Extinction of Critical Species

Over the past five years, beekeepers in the United States have lost about 30 percent of their bees each year on account of colony collapse disorder, a global phenomenon in  hich entire colonies of bees abruptly and mysteriously disappear from their hives. Bees do more than provide us with honey. They pollinate key crops, including grapes, apples,  oybeans, and cotton. We depend on bees.

“Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct. The cause: human activities.”—United Nations Development Program.

We also depend on phytoplankton. Without it we would have no fish. Without worms to  erate the soil, we would have far fewer crops. The extinction of such key species would  esult in food shortage and starvation, leading to violence and riots. Pollution,  verpopulation, overharvesting, habitat destruction, and climate change contribute to the  xtinction of animal species perhaps as much as 1,000 times more than natural rates.

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Temperatures in Parked Cars

During 2004, 35 children died of heat stroke in the United States after being left in parked vehicles, says Pediatrics magazine. Studies show that when outside temperatures exceed 86 degrees Fahrenheit [30°C], temperatures inside a vehicle can quickly reach 134 to 154 degrees [57 to 68°C]. Even with an outside temperature of 72 degrees [22°C], the temperature in a car can still rise by about 40 degrees [22°], with most of the increase taking place within 15 to 30 minutes after parking. Leaving the windows one and a half inches [4 cm] open made little difference, as did running air-conditioning before turning the car off. The authors of the article believe that public awareness of the risks could save lives.

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The Enigma of Britain’s House Sparrows

The ubiquitous house sparrow, with its familiar chirpings and twitterings, has long been part of the British scene. But it is now disappearing—often suddenly—from urban areas, and nobody knows why. The Independent newspaper of London has offered a £5,000 ($7,200) prize for the first scientific paper from anyone who can solve the mystery. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology will act as judges. The project is expected to take at least two years to complete.

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Carbon Monoxide — The Silent Killer

Every year about 50 people in Britain die of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by faulty home heating appliances. “After asbestos, carbon monoxide is the most common single cause of poisoning at work and in the home,” reports London Hazards Centre Trust. What is carbon monoxide?

Carbon monoxide is a gas that is formed when incomplete combustion occurs, whether in an automobile engine or in heating appliances that burn coal or other fossil fuels, especially gas. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. So how does it kill?

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Threat From Shrinking Glaciers

The world's lagest body of ice outside the polar regions will disapper within 40 years if the current rate of melting continues, reports The Sunday Telegraph of London. A combination of rising global temperatures and the relatively low latitude of the Himalayas threatens the region's 15,000 glaciers. The Gangotri glacier, which is one of the sources of the Ganges River, has shrunk by almost one third if its length in the past 50 years.

Syed Hasnain, a scientist who monitors the glaciers, warns that if the current rate continues, "rivers such as the Ganges, the Indus and the Brahmaputra, which recieve about 70 to 80 per cent of their water from snow and glacial melt, will dry up." The result would be "an ecological disaster," he warns. Meantime, the risk of serious flooding grows. When glaciers shrink, lakes are formed that are surrounded by fragile walls of ice, boulders, and sand. As melting countinues, the walls brust, sending deavastating floods to he Valleys below.

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