Just look at some of the history of studying this issue. This article from 2006 claims they pose no risk. Claiming: “Long or short-term cell phone use is not associated with increased cancer risk, according to a study in the December 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.” I think we can guess where that thought process of turnign it into a joke came from…hmmmm?

Over the last couple years it is mentioned as possible, but there is no real data to show it other than saying that the results don’t necessarily show increased brain tumors from cellphone use.

Today, the highest-quality research data available suggests that long-term exposure to microwaves from cellular phones may lead to an increased risk of brain tumors, reports a paper in the November/December issue of Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography.

Although debate continues, independent studies with long-term follow-up strongly suggest an increased risk of brain tumors related to the use of cellular or cordless phones. “We conclude that the current standard of exposure to microwave during mobile phone use is not safe for long-term exposure and needs to be revised,” conclude the study authors, led by R.B. Dubey of Apeejay College of Engineering, Sohna, Gurgaon, India.

The linked article even goes as far to say that it may DOUBLE after 10 years of prolonged use. Luckily for many of us our cell use has probably gone down. I know mine has. A lot more texting, and using a headset has certainly been my usage the past few years. I rarely spend a lot of time actually talking with it up to my head.

There is increasing public concern about the potential cancer risks from microwave emissions related to wireless phones — not only cellular phones and base stations (transmission tower antennae), but also home cordless phones. Some studies have reported that long-term wireless phone users have increased rates of brain tumors, including malignant gliomas and benign acoustic neuromas. However, other studies have found no association

We’re all gonna die. Eventually…so take the time to smell the Flowering trees and look at the rainbows friends.

The new Space Security 2010 report released by the Space Security Index, an international research consortium, represented space debris as a primary issue. Similar recognition of the orbital trash threat also emerged in the U.S. national space policy unveiled by President Obama in June 2010.

Consideration of space debris as a major threat may cause the United States to take a more global view on the threat of space weapons, said Brian Weeden, a former U.S. Air Force orbital analyst and now technical adviser for the Secure World Foundation, an organization dedicated to the sustainable use of space.

“This is an important realization, because before that much of the security focus was on threats from hostile actors in space,” Weeden explained. “This is the first [national policy] recognition that threats can come from the space environment and nonhostile events.”

A widely accepted strategy to combating global warming is to add iron to the ocean waters. Unfortunately, it appears now that it actually results in promoting toxic blooms in the ocean. DUN DUN DUN!

Louisiana State University’s Sibel Bargu, along with her former graduate student Ana Garcia, from the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences in LSU’s School of the Coast & Environment, has discovered toxic algae in vast, remote regions of the open ocean for the first time. Good thing my cigar prices are still low.

Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, are reported as increasing both geographically and in frequency along populated coastlines. Bargu’s research shows that the ubiquitous diatom Pseudo-nitzschia — an alga that produces the neurotoxin, domoic acid, or DA, in coastal regions — actually also produces DA at many locations in the open Pacific. The presence of these potent toxins in deep water environments is worrisome, given that in coastal waters, where the phenomenon has been studied, DA can enter the food chain, forcing the closure of some fisheries and poisoning marine mammals and birds that feed on the contaminated fish. The main concern, though, is that the adding of iron to ocean waters — one of the most commonly proposed strategies to reduce global warming — appears now to likely result in promoting toxic blooms in the ocean. more

Yes. This guy winning the Nobel Prize automatically makes the whole thing true right?

While this stuff doesn’t sound like anything new, they still make the claim to give it a name for mass consumption. If you read the study, it doesn’t really tell you a lot of science. Just tells you about making the name claim from a quick skim. Have at it.

Here’s the claim we care about, which won’t affect any of us alive, but it is close enough to mention according to these gentlemen. May as well play it safe and get and insurance quote anyways.

The scientists propose that, in just two centuries, humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our world that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time interval, and alter the planet for millions of years.

Zalasiewicz, Williams, Steffen and Crutzen contend that recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering what they call the Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch.

And they add that the dawning of this new epoch may include the sixth largest mass extinction in Earth’s history.

HIDE

A Smithsonian Institution biologist, working with the Natural History Unit of the BBC, has discovered a new species of giant rat on a film making expedition to a remote rainforest in New Guinea.

While this is interesting in that it is a new species, picturing the scene is just as fascinating. Not just the area where it was found, but how friendly it was.

The rat was discovered in the crater of an extinct volcano named Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands province. This gigantic volcano’s crater is two and half miles wide and rimmed with walls nearly half a mile high, trapping the creatures inside a “lost world” of mountain rainforests probably rarely visited by humans.

Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and Muse Opiang, a biologist with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Biological Research, were first on the scene when the rat was found by a tracker from the Kasua tribe that lives outside the crater.

Weighing nearly 3.5 pounds, and measuring 32 inches from nose to tail, the Bosavi woolly rat is one of the biggest rats in the world. Most surprising was that the rat was completely tame, a sign that animals in the isolated crater were unfamiliar with humans. “It is a true rat, closely related to the rats and mice most of us are familiar with, but so much bigger,” said Helgen.

While we have heard of LDL cholesterol, better known as “bad cholesterol”, probably as young as sitting at your preschool furniture, and that high cholesterol levels are inherently bad – oxycholesterol is relatively unknown and is believed to be the most serious cardiovascular health threat.

Scientists from China presented one of the first studies on the cholesterol-boosting effects of oxycholesterol at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. The researchers hope their findings raise public awareness about oxycholesterol, including foods with the highest levels of the substance and other foods that can combat oxycholesterol’s effects.

“Total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and the heart-healthy high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) are still important health issues,” says study leader Zhen-Yu Chen, Ph.D., of Chinese University of Hong Kong. “But the public should recognize that oxycholesterol is also important and cannot be ignored. Our work demonstrated that oxycholesterol boosts total cholesterol levels and promotes atherosclerosis ["hardening of the arteries"] more than non-oxidized cholesterol.”

Fried and processed food, particularly fast-food, contains high amounts of oxycholesterol. Avoiding these foods and eating a diet that is rich in antioxidants, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, may help reduce its levels in the body, the researchers note.

So…basically do what they have always told you. Don’t eat fried garbage, greasy hamburgers, and eat your fruits and vegetables to avoid this stuff.

Well…more great news for those that want human life to end. The Greenland ice sheet, according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes, suggests that it is melting faster than expected.

It also states that the melting may have caused almost 25 percent of the total sea level increase over the last 13 years. The study also shows that seas now are rising by more than 3 millimeters a year–more than 50 percent faster than the average for the 20th century.

End of the world. Sell your certified diamonds and live it up. We’re all going to die (most likely not from this, but we are all going to die)

“Increasing sea level rise will be a problem in the future for people living in coastal regions around the globe,” said UAF researcher Sebastian H. Mernild. “Even a small sea level rise can be a problem for these communities. It is our hope that this research can provide people with accurate information needed to plan for protecting people and communities.”

Starkey believes that robot use increasing could become a problem if it is left up to the military, businesses, and the unqualified rather than legislative bodies. The increase of robots in use since 2000 has increased rapidly, and sales of professional and personal service robots are estimated to total 5.5 million in 2008. Estimates suggest that more than 11.5 million will be produced in the next 2 years, and that production costs of robots in the last few years has declined by over 80% since 1990. This means that they will be all around us and eventually taking over the world in the next few years (sorry…I scared myself ).

Service robots are currently being used in all walks of life, from child-minding robots to robots that care for the elderly. These types of robots can be controlled by a mobile phone or from a PC, allowing input from camera “eyes” and remote talking from caregivers. Sophisticated elder-care robots like the Secom “My Spoon” automatic feeding robot; the Sanyo electric bathtub robot that automatically washes and rinses; and the Mitsubishi Wakamura robot, used for reminding people to take their medicine, are already in widespread use.

Despite this no international legislation or policy guidelines currently exist, except in terms of negligence. This is still to be tested in court for robot surrogates and may be difficult to prove in the home (relative to cases of physical abuse).

Starkey worries that we aren’t lookijng at the potential risks of robots: “Research into service robots has demonstrated close bonding and attachment by children, who, in most cases, prefer a robot to a teddy bear. Short-term exposure can provide an enjoyable and entertaining experience that creates interest and curiosity.

“However, because of the physical safety that robot minders provide, children could be left without human contact for many hours a day or perhaps for several days, and the possible psychological impact of the varying degrees of social isolation on development is unknown.

“At the other end of the age spectrum, the relative increase in many countries in the population of the elderly relative to available younger caregivers has spurred the development of elder-care robots. These robots can help the elderly to maintain independence in their own homes, but their presence could lead to the risk of leaving the elderly in the exclusive care of machines without sufficient human contact.”

Well…I was hoping he would be all apocalyptic in his concerns, but I guess he just cares about people being left with out human contact. Pffft…people. Carry on with your concerns about the best diet pills and take no heed to Professor Starkey’s concerns. He is obviously a mad scientist .