BEIJING – The greatest risk China faces in its historic modernization is the massive imbalance between urban and rural areas, according to the country’s top agriculture official. “The most important and difficult task is to resolve issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers … to realize the agricultural modernization and the urbanization of most farmers,” said Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu […]
Read more
Wellfleet, Mass. Over a two week span, more than 85 dolphins had become stranded along the craggy Cape Codcoastline, including 30 in one day, said the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Typically, 120 dolphins beach themselves from January to April, the high season for stranding. They are regularly pulled by extreme tides into the U-shaped Cape Cod Bay, but never […]
Read more
A Louisiana chef had a religious experience when he cut open an eggplant and found the word “God” spelled out by the seeds inside. Line cook Jermarcus Brady was sauteing vegetables at a Baton Rouge restaurant when he sliced the eggplant in half and suddenly saw the “miraculous image.” Brady, a father of four, said his faith had gotten him […]
Read more
If you work at a desk, you should get up on your feet for at least two hours a day to avoid the serious health consequences of prolonged sitting, a panel of scientists has recommended.The average office worker sits for 10 hours a day, then heads home to spend the evening glued to a television or computer screen. A growing […]
Read more
■ Colorado marijuana entrepreneurs have installed the first public vending machine to dispense weed-laced edibles. Only licensed medical marijuana cardholders can buy pot brownies and similar snacks from the giant green dispenser, but company owner Stephen Shearin says of his weed-dispensing machine: “I don’t think we’ve dreamed what it can do yet.”
Read more
The world’s most dedicated Loch Ness monster hunter has scotched reports that has finally given up looking for the legendary Scottish beast after a quarter of a century of searching. Last week, the Times newspaper reported that Steve Feltham, who gave up his job, house and girlfriend 24 years ago to look for the creature full-time, had abandoned his long […]
Read more
China’s wealth gap has widened so much that the country now one of the most unequal outside of sub-Saharan Africa. A respected Chinese institute found this week that China’s Gini coefficient, a number that represents income inequality, has soared from 0.41 a decade ago to 0.61 today. Anything over 0.5 is considered to be destabilizing, and South Africa, where opulent […]
Read more
The white cliffs of Dover located on the southeastern coast of England, are composed of a variety of calcite shells, including single-celled plants called coccolithophores (a type of algae) that formed on the seafloor. The conditions in the ocean were perfect to form these coccolithophores because the nitrite levels, low silicate concentrations, and the right amount of iron enabled them […]
Read more
The most common Visitors from outer space… COMETS!! Near misses by comets and asteroids are rare events, but in 2013, predictions were made that earthlings would experience at least three. A menacing, 1,000-foot-wide asteroid named Apophis which passed within 9 million miles of our planet—close by astronomical standards. Dubbed “the doomsday asteroid,” Apophis has an elliptical orbit around the sun […]
Read more
While sunning themselves on the Birling Gap Beach, some tourists noticed that there was a haze coming across the beach. As it reached them, they started coughing and choking. They told the authorities that it smelled like chlorine. The people were then taken to the hospital, vomiting and in respiratory distress. The authorities said that it was unlikely to be […]
Read more