Environment

A wild jungle elephant went on a rampage in India, damaging up to 100 homes and terrifying residents. It took several hours to subdue the fully grown wild elephant with tranquilizer guns after he trampled through a West Bengal town on Wednesday. Digital Journal reports: Photos showed the bewildered animal wandering around Siliguri, about 577 kilometres (360 miles) north of Kolkata, crashing into structures, as people scurried out of the way.

Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

I approach the subject of the physics of energy and the economy with some trepidation. An economy seems to be a dissipative system, but what does this really mean? There are not many people who understand dissipative systems, and very few who understand how an economy operates. The combination leads to an awfully lot of false beliefs about the energy needs of an economy.

Chipotle have been forced to close the doors of two thousand restaurants in order to hold a meeting regarding the suspected outbreak of E. coli in some of their restaurants.  Chipotle staff as well as authorities, including the CDC and FDA, have been unable to determine the source of the E. coli outbreak and have said that the GMO-free fast-food chain may be the victim of corporate sabotage due to their tough stance against genetically engineered food.

Professor Stephen Hawking has told the BBC that he believes the energy emitted from a mini black hole could provide the world with all of its energy requirements. However, harnessing the 10 million megawatts of energy from a black hole could destroy humanity in the process.  Giving a lecture on BBC Radio 4, Hawking said that mini black holes could solve the never ending demand/supply problem we currently have with energy, and create a much greener planet.

The zika virus has been occupying the global media for weeks now, prompted by what appears to be a huge spike in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads. The zika virus may be sexually transmitted, the zika virus has been detected in urine and saliva, we may need to nuke the mozzies…etc It looks like the fear of zika has been spreading faster than the virus itself. Now, Obama has asked Congress for emergency funding of $1.8 Billion to combat the dreaded virus. As James Corbett reports: Zika is a bust.