said during the hours of debate. ‘The same-gender couples I know live in love and faithfulness and are called to proclaim the word of God as are all of us.’ Conservative congregations will […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
