Environment

As the wild bee population declines, the importance of pollination becomes evident, threatening to disrupt crop production and the food economy. The first-ever study to map U.S. wild bees suggests they are disappearing in the country’s most important farmlands. From California’s Central Valley to the Midwest’s corn belt and the Mississippi River valley, the wild bee is disappearing, leading to increased pollination demand among crops, the majority of which either benefit from or require bees as pollinators.

Submitted by Michael Shellenberger via EnvironmentProgress.org,

Toshiba, the venerable 80 year old Japanese electronics giant, appears to be going bankrupt.

Toshiba was supposed to have announced at least $6.3 billion in losses during an earnings call yesterday. Instead, it cancelled the report, saying "it was not able to immediately secure the approval of its auditor."

Another robot sent to investigate “unimaginable”radiation levels at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has broken down. This is the second robot to break down in two weeks The “Scorpion” robot experienced catastrophic failure as it approached the core of reactor number two. A spokeswoman for the Tokyo Electric Power company TEPCO said that they don’t yet know whether it was radiation or debris that stopped the robot. Phys.Org reports: TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, sent the remote-controlled device into the No.

"Mission accomplished"?

Residents in parts of California have been told to prepare for an imminent evacuation as a powerful storm threatens to cause flooding across many parts of the State.  As the first outer rain bands from a Pacific storm touched Northern California on Sunday, residents in the Central Valley were told to be prepared to leave their homes amid fears that severe flooding could hit the State on Monday and Tuesday as the severity of the storm is expected to worsen.