Australian fruit bats could join polar bears and Ed Begley, Jr. as the next potentially imminent casualty of the coming global-warming apocalypse.
In January 2002, 3500 bats died from heat exhaustion, as temps across the eastern Australian coast rose to 43 °C, or 14 °C higher than normal. Researcher Stefan Klose of the University of Ulm in Germany estimates that if warmer temps continue, both grey-headed flying foxes and black flying foxes could face extinction sometime "this century."
Just how close is your neighborhood power plant? How many kilowatts of energy is it producing? And how much carbon dioxide does that eyesore emit into the air?
Answer these questions and find out more fun and frightening facts about 50,000 plants worldwide at CARMA.org, Carbon Monitoring for Action. The newly unveiled site is hosted by the think tank, the Center for Global Development.
Continue reading 'World's best place for power-plant voyeurism now open' >
Now I feel cheated that I didn't get high every time I swallowed my Legos. An Australian craft toy called Bindeez has been recalled because the easily-ingestible pieces contain chemicals that turn into the famed date-rape drug GHB when eaten. Whoah! "Don't cry, little Jimmy -- the shaking means you're just gettin' used to ridin' the grape dragon!"
A popular children's toy found to contain a chemical that the human body turns into the party drug "fantasy", or "GHB", has been banned in three states and is being recalled by its Melbourne creator.
Three children, two in (New South Wales) and one in Queensland, have been admitted to hospital in the past 10 days after ingesting the toy's beads. The toy is produced by Melbourne company Moose and won this year's toy of the year award at the Melbourne Toy and Hobby Fair. Bindeez consists of colourful craft beads that are joined together to create designs. They are sprayed with water to fix them.
Continue reading 'Best recall ever: Australian toy turns into DRUGS' >
