"A new generation of pesticides is making honeybees far more susceptible to disease, even at tiny doses, and may be a clue to the mysterious colony collapse disorder that has devastated bees across the world, the US government's leading bee researcher has found. Yet the discovery has remained unpublished for nearly two years since it was made by the US Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory."
"Okra holds a special place in many African-descended communities, and a Canadian farmer with Jamaican roots is growing a very old variety"
"A federal judge has rejected efforts to slow the progress of a $7.25 billion class action settlement in the nationwide Roundup cancer litigation, notching a win for Roundup maker Bayer but frustrating a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys who claim the deal is unfair to cancer patients."
"Half of the world’s children are exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards threatening their health, education and survival, according to a Unicef report."
"Katherine Levy remembers a childhood deeply rooted in the natural offerings of Lake Tahoe – water skiing in the summer and working as ski instructor on the surrounding snow-covered mountains during winter months." "A US government plan to spray multiple types of herbicides – including the cancer-linked glyphosate weed killer – within national forest property that abuts the community’s cherished lake."
The news has been full of warnings about a larger-than-normal El Niño, the periodic weather pattern that portends drastic fluctuations in everything from temperatures and precipitation to ocean currents and hurricanes. The latest Issue Backgrounder takes a step back to help explain exactly how this phenomenon works and what its impacts may be, while offering a parting thought on smart coverage.
"Several newspapers across farming states have run strikingly similar opinion columns over the past month that take issue with a California law requiring farmers to provide hogs, calves and chickens with enough room to turn around, lie down and stretch."
"A hidden circulatory system pulses just beneath the planet’s surface. There, embedded in the soil, are dense networks of microorganisms known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi attach themselves to the roots of plants, sending long, thin filaments out through the soil. These ferry water and nutrients to plants and whisk away carbon, helping to keep vast quantities of it out of the atmosphere."
"Some of the snacks finding their way into American pantries contain “concerning levels of additives,” according to new findings by Consumer Reports and the food-scanning app Yuka."
