[“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Democracy simply doesn’t work.” – Kent Brockman] By Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries Staff Writer28 February 2012 (LiveScience) – The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens (the majority of them, at least) can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea, when they […]
By GARDINER HARRIS12 March 2013 CHERRAPUNJI, India (The New York Times) – Almost no place on Earth gets more rain than this small hill town. Nearly 40 feet falls every year — more than 12 times what Seattle gets. Storms often drop more than a foot a day. The monsoon is epic. But during the […]
HACKENSACK, New Jersey, 10 March 2013 (Associated Press) – Thousands of Jersey Shore owners whose homes were flooded by Superstorm Sandy are now facing the most crucial decision yet: raise, sell, or raze. Is it cheaper to elevate or demolish? How long a wait will there be for insurance and grant money? Can the emotional […]
By AKIKO FUJITA10 March 2013 NAMIE, Japan (ABC News) – Michie Niikawa struggles to define her role as school principal. Two years since taking over at Ukedo Elementary School in the town of Namie, the 54-year-old has yet to welcome her first class of students, greet teachers, or visit classrooms. Most days, she works in […]
By James Topham and Mari Saito, with Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Robert Birsel8 March 2013 TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power Company is struggling to stop groundwater flooding into damaged reactors at its wrecked Fukushima plant and it may take four years to fix the problem, possibly delaying the removal of melted uranium fuel. The […]
28 February 2013 (BBC) – People living near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have an increased risk of developing some cancers, the World Health Organization says. The increased risk is limited to communities and some emergency workers exposed to radiation after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, analysis shows. For those living in the […]
By ERIC LIPTON and MATTHEW L. WALD26 February 2013 (The New York Times) – Alarms sounded and lights flashed as control panel dials at a nuclear power plant in upstate New York warned that the power for safety equipment was failing. The room went dark until the emergency lights kicked in. But there was no […]
[Desdemona was fascinated by this story in 2010; apparently, the prospects of the South China Mall haven’t improved since then.] By Johan Nylander3 March 2013 Dongguan, China (CNN) – They built it, but the shoppers didn’t come. New South China Mall in Guangdong Province opened in 2005. With 5 million square feet of shopping area, […]
22 February 2013 (BBC) – Evidence from Siberian caves suggests that a global temperature rise of 1.5C could see permafrost thaw over a large area of Siberia. A study shows that more than a trillion tonnes of the greenhouse gases CO2 and methane could be released into the atmosphere as a result. Evidence from Siberian […]
By Coral Davenport7 February 2013 NORFOLK, Virginia (National Journal) – Jimmy Strickland can tell you exactly how much money rising sea levels have cost his business. In 1989, he opened his accounting firm in a one-story brick building near Norfolk’s historic cobblestoned Hague district, which surrounds one of this low-lying city’s many tidal rivers. Dressed […]
