Environment

The Misti volcano is Peru’s most well known volcano and it has long been considered to be ‘asleep.’ But the Smithsonian GVP reports that El Misti has had some rather alarming seismic activity that could indicate magma intrusion at the volcano. Studies by the Southern Volcano Observatory (OVS) also reveal that it is awake and emitting gases. Peru’s volcano authority say that the last Misti eruption of great magnitude was 2,000 years ago. Peru this week reports:   It is currently considered the greatest risk in the South American country, as thousands of habitants reside near its crater.

The city of Seattle is to join five other major US cities that are suing Monsanto over PCB contamination. Seattle is suing to make Monsanto pay for the cleanup of toxic PCBs from the city’s drainage system and the Duwamish River. The cities of Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego and Spokane are also filing suits against the agricultural biotech giant.

Meet the new Ebola.

Well over a year since the global fears over the Ebola epidemic sent US stocks reeling in late 2014 ahead of an even sharper rebound, today the head of the World Health Organization delivered a very stern warning when she said that the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that may cause birth defects when pregnant women are infected, has been “spreading explosively” in South and Central America.

Biotechs are getting crushed, extending losses of the last few days as it appears the earnings beat for Facebook has sparked a great rotation from everything into the social network.

Because nothing says safety like a stock trading 83.5x P/E...

With Biotechs now down over 47% from their record highs... (Maybe Janet was right after all)

Yes we know Fwd P/E is "just" 35x... This has dragged FB back into the green for the year but TSLA and NFLX are getting hammered...

The current global outbreak of the Zika virus may have originated from GM mosquitoes that were released in Brazil during trials funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.  The Zika virus, which has been detected in 18 of the 26 states in Brazil, is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. A  generically modified version has been developed by a British biotech company called Oxitec. The results of a trial in Brazil published this summer involved genetically engineered mosquitoes that allegedly fight the spread of dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika virus.