Ethereum Lost $4 Billion in Market Value Due to Fake Fatal Car Crash – Futurism

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In Brief A fake news story about the death of Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, caused the cryptocurrency to lose $4 billion. Although Ethereum is retaining much of its value, this highlights the problems of fake news and the market's volatility. Power of Fake News

On Sunday,4Chan, the trolls paradise, was used to post a photo of Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin along with a story of his death in a car crash: Fatal car crash. And now we have our answer. He was the glue. It will be difficult for ETH to recover and the entire crypto sphere is in big trouble.

Ethereum is currently the second most valuable cryptocurrency in the world. Itis also arguably the hottest cryptocurrency in relative terms, up as much as 4,000 percent this year alone and drawing interest from elites all over the world. At least partially driving this is the fact that other technologies are being built off of Ethereum, whichseems poised to become the blockchainof choice around the world.

The price of Ethereum, despite having risen so much this year thus far, remains volatile, and it was already experiencing a decline yesterday when the news about Buterins death hit the internet. By the days end, about $4 billion dropped from its total market value.

Of course, Buterin wasnt actually dead:

His selfie holding the modern equivalent of the days newspaper a piece of paper with the latest block mined on the Ethereum blockchain written on it put that rumor to bed. If you feel like youve seen that move before, you may be remembering Julian Assanges livestream dispelling rumors of his death the same way back in January.

Despite Sundays fake news emergency, Ethereum is still trading more than30 times higher today than it was in early January, so in some ways this was just a blip in the cryptocurrencys progress. On the other hand, theres little doubt that fake news manipulation has showcased a weakness in Ethereum. Buterin is the well-known face of Ethereum, and it seems that although the cryptocurrency exists independent of any control by him, right now its health is influenced by him to some extent.

Ultimately, this story highlights that all cryptocurrencies are inherently volatile, at least for now. On June 21, for example, a single multi-million dollar sell order caused a flash crash in Ethereum, a symptom of a young and underdeveloped infrastructure. This problem will be repaired over time as the cryptocurrency market evolves, regardless of what happens (or doesnt happen) to founders.

This episode alsoprovide a cautionary tale about the power of fake news. However, that particular problem certainly isnt limited to the cryptocurrency world its an epidemic everywhere, from climate change to politics and election newsto the search for life. Perhaps a strategic combination of critical thinking and technologywill be the answer to the fake news problem; for now, however, were glad both Buterin and Ethereum are alive and well.

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Ethereum Lost $4 Billion in Market Value Due to Fake Fatal Car Crash - Futurism

New Drone Plans an Ambitious Mission to Plant 100000 Trees a Day – Futurism

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In Brief A system of drones has been developed to help quell the loss of Earth's trees. The system can help plant almost 100,000 trees per day.

The Earth is rapidly losing its forests at a rate muchfaster than humans can replant. Exact figures vary, but according to Scientific American, most analysts attribute upwards of 15 percent [of global carbon emissions] to deforestation. This means that by clearing or burning the Earths forests, we are directly contributing to the rapidly increasing rate of climate change.

One Australian engineer is enlisting technology to fight the battle against deforestation. Dr. Susan Graham has helped develop a pair of drones that can help mitigate some of the damage by planting trees at a rate that far outpaces what is possible to do by hand.

The first dronescans an area of land, searching for an ideal plot to plant. This drone helps to make a 3D map of the area and then special algorithms are employed to find the best places to plant. The second drone then takes that map and its payload of up to 150 seed pods and gets to work shooting the seeds into the ground. Lauren Fletcher, the CEO of BioCarbon Engineering, said: Were firing at one a second, which means a pair of operators will be able to plant nearly 100,000 trees per day 60 teams like this will get us to a billion trees a year.

Drones get a lot of press for their delivery capabilities, but Amazon packages arent the only way to utilize this technology. There are lifesaving drones that can beat EMTs to emergencies, drones that could help to supportdeclining bee populations, and even drones to stand in for backup dancers. All of this and much more is to come, since not even the sky is the limit.

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New Drone Plans an Ambitious Mission to Plant 100000 Trees a Day - Futurism

Ethereum is Up 4000% This Year, And The World’s Elite Are All Buying In – Futurism

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Ethereum Goes Up

MGT Capital, the company run by John McAfee, said it would start to mine Ethereum the bitcoin rival that has surged nearly 4,000% this year in its latest bid to turn a profit. Although ethereumhas since dropped in value, its an alteration that was predicted by experts, given its unprecedentedly excessive rise. And as this latest announcement highlights, tech experts and investors alike are confident that its price will soon surge again.

MGT, which is publicly traded over the counter, has pitched itself to investors mostly as a cybersecurity company. Cybersecurity is where McAfee made his mark as the founder of the antivirus company that bears his name.

But McAfee has more recently started to tout cryptocurrencies. He said last month that investments in bitcoin would help put MGT back in the black by the end of the year.

Ethereum is like bitcoin in that it can be mined by computers that solve complex computations. MGT said Friday that it reached an agreement with Bit5ive LLC to buy up to 60 graphics-processor-based mining computers to help mine for ether.

We are more convinced each day of the growth and value of digital currencies, and our company is uniquely positioned to be a leading provider of processing power to relevant blockchains, McAfee said in the statement.

McAfees foray into the cryptocurrency space comes when others have been sounding the alarm after a huge run-up in prices.

In early June, billionaire Mark Cuban said it was evident that bitcoin was a bubble, tweeting, When everyone is bragging about how easy they are making $=bubble.

Days later, Goldman Sachs warned that bitcoin was looking heavy and that a drop to between $2,330 and $1,915 a coin was looking likely. Bitcoin put in a low of $2,076 just a day later after the scaling debate came back into focus as the bitcoin-mining firm Bitmain outlined its contingency plan for if a hard fork were to occur. Bitcoin has recouped those losses and now trades at $2,708.

Ethereum is up by 3,964% in 2017. As for MGT, its stock is up by 42% year-to-date.

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Ethereum is Up 4000% This Year, And The World's Elite Are All Buying In - Futurism

These Leaked Tesla Model 3 Photos Offer You Views of This Decade’s Most Anticipated EV – Futurism

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In Brief A Reddit user seems to have chanced upon a Tesla Model 3 being test driven around San Matteo. You You Xue's photos give us an unprecedented glimpse of the car that could change the way the world thinks about electric vehicles.

New photos of the Tesla Model 3 the most anticipated electric car of the decade, if not all timehave been leaked by You You Xue, who claimed on Reddit that Xue came across the new model randomly in San Matteo, and jumped straight out of the car and started snapping photos! The car is due to be launched sometime this year.

Tesla has been extremely secretive about the project, going as far as to camouflage and cover the vehicle in every road test it has conducted to date.

The photos show us the interior of Teslas upcoming vehicle, including its dashboard with a 43-cm (17-inch) display, the steering wheel, charging ports, and wheels.

This has been the latest piece of information in a series of exciting updates concerning the Model 3. We know what the robots that will build the cars look like, that it will have an updated autonomous mode, and that production of the battery cell has begun at Gigafactory 1 in Nevada.

At this point, 2017 looks to be the year of Elon Musk, who is pushing the boundaries of almost any industry he enters: from space rockets, to solar panels, to autonomous vehicles the sky seems to be the limit for the modern technological prophet.

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These Leaked Tesla Model 3 Photos Offer You Views of This Decade's Most Anticipated EV - Futurism

First Ever Cable-Free Elevator Can Move Horizontally and Vertically – Futurism

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In Brief Engineering firm ThyssenKrup has just finished the first tests of its Maglev elevator that operates horizontally and vertically without cables. This in-building hyperloop could change high-rise building design and cut down wait time for elevators.

Engineering firm ThyssenKrup has created a Maglev elevator that operates horizontally as well as vertically, and without cables. The firm has completed the first public tests of the technology in a dedicated tower. Named Multi, the experimental elevator trades in cables for rails and magnetic fields. The fields push the cabins along the rails which work like linear motors, much like an in-building hyperloop.

The cabins can rotate to shift a cabin to the side when it stops at a floor. This allows more cabins to use the system seamlessly without getting in each others way. The cabins will also be able to plan their routes, which will reduce wait timesand prevent in-shaft traffic jams.

This tech may also solve an ongoing issue facing designers of modern high-rise buildings. If youve ever been in a very tall building, youve probably noticed that youre forced to take elevators from different banks to reach the highest floors. This is because standard cable elevator designs can only safely rise about 1,600 feet per single continuous stretch. The Multi system would put an end to that, making more space and style options possible.

ThyssenKrup has already signed up its first customer: the East Side Tower building planned for Berlin will feature the Multi. Before you get too excited, though, realize that the price tag of the system will probably keep it from becoming the new standard anytime soon:it costs up to five times as much as a standard elevator system. And, theres no up and out button the cabins will rely on the rails.

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Freedom Caucus Chair: House Conservatives Would Reject Current Senate Health Care Bill – HuffPost

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WASHINGTON As Senate GOP leadership tries to bring conservatives on board with their health care bill, House conservatives are working to reinforce the far rights negotiating position, signaling they wont support the Senate legislation without changes.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told reporters Monday night and Tuesday morning that there would not be enough votes in either chamber to pass the Senate legislation without significant amendments.

This bill, in its current form, would lose significant conservative votes, which would make it almost impossible to pass, Meadows said late Monday.

By Tuesday morning, Meadows pointed to two amendments from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that if adopted, would go a long ways to make us get where we need to be in the House and the Senate.

The first amendment would allow insurers to offer plans that dont comply with Obamacare regulations like the mandate that plans include 10 essential health benefits, or that insurers not charge people with pre-existing conditions more as long as insurers offered at least one plan that did comply with the Affordable Care Act regulations.

The effect of that amendment would be healthier people signing up for those noncompliant plans, bringing down the cost for them (perhaps for skimpier coverage) but driving up the costs for sick people. In effect, an insurer could offer unreasonably priced plans for people with pre-existing conditions and then make their money by selling plans with limited coverage to healthier people. The amendment would also likely have the effect of bringing much higher prices to women seeking coverage with maternity care. The Congressional Budget Office projected in the House health care bill that maternity care would be sold as a rider policy and would cost women more than $1,000 a month, in addition to whatever other health care plan they selected.

The other amendment would expand Health Savings Accounts, which are tax-free accounts meant to help people pay high deductibles, expensive medical treatment and costs not covered by medical insurance, such as dental and vision care. The idea, popular among conservatives, is to introduce some market forces into health care and make people more cost-conscious.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Meadows and other conservatives arent happy with the Senate bill. It undid some of the major changes they demanded, particularly allowing states to opt out of regulations that ensure that sick people are not charged more than healthy people.

Meadows had previously quietly signaled that he and most other conservatives in the Freedom Caucus would accept what came out of the Senate. They still might, should Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) miraculously be able to move the bill without changes. But Meadowsnew position reflects a reality that McConnell doesnt have the votes at the moment, and changes are expected.

Conservatives are angling to make sure that the changes McConnell makes appease them rather than moderates, and Meadows new posturing might just help conservatives make the case that their direction is ultimately the only one that works.

Meadows and other conservatives could set up an irreconcilable disagreement between the House and Senate, particularly if they insist on undermining those pre-existing conditions protections and McConnell insists on keeping them.

That all assumes McConnell can get the bill out of the Senateand doesnt make the changes that conservatives want. For now, conservatives in both chambers are watching to see what amendments McConnell makes to the bill.

McConnell met with Cruz on Tuesday morning, but both sides were cagey about what progress they had made. Prior to that meeting, McConnell and other Senate GOP leaders had avoided negotiating with conservatives like Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Meadows called that position troubling.

If there are no discussions going on now, that means there will be no amendments, he said. And if there are no amendments, that means there will not be the votes there to pass it in the Senate or the House.

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Freedom Caucus Chair: House Conservatives Would Reject Current Senate Health Care Bill - HuffPost

Rally planned at Capitol to defend religious freedom – The State Journal-Register

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Mary Hansen Staff Writer @maryfhansen

Right of conscience could be one topic at a rally focusing on religious freedoms that's planned for noon Wednesday in the Capitol rotunda.

It's being organized by the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki is planning to attend.

Some Catholics are concerned about their right of conscience, particularly for physicians and other medical professionals who object to abortions, said Donna Moore, the diocese's director for pro-life activities and special ministries.

"We just want to bring it to people's attention that religious liberties are being attacked and that we need to speak out and make sure our religious liberties are kept intact," Moore said.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of a baker who is challenging a Colorado law that says he was wrong to have turned away a same-sex couple who wanted a cake to celebrate their 2012 wedding.Twenty-two states, including Illinois, include sexual orientation in laws that bar discrimination in public accommodations.

Hillary Byrnes, an attorney with the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops, will speak at Wednesday's "Rock the Rotunda" event, along with Paprocki, who has recently been criticized for a decree he issued this month that denies gays and lesbians in same-sex marriages from receiving communion or a church burial.

Effingham-based musician Michael James Mette will perform.

The rally is part of the nationwide "Fortnight for Freedom" that Paprocki and the local diocese were involved in establishing.

The annual rally has been held in front of the Statehouse, but organizers opted to move it inside this year to protect people from the heat. The rally drew about 100 people last year, according to Moore.

-- Contact Mary Hansen: 788-1528, mary.hansen@sj-r.com, twitter.com/maryfhansen.

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Rally planned at Capitol to defend religious freedom - The State Journal-Register

An Emmett Till Marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail Was Vandalized – TIME

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A civil rights historical marker remembers black teenager Emmett Till, who was kidnapped before being lynched in 1955. Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm made the marker, said Monday that someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool.Allan HammonsAP

A historical marker for Emmett Till on the Mississippi Freedom Trail has been vandalized.

The sign, located outside the grocery store where 14-year-old black teenager Till was accused of whistling at a white woman in 1955, is missing vinyl panels that contained photos and words about him. In May, someone scratched the marker with a blunt tool, according to Allan Hammons, whose public relations firm created the marker.

"Who knows what motivates people to do this?" Hammons told the Associated Press. "Vandals have been around since the beginning of time." Hammons said the marker on the Freedom Trail cost more than $8,000 and repairs will amount to about $500.

Till was kidnapped, tortured and killed by two white men after 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant said he whistled at her. His brutal murder, and the later acquittal of the defendants by an all-white jury, set the Civil Rights movement in motion.

The AP reports that a second marker for Till, near the area where his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, was shot multiple times.

In January, Bryant, who remarried to become Carolyn Bryant Donham, told Vanity Fair that she had fabricated her testimony against Till.

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An Emmett Till Marker on the Mississippi Freedom Trail Was Vandalized - TIME

Freedom return to UC Health Stadium for three-game series tonight; last home games before All Star break – User-generated content (press release)…

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The first-place Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, return home to UC Health Stadium this Tuesday through Thursday for the final home games before the mid-July All-Star break.

The Freedom sit at 27-12 overall after finishing a 5-1 road trip, including a sweep of the Gateway Grizzlies in the teams most recent series. The Freedom sit up top of the Frontier League West Division by 5.5 games over the Evansville Otters.

This week, the River City Rascals (19-20) come to town on Tuesday before the team heads on the road from June 30 July 9.

Games this week are all 7:05 p.m. starts. Tuesday and Wednesday nights games will highlight youth baseball in the area with the NKB players being recognized on the field. Thirsty Thursday also returns this week, with $1 12-ounce cans of beer and $4 20-ounce crafts.

Check out a Florence Freedom game this weekend by visiting FlorenceFreedom.com. Freedom games are fun for the whole family and offer up-close seating, free parking and affordable concessions.

The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY.The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.

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Freedom return to UC Health Stadium for three-game series tonight; last home games before All Star break - User-generated content (press release)...

Editorial: Rhode Island should enact law to protect student press … – The Westerly Sun

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Earlier this year, student journalists at a Kansas high school decided to write a profile about their newly hired principal. As they researched the principals background, they began unearthing questions about her credentials. They found that she had received masters and doctoral degrees from a school, Corllins University, that was not currently accredited and that had been portrayed in articles as a diploma mill. Four days after article ran in The Booster Redux, the principal resigned.

That story earned the students widespread praise and national news coverage. But it probably would never have seen the light of day if Kansas hadnt had a student press-freedom law, said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C. They had the courage to go forward because the law protected their backs, he said.

This spring Vermont and Nevada became the 11th and 12th states to pass a student press-freedom law. And now, as the General Assembly nears the end of this years legislative session, Rhode Island has the chance to become the 13th.

From this section: Colchester man facing DUI, drug charges after Stonington bucket truck crash

State Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, said the Booster Redux scoop bolsters the case for her bill, the Student Journalists Freedom of Expression Act (SB 0600). What it shows you is the value of having the freedom for students to do that kind of investigative journalism, she said. They were able to bring accountability to their school and to the whole school system, and on top of that, it was an incredible educational experience for them.

State Rep. Jeremiah T. OGrady, D-Lincoln, has introduced a similar bill (HBill 5550), which extends protection to college journalists as well as the high school journalists protected by Goldins bill.

Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, said, Student journalism is perhaps the greatest civics lesson we can teach in our schools. By allowing students to write about whats important to them, we are sending the message that what they say matters and needs to be heard. This is empowering not just for them but for the entire community that needs to know what happening in our schools and to have the opportunity to do something about it. These student journalists arent just our future watchdogs. They are our eyes and ears right now.

LoMonte had a simple message for Rhode Island officials: I would tell them that journalism is not a problem for schools, its a solution.

With the advent of social media, it is futile for schools to try to stop students from learning about and having conversations about controversial topics, LoMonte said. You cant hold back the flood of information, he said. Its much better to manage it in a journalistically responsible way.

LoMonte said he has heard of no organized opposition to the legislation in Rhode Island. The only thing is hallway chatter that high school students are too young to be trusted with press freedom, he said. My answer to that is: Read the bill. Its filled with safeguards.

The legislation would not authorize or protect expression by a student that is libelous or slanderous or that incites students as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of an unlawful act or the violation of school district policy.

But the legislation would protect student journalists, and their advisers, from retaliation and censorship.

Mike Donoghue, executive director of the Vermont Press Association, said Vermont legislators heard from student journalists about pushback they received from school officials when writing about controversies such as an impasse in teacher negotiations, sexting, and a school bond. Students should be free to report on them, he said.

In its 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a public high school in St. Louis, Mo., to censor student newspaper stories about teen pregnancy and the effects of divorce on children. States such as Massachusetts reacted to the Hazelwood ruling by passing press-freedom acts. Rhode Island should join this effort by providing student journalists with protection.

Edward Fitzpatrick, director of media and public relations at Roger Williams University, is a former Providence Journal columnist.

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Editorial: Rhode Island should enact law to protect student press ... - The Westerly Sun

Audio: The fight to save Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem – Mongabay.com

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On this episode, we welcome Gemma Tillack, agribusiness campaign director of the Rainforest Action Network, an NGO based in San Francisco and a group that has been very active in the global campaign to protect Indonesias Leuser Ecosystem.

One of the richest, most biodiverse tropical forests on the planet, Leuser is currently being targeted for expansion of oil palm plantations by a number of companies. Tillack explains just what makes Leuser so unique and valuable, details some of her organizations investigations into the ongoing clearance of Leuser in violation of Indonesias moratorium on deforestation for new oil palm plantations, and how consumers like you and me can help decide the fate of the region.

A lot of the activism around Leuser focuses on orangutans and other charismatic megafauna, but Mongabay ran a report in January detailing how, for the people who actually live there, the far more pressing concern is the provision of ecosystem services in other words having clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.

We also welcome to the show research ecologist Marconi Campos Cerqueira for our latest Field Notes segment. Cerqueira has recently completed a study that used bioacoustic monitoring to examine shifts in bird ranges driven by climate change in the mountains of Puerto Rico, and hell share some of his recordings with us. (Anyone can assess and listen to all of Cerqueiras recordings here, and listen in real time to recordings being made in Puerto Rico.)

Heres this episodes top news:

Not only can you read more about all of these top news items at Mongabay.com, but you can also request email alerts when we publish new stories on specific topics that you care about most, from forests and oceans to indigenous peoples rights and more. Visit alerts.mongabay.com to sign up!

Mongabay is a nonprofit and relies on the support of its readers, so if you value what you learn at the site and on this podcast, please visit mongabay.org/donate to help make it all possible.

You can find all of our podcast episodes on Android, Google Play, iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or RSS.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.

Article published by Mike Gaworecki on 2017-06-27.

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Drowned wildebeests can feed a river ecosystem for years – Science News Magazine (blog)

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More than a million wildebeests migrate each year from Tanzania to Kenya and back again, following the rains and abundant grass that springs up afterward. Their path takes them across the Mara River, and some of the crossings are so dangerous that hundreds or thousands of wildebeests drown as they try to traverse the waterway.

Those animals provide a brief, free buffet for crocodiles and vultures. And, a new study finds, theyre feeding an aquatic ecosystem for years.

Ecologist Amanda Subalusky of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., had been studying water quality in the Mara River when she and her colleagues noticed something odd. Commonly used indicators of water quality, such as dissolved oxygen and turbidity, were sometimes poorest where the river flowed through a protected area. They quickly realized that it was because of the animals that flourished there. Hippos, which eat grass at night and defecate in the water during the day, were one contributor. And dead wildebeests were another.

Wildebeest are especially good at following the rains, and theyre willing to cross barriers to follow it, says Subalusky. The animals tend to cross at the same spots year after year, and some are more dangerous than others. Once theyve started using a site, they continue, even if its bad, she notes. And on average, more than 6,000 wildebeests drown each year. (That may sound like a lot, but its only about 0.5 percent of the herd.) Their carcasses add the equivalent of the mass of 10 blue whales into the river annually.

Subalusky and her colleagues set out to see how all that meat and bone affected the river ecosystem. When they heard about drownings, they would go to the river to count carcasses. They retrieved dead wildebeests from the water to test what happened to the various parts over time. And they measured nutrients up and downstream from river crossings to see what the wildebeest carcasses added to the water.

There are some interesting challenges working in this system, Subalusky says. For instance, in one experiment, she and her colleagues put pieces of wildebeest carcass into mesh bags that went into the river. The plan was that they would retrieve the bags over time and see how quickly or slowly the pieces decomposed. We spent a couple of days putting the whole thing together and we came back the next day to collect our first set of samples, she recalls. At least half the bags with wildebeest meat were just gone. Crocodiles and Nile monitors had plucked them off the chain.

The researchers determined that the wildebeests soft tissue decomposes in about two to 10 weeks. This provides a pulse of nutrients carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus to the aquatic food web as well as the nearby terrestrial system. Subalusky and her colleagues are still working out the succession of scavengers that feast on the wildebeests, but vultures, marabou storks, egg-laying bugs and things that eat bugs are all on the list.

Once the soft tissue is gone, the bones remain, sometimes piling up in bends in the river or other spots downstream. They take years to decompose, Subalusky says, slowly leaching out most of the phosphorus that had been in the animal. The bones can also become covered in a biofilm of algae, fungi and bacteria that provides food for fish.

What initially looks like a short-lived event actually provides resources for seven years or more, Subalusky and her colleagues report June 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The wildebeest migration is the largest terrestrial migration on the planet, and others of its kind have largely disappeared as humans have killed off animals or cut off their migration routes.

Only a few hundred years ago, for instance, millions of bison roamed the western United States. There are accounts in which thousands of bison drowned in rivers, similar to what happens with wildebeests. Those rivers may have fundamentally changed after bison were nearly wiped out, Subalusky and her colleagues contend.

Well never know if that was the case, but there are still some places where scientists may be able to study the effects of mass drownings on rivers. A large herd of caribou reportedly drowned in Canada in the 1980s, and there are still some huge migrations of animals, such as reindeer. Like the wildebeests, these animals might be feeding an underwater food web that no one has ever noticed.

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Drowned wildebeests can feed a river ecosystem for years - Science News Magazine (blog)

Shelburne awarded ecosystem restoration grant – vtdigger.org

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News Release Town of Shelburne June 26, 2017

Contacts: Chris Robinson 985-3700 [emailprotected]

Ann Janda 264-5031 [emailprotected]

Shelburne Awarded Ecosystem Restoration Grant to Complete Brook Lane Stormwater Mitigation Project and Decrease Stormwater Impacts to the Munroe Brook Watershed

Shelburne (VT) The Town of Shelburne has been awarded a Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC), Ecosystem Restoration Program Grant ($12,395) to replace 260 feet of failing stormwater pipe on Brook Lane with 260 feet of perforated pipe, stone lining, and two catch basins.

The Munroe Brook watershed is currently included in the Agency of Natural Resources Stormwater Imapaired List. Brook Lane is in the Hullcrest area within the Munroe Brook watershed. It is a suburban neighborhood that was built a long time ago, and is in need of stormwater retrofitting.

Ecosystem Restoration Grants are made available to Vermont municipalities, local or regional governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and citizens groups as part of the Ecosystem Restoration Programs on-going efforts to reduce surface water pollution from phosphorus and sediment. Funded projects typically involve efforts to improve stream stability, protect against flood hazards, improve in-stream and riparian habitat, lessen the effects of stormwater runoff, protect and restore riparian wetlands, re-establish lake shoreline native vegetation, and enhance the environmental and economic sustainability of agricultural lands.

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Becoming Cyborg – Scientific American (blog)

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The Northstar device is a subdermalimplant that lights up under the skin. Its purely used for aesthetic purposes, much like tattoos and piercings Advertisement |

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The term cyborg refers to a mix of human and machine that conjures images of popular science fiction movies like Blade Runner and the Terminator series, or DC comics Cyborg. But cyborgs are very real. At the simplest level, some anthropologists consider that our use of smartphones makes us all cyborgs, since they allow us to interact with our social and cultural environments in a much broader way than humans could before.

But it goes much further than that. People are now getting chips implanted in their bodies that let them open automatic doors or access communal printers with a wave of the hand; some companies in Europe are implanting chips that will allow users to make payments or identify themselves when opening a bank account. And then theres a subculture of grinders who have grander dreamsfor example, Tim Cannon, the founder of Grindhouse Wetware, a Pittsburgh-based biohacking company that builds custom implants in his basement. His goal: to ultimately use these technologies to become immortal.

Our new film, Becoming Cyborg, explores the strange new world of the contemporary cyborg movement, and the pioneers who are making it happen.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Ccile Borkhataria

Ccile Borkhataria is a science and tech reporter for the DailyMail.com. She's a dual degree holder in Biology and management, and a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.

Christine Low

Christine Low is an editor for a tech media startup in China, and is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.

Katya Berger

Katya Berger is a freelance multimedia journalist and is currently working on an audio art piece that addresses the issues of FGM/C.

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Becoming Cyborg - Scientific American (blog)

Cyborg Says de Randamie ‘Used the Same Excuses Ronda Rousey Did’ Not to Fight Her – champions.co

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Cris Cyborg hasn't been shy of a word or two for Germaine da Randamie since the Dutch fighter turned down a fight against her.

The Brazilian will face Megan Anderson at #UFC214 for the now vacant UFC women's featherweight title, but there are still no shortage of questions being asked about her thoughts on de Randamie.

Speaking to Submission Radio earlier this week, Cyborg it very clear why she thinks the former champion didn't want to defend her title against her.

I think shes scared, she dont want to fight," Cyborg said. "I dont think its an issue about money. I dont know, maybe its about money, she wants more money, doesnt see more money. And about [her] saying Im a cheater, Im cheater, its the same excuse that Ronda Rousey used. Its the same excuse Ronda Rousey [used] before I was gonna fight her, 'Oh shes cheater'. Everybody saw when she fought someone who punched like Holly Holm did to her, then she retired and then all the girls, no one fights me and find excuses [why] they dont want to fight me and they call me cheater."

Cyborg believes that the introduction of the USADA program has taken away the opportunity for any fighters to use that excuse anymore. She also pointed out the fact that she was enrolled before any other fighter on the roster was.

"For me, it dont change because I have the same program that all the fighters in the UFC [are under] USADA," Cyborg said. "And the first fight before the UFC, I signed one year with USADA. USADA [was] testing me before all my fights, before I went to the UFC for one year and then this is proof Im a clean athlete. And these guys, no one trusts USADA? You know, its the best. They have this job [to] show us the fighter stays clean. You know, for me it dont change my life, I just keep training and wait.

With that all now behind her, Cyborg finally gets the chance to fight for the title on July 29 when she faces Anderson. For the Brazilian, it's a dream come true and it's the fight she's been waiting for ever since she entered the UFC.

You know, its the one thing Im really happy," Cyborg said. After two years Im gonna fight in my division at 145 and this has really changed the move for training, you know, Im training really more motivated because its less stress about weight, just focus more on the training. Im very excited to fight for the belt. And for me, Im gonna defend my belt and fight Megan Anderson. So for me its really nice because she holds the Invicta belt now and I think it will be like a unification [bout]. We were supposed to fight before and then itll be amazing, were gonna fight for title belt in the UFC at 145.

Anderson vs. Cyborg will serve as the co-main event at #UFC214 on July 29 in Anaheim, California.

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Cyborg Says de Randamie 'Used the Same Excuses Ronda Rousey Did' Not to Fight Her - champions.co

Two-time Olympic champ Claressa Shields says Cris Cyborg would be a ‘monster’ if she focuses only on boxing – MMA Fighting

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One of the few fighters to ever win two Olympic gold medals in boxing, Claressa Shields, visited UFC star Cris Cyborg in Los Angeles over the weekend, and was impressed by her boxing skills.

The Brazilian veteran invited Shields over to her gym as she prepares to face Megan Anderson for the vacant UFC featherweight championship at UFC 214 on July 29, and T-Rex, now undefeated as a professional boxer with three wins, talked about her training on Cyborgs social media.

"I looked at (Cyborgs films) and I was like 'ok, I see a few things that I wanna tell her to work on,' and then, the best way to learn is from experience, Shields said. "From today, shed be a great transition in over to boxing. It would be not be hard for you. A year of just training in boxing, six months, youll able to take on some of the top girls.

"Shes physically strong, physically fast, very athletic. Only thing, you just gotta work on the whole breathing thing. I think MMA and boxing is like swimming and running, especially when it comes to breathing. Cris is strong, shes fast.

Cyborg is the best 145-pounder in womens MMA history, arguably the best pound-for-pound ever, and Shields is confident that the Brazilian would be a very competitive fight for one of the top female boxers in the world if she focuses on evolving as a boxer.

"Itd be a heck of a match-up between her and Cris, Shields said of 31-0 boxer Cecilia Braekhus, who holds the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO welterweight belts. "That would be a really good fight. Wouldn't be like Cecilia Braekhus would just have in the bag. And long as Cris is in shape, gets the boxing down and be focused on it, it would be very, very competitive."

"Its really hard from MMA because you have to train and mix everything, you train jiu-jitsu, you cant focus in one thing, Cyborg said. "Imagine with one year, just training boxing, I think it would be really nice. Im interested, maybe one day."

"You'd be a monster, Shields said.

The 31-year-old Brazilian, who holds a 17-1 MMA record and has competed in pure muay thai bouts and pure grappling matches before, winning two gold medals at the IBJJF world championship and a bronze medal at the ADCC, has never entered a boxing ring before.

"I already did competition in just jiu-jitsu, already did competition just muay thai, I did just wrestling, and one thing that I never did was one boxing fight, Cyborg said. "I went to Thailand and made the muay thai camp, just muay thai, and I lived muay thai every day there. I think you get better experience, you learn a lot of things.

"If I go to the (Shield's) gym, where shes training just boxing, I think Im gonna learn a lot of things, a lot of experiences, and to improve my game and better better, for me it would be amazing. I told her, after my fight Im gonna be with her and train every day and follow her, and learn.

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Two-time Olympic champ Claressa Shields says Cris Cyborg would be a 'monster' if she focuses only on boxing - MMA Fighting

Mother Nature is winning the battle with Mississippi beaches – The Sun Herald

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The Sun Herald
Mother Nature is winning the battle with Mississippi beaches
The Sun Herald
The Harrison County Sand Beach director is facing another round of repairs after Tropical Storm Cindy caused significant beach erosion in certain areas. The beach was already in bad shape since the last major replenishment project in 2008, and a storm ...

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Mother Nature is winning the battle with Mississippi beaches - The Sun Herald

These Are the 10 Most Polluted Beaches in California – TheInertia.com

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The Inertia Associate Editor

San Clemente Pier is the second most polluted beach in California, according to a new report from Heal the Bay. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Blame the rain. In Heal the Bays newly released annual report cardtracking water quality at California beaches, the same wet weather that effectively rescued much of the state from the throes of the drought has resulted in poor water quality in many coastal areas.

Along with rating 416 beaches along the California coast with a straightforward A to F grade (check here to see how your local beach scored), the report calls out ten of the most polluted beaches on what it calls its Beach Bummers list.

Some beaches on the list are hardly surprising Cowells Beach has held the no. 1 or 2 spot since 2010, so no. 3 is a mild improvement. Two Southern California beaches, though, are making their debut on the list (San Clemente Pier, and La Jolla Cove), San Clemente Pier coming in at the second most polluted beach in the state.

The 10 Beach Bummers are as follows:

1. Clam Beach County Park, McKinleyville (Humboldt County)

2. San Clemente Pier, San Clemente (Orange County)

3. Cowells Beach, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz County)

4. Lakeshore Park, San Mateo (San Mateo County)

5. La Jolla Cove, La Jolla (San Diego County)

6. Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica (Los Angeles County)

7. Capitola Beach, Capitola (Santa Cruz County)

8. Luffenholtz Beach, Trinidad (Humboldt County)

9. Mothers Beach, Marina del Rey (Los Angeles County)

10. Monarch Beach, Dana Point (Orange County)

Heal the Bay rates numbers 1-4 on the list as Fs and 5-10 as Ds. Other beaches of concern include Newport Bay in Orange County, Long Beach, Arroyo Burro Beach in Santa Barbara, Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, and Keller Beach in Richmond.

The report also divides Californias beach grades into types of beaches and season to determine if differences exist in water quality when controlling for these variables. Open ocean beaches during dry summer weather consistently earned the best grades (100% earned As), while enclosed water bodies during wet weather consistently had the poorest water quality (only 28% earned As) seems to fit with prevailing logic.

But what are local activists and environmental groups doing with this information, and how are they seeking to improve the water quality of beaches across the state? According to Surfrider Foundations Water Quality Manager, Mara Dias, the organizations approach is two-pronged.Across the country, volunteers participate in the Blue Water Task Force program, measuring water quality and sharing information with their community. And to minimize the impacts of urban runoff, Surfriders Ocean Friendly Gardens program encourages individuals and communities to contour landscapes to retain water to filter pollution. Local Surfrider chapters have been integral in promoting policy changes to create ocean-friendly landscapes in new developments, and retrofit existing ones.

Dias explains that while Cowells is a repeat offender on the list, an active and engaged local chapter in Santa Cruz has made significant progress isolating the causes of pollution. Surfrider is hopeful that by next year Cowells will show significant improvement.

For the full report including details on the Beach Bummers click here.And to learn more about Surfriders efforts to improve water quality or to get involved check out their website.

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These Are the 10 Most Polluted Beaches in California - TheInertia.com

California Today: Surf, Sun and Bacteria – New York Times

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Photo Boys reacted to the smell near La Jolla Cove, which has made regular appearances on a ranking of the states most polluted beaches. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Good morning.

(Want to get California Today by email? Heres the sign-up.)

Some of Californias most celebrated beaches are also the most likely to make you sick.

Heal the Bay, an environmental nonprofit, recently issued its annual report card for bacterial pollution at more than 400 beaches along the Pacific Coast.

Singled out as the least sanitary were destinations like La Jolla Cove, San Clemente Pier, Santa Monica Pier and Santa Cruz Countys Cowell and Capitola beaches.

Heal the Bay divvied out grades by season, using weekly data from April 2016 through March 2017.

During the dry days of summer last year, the vast majority of California beaches had excellent grades.

But winter was a different story. As record rainfall swept through the states cityscapes and pushed billions of gallons of runoff out to sea, water quality plummeted.

Nearly half of California beaches earned grades of C to F during the wet weather, 12 percent more than the five-year average.

Sarah Sikich, Heal the Bays chief scientist, said solutions lie in programs known to mitigate runoff pollution such as increased urban green cover and projects to capture, clean and reuse storm water.

Its indicative of a water mismanagement issue in California, she said. If we were doing a better job of rethinking that runoff we could turn it from a nuisance into a resource.

Coastal geography also plays a role. Cove-like stretches such as those at Cowell and La Jolla are at a disadvantage because pollutants are less readily washed out to sea.

And beaches near creeks, rivers or storm drains absorb the brunt of urban runoff.

Humboldt Countys Clam Beach, which is fed by two creeks, was named Californias most polluted beach by Heal the Bay.

The problem there has vexed local environmentalists who cite a panoply of possible causes: bird poop, campground toilets, old septic systems, livestock and more.

Theres no shortage of theories, said Jennifer Kalt, the director of Humboldt Baykeeper, an environmental group.

Better understood is that bacterial pollution rises sharply immediately after a rain, then typically goes right back to normal. Thats why health experts recommend beachgoers wait three days to enter the ocean after a storm.

(You can also check Heal the Bays online tool for the latest beach conditions).

I think oftentimes people think kids just get diarrhea or stomach aches for other reasons, Ms. Kalt said. But studies have shown that its often correlated with rainfall. If it rains one day and then the next day its sunny, people dont really give it much thought.

Heal the Bay, based in Santa Monica, also noted some bright spots with an honor roll of beaches that maintained exceptional water quality year-round.

Seven beaches in Laguna Beach, five in Carlsbad and four in both Encintas and Newport Beach made the cut.

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(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

Gov. Jerry Browns Delta tunnels project got a crucial green light from two federal agencies. [Sacramento Bee]

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a California law that places limits on carrying guns in public. [The New York Times]

Representative Brad Sherman, from Los Angeles, has drafted and circulated articles of impeachment for President Trump. [Los Angeles Times]

A study ranked cities by how hard it is to add new apartments. It didnt bode well for rents in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

In the past year, San Francisco spent $275 million to fight homelessness. Yet its as bad as ever. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Many Bay Area residents who made the leap to Sacramento have discovered a city coming into its own. [SFGate]

Californias minimum-wage fight could heat up after a study found that jobs and hours fell in Seattle. [Los Angeles Times]

The police have been cracking down on car-pool lane offenders. It doesnt seem to be making a difference. [The Mercury News]

Hes probably going to break Barry Bondss record. The Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger already has 24 home runs. [The New York Times]

The Warriors Draymond Green led the league in steals. Now hes been honored as Defensive Player of the Year. [East Bay Times]

Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj: What I love about comedy is that were this group of weirdos. [The New York Times]

Instagrammable food, impeccable coffee: Todays campsite cooks have high ambitions. [The New York Times]

Video: A drone was used to capture a blue whale swimming in Monterey Bay. [YouTube | Slater Moore Photography]

Its one of Los Angeless little known treats.

During the summer, you can drop by the Hollywood Bowl and watch the Los Angeles Philharmonic rehearse and its free.

The schedule is worked out on a week-by-week basis, but the rehearsals have typically happened on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, lasting a couple of hours.

Writing recently in The New York Times, the music critic Zachary Woolfe called the Los Angeles Philharmonic the most important orchestra in America.

During rehearsals the music may not be polished, but thats also part of the allure.

Spectators get to see how a piece of music is shaped by the conductor and musicians before a formal performance.

The rehearsals run from July through September, though not all are open to the public.

To find out whats on tap, the Philharmonic said to call the information line starting after the July Fourth weekend at 323-850-2000.

Want to submit a photo for possible publication? You can do it here.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Los Osos. Follow him on Twitter.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

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California Today: Surf, Sun and Bacteria - New York Times

The planets, like grains of sand – SYFY WIRE (blog)

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I was recently contacted by a radio show called Texas Standard for an interview. Not long before, astronomers announced they had found an additional 200 exoplanets, worlds orbiting other stars, including 10 that were about the size of Earth, adding to the more than 2,000 known exoplanets already discovered. The host of the radio show, David Brown, wanted to look past the specific news a bit and ask a less proximate question: Why should we care?

This is, in fact, an excellent question. We are inundated with news of all kinds, and science news can get lost in the noise, especially when its incremental news, not a major new discovery but something that just adds to and reinforces whats already known.

You can listen to the interview at the Texas Standard site; its relatively brief.

I want to talk about this a little more, because the interview was abbreviated and this is an important topic.

Why should we care about this news, or indeed any science news? As I said in the interview, its because were not automatons, trudging along our dreary lives, counting the gray minutes until we die. We are multidimensional beings, capable of seeing and doing so much more, wanting to experience wonder and joy, and curious about the Universe around us.

When we find a new collection of exoplanets, for example, its more than just tossing a handful of dusty old data onto a now-slightly-bigger pile. You have to get past the hype and understand what were doing here: Kepler is designed to look at a small patch of the sky, one you could easily cover with your thumb held at arms length. It looks at 150,000 stars in that patch, and over four years has found well over 2,000 planets. But there are hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy, a million times as many as Kepler is studying.

Statistically speaking, for every planet Kepler finds, there are a million more in the galaxy waiting to be discovered.

This is profound knowledge, the sort of thing that fills the soul, opens the mind, makes us crave to understand more. This alone is reason enough to study the heavens. It stirs our passion and is no different than the drive that motivates us to create great works of art, or to ponder the deepest of philosophical questions.

There is a part of us that seeks to know more about whats outside of us. When we gaze upward, when we train the results of our centuries-long technological and scientific ambition on the heavens, we can find those answers. It satisfies, at least in part, that itch to know more.

But theres more to it than that. These philosophies, these desires, do not exist in a vacuum. For some, this sort of exploration demands a more materialistic impetus.

For them, note then that motivated self-interest plays into this as well. We are to the best of our knowledge the first technological civilization on this planet, and weve spread to every place on it, and even, in a limited sense, above it. The technology we developed to allow this is interacting with the Earth, changing its surface and atmosphere and oceans, and some of these changes are not necessarily to our benefit. Were running a massive global experiment with no control groups.

By sending up satellites to look down on Earth weve discovered these changes and have been able to deal with some of them. But we dont fully understand the way our planet works. We study it intensely, but it is the only sample of a planet like ours we can study. It would be extremely useful to have more, so that we can compare and contrast our home worlds behavior with theirs. By looking outward we can find these other planets, see how they work, and then learn more about our own.

These arent just words. These are actual deeds, things that we really and truly are doing and learning by studying other worlds. Were trying to answer the biggest questions there are. Why are things this way and not another way? Why are we here? What lies ahead? But we are also hoping to answer more immediate questions: How are we changing our planet? How quickly are we changing it? What can we do to prevent these changes becoming toxic?

Certainly not all these issues will be solved, by searching for exoplanets or otherwise. But the same desire and the same means to do so science are by far the best paths we can take to lead to the answers we seek.

By looking outward, we look inward.

One more thing. In the interview, the host then said an interesting thing with respect to this new exoplanet finding: If you find a grain of sand, and then even another hundred grains of sand ... if you know there are billions out there, then who cares?

Ironically, this analogy does not show how these discoveries inure us to this news. It shows the exact opposite.

Imagine youve lived somewhere isolated, say deep in a forest. Youve never seen a grain of sand, but youve wondered if they exist. Then you find one. Sand is real! Thats a terribly important discovery, and has profound implications. And then you find another one, and the next one, and the next one, and a new revelation dawns: Sand is common. And as you make a pile of them you find some are clear, some translucent, some green, some yellow, some black. They come in different sizes and shapes, and are composed of different materials. What is this telling you?

So you go exploring, and find more sand the more you look. You see more, and more, and then, breaking through the trees, you see to your utter amazement a beach stretching out before you, something you could only dream of before.

But even that is nothing compared to what lies beyond: an ocean, something you could not have even conceived of. It is beautiful, dark, vast, sweeping, its motion beguiling and enthralling. And even as you see it, you realize youre only seeing the surface. What lies beneath?

All this because you found a grain of sand, and decided to look for more.

That is why we look for exoplanets. And that is why we do science.

[Top image:Hubble's view toward the center of our galaxy. 150,000 stars are visible here. How many have planets? Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sahu (STScI) and the SWEEPS science team]

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The planets, like grains of sand - SYFY WIRE (blog)