FSP-Microcosm News-Global Community Report: Spain

Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Monsanto promised that its latest and greatest GM crop would increase yields and stop crop loss due to pests. A new report from the government of Aragon in Spain says those promises are empty.

Report: Monsanto’s Latest GM Maize Doesn’t Reduce Pests or Increase Yields

And it's banned by most of Europe

by Christina Sarich
Posted on December 10, 2015

There is an inserted gene in the DNA of MON810 which allows the plant to make a protein that harms insects that try to eat it. The inserted gene is from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which produces the Bt toxin that is poisonous to insects in the Lepidoptera order, including the European Corn Borer. [2] Three quarters of the corn grown in Aragon, Spain is currently genetically modified, but conventional varieties were tested against GM Maize varieties in 2014.

“Helen,” “Zoom,” and “Kayras” – the non-GM isogenic (parent) lines (plant varieties) – were compared with the GM varieties derived from each line. The genetic insert was the MON810 construct from the US company, Monsanto.
The report found that:

“Per hectare, from 12.6 to 14.3 kg of maize were harvested. The GM varieties and the non-GM conventional comparator had very similar yields – the difference was between 0.2 and 0.3 kilos.”

This means the GM maize did not produce more than conventional strains of maize.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

A third strange black orb has fallen from space. The circular 50lb objects crash into a rural Spanish village

THIRD mystery 'Death Star' space ball to crash into Spanish village sparks terror among locals as mayor demands authorities explain what they are

A third strange black orb has fallen from space into a rural Spanish village
Concerned locals and Villavieja's mayor have demanded an explanation
The circular 50lb objects bear a strange resemblance to a Star Wars droid

By Corey Charlton for MailOnline

Published: 11:55 EST, 12 November 2015 | Updated: 12:58 EST, 12 November 2015

A third mysterious black space object to fall from the sky into rural Spain has caused panic among locals.

The strange-looking black orb was found in the village of Villavieja in Murcia - becoming the latest instance of an increasingly bewildering phenomenon, the Olive Press reported.

It's not yet known what the objects are, though theories range from UFOs to pieces of space debris.

The first instance of the strange phenomenon occurred one week ago, when Spanish goat farmers discovered the strange object, which bears a striking resemblance to the Star Wars torture device, the IT-O Interrogator, in Calasparra, Murcia.

The Civil Guard were called to investigate the black orb and the area was subsequently put under quarantine. Pictured is the second object to be found in the village earlier this week

The Civil Guard stated the object was an aerospace artefact and pointed to the possibility that it fell from a rocket or a satellite.

However, a few days later a second orb fell from the sky.

According to The Mirror, Jose Velez, the mayor of Calasparra, implored authorities to provide answers to worried residents.

'Where are these objects coming from? Why are they falling here precisely?'

Thursday, October 31, 2013

UK is failing its children, women and young people on a grand scale, says Marmot report on links between inequality and health

Britain told social inequality has created 'public health timebomb'

Sarah Boseley, health editor
theguardian.com, Wednesday 30 October 2013 06.00 EDT

In Britain one child in four lives in poverty, the report says. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Women and children in the UK would have longer and healthier lives if they lived in Cyprus, Italy or Spain, and Britain is facing "a public health timebomb", according to a study by an expert on inequality and health.
Sir Michael Marmot, who is known worldwide for his work on the social determinants of health, says much of the rest of Europe takes better care of its families. Life expectancy for women and death rates among the under-fives are worse in the UK, where there is also more child poverty.
The public health time bomb Marmot describes is caused by the large number of so-called Neets – young adults who are not in education, employment or training.
Women in the UK can expect to live to 83, but those born in a number of other European countries will live to a riper old age: in Germany and Cyprus, their life expectancy is 84, while in Italy, France and Spain it is 85.
And while child mortality rates in global terms are low in the UK, at 5.4 deaths per 1,000 among the under-fives, many countries do better. Some of those are in eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic, with 3.4 deaths per 1,000 births, and Slovenia with three. Most countries in western Europe do better than the UK. Greece has four deaths per 1,000 births and Luxembourg has three. Iceland has the lowest child mortality, at 2.2 deaths per 1,000 live births, and Finland is next best, with 2.9.

Read More Here

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The Telegraph

World Health Organization: unemployed youth in Britain are a public health time bomb

Young people, children and women in the UK are being failed by Government health policies, an international review finds

By Theo Merz

‘Neets’ – or young people not in employment, education or training – were likely to have worse health than their employed counterparts and the Government needed to act to ensure health inequality does not become entrenched, the authors of a report by the organization claimed.

The review also found that children and women would be better off living in many other European countries, including Eastern European states, than in the UK.

“Unemployment may be falling in the UK, but persistent high levels of the number of young people over 18 not in employment, education or training is storing up a public health time bomb waiting to explode,” said Professor Sir Michael Marmont, who chaired the study.
"We are failing too many of our children, women and young people on a grand scale.

Read More Here

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Portable home delivered as furniture, tailored as smartphone

Published on Oct 1, 2013

Architect Camino Alonso wanted to create a small, portable, prefab homes, but she didn't want it to feel like a shipping container. Camino, along with her husband and siblings (also architects at their firm Ábaton), created ÁPH80, a tiny home that ships like furniture, but has the style and usability of a smartphone.

Their Casa Transportable ("Transportable House") is manufactured in 6 weeks in a CNC factory in Northern Spain. Their largest model (9 by 3 meters) is still small enough to fit on the back of a truck. The height of 3.5 meters allows for a gabled roof to give it the feel of a real house, but it's just low enough to fit under bridges and tunnels while on the road.
Once the house arrives at the site, like a shipping container, it is craned into place in as little as 20 minutes. When Ábaton installed their prototype house on an empty plot in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Madrid, they had dug a few small holes in preparation for the "foundation footings": in this case, recycled wood blocks leftover from other construction projects, but cement or a nice rock work as foundation as well.
Ábaton provides instructions and sketches so any crane operator can put the home in place. The home arrive fully plumbed and wired. Their prototype home is the "apartment" with kitchen/living room, bathroom (with full shower) and bedroom (bed included), but they offer other models for those looking interested in simply placing an extra bedroom in their backyard (they offer several combinations e.g. a bedroom/bathroom, 2 bedrooms, livingroom/kitchen, bedroom/living room).
CNC-milled grey cement-board panels lock together to provide not only a sleek exterior, but a ventilated facade. This layered exterior along with 10 centimeters of insulation means the home is thermally efficient - useful for off-grid purposes, but it also means that even without AC on a very hot day in Madrid, the inside of the space stayed cool (we also filmed a video with the Alonso's at the abandoned stable they turned into a country home).

Ábaton: http://abaton.es/

Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/...

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Make yourself at home in a DAY: Architects create a house small enough to be delivered by truck and put up in a few hours... and if you're worried it looks like a concrete shed, just take a peek inside

By Kieran Corcoran

PUBLISHED: 17:03 EST, 19 September 2013 | UPDATED: 02:16 EST, 20 September 2013

Loaded up on the back of a lorry, it looks like an unremarkable metal shed.
But this portable home, which can be set up in just one day, is actually a luxury home with a living room, full bathroom and a double bedroom.
The tiny home, which can be set up anywhere, is only 290 square feet, but has everything you need to comfortably house two people.

Moving house: The portable home fits comfortably on the back of a lorry

Mobile: The unassuming grey box can be carried by a lorry and set up within a day

Assembled: But peel away the concrete panels and inside is a luxurious home

Plush: There is ample living space inside the home

Room with a view: And the glass doors let in plenty of natural light

Dreamy: The bedroom, to the left of the home, can fit a full double bed

Cleansing: There is even a bathroom area

Friday, July 26, 2013

Spain: Eyewitness accounts, a video of the deadly crash and statements from the driver himself suggest he was going too fast.

'I've Derailed!': Excess Speed Suspected in Spanish Rail Disaster

Photo Gallery: Video Stills of Spanish Train Crash

Was the driver of the train that derailed in Spain on Wednesday night going too fast? Eyewitness accounts, a video of the deadly crash and statements from the driver himself suggest he was. Why did safety systems fail to prevent the disaster?

"July 24 will no longer be the eve of a day of celebration," said Alberto Nunez Feijoo, regional president of Spain's Galicia. Rather, it will commemorate "one of the saddest days" in the region's history.

Feijoo on Thursday ordered a seven-day period of mourning in the region following the previous night's disastrous train crash not far from the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. The accident killed 80 people and injured many more, with over 90 reportedly still in the hospital. Dozens of the injured remained in critical condition on Thursday. The train was reportedly carrying 218 passengers and five crew members, though the numbers reported have varied.
The crash is the worst rail disaster seen in Spain in decades, and there are mounting indications that excessive speed may have been the decisive factor in the derailment. Spanish daily El País on Thursday posted a video to its website from a security camera located at the site of the accident. The footage shows the train rapidly coming around a sharp bend before the first and second cars appear to jump the tracks. The engine is dragged onto its side and the rest of the eight-car train piles up behind it. The video ends with the train apparently crashing into the camera.

AFP

At least 77 people were killed and over 130 injured on Wednesday evening when a train derailed on the outskirts of the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela in one of Europe's worst train disasters in recent years.
One of the drivers, too, confirmed that he had been travelling too fast. Immediately after the crash, he radioed the railway station, saying he had entered the sharp bend at 190 kilometers per hour (120 mph), more than double the maximum allowed of 80 kmh, according to national broadcaster TVE.
"I've derailed! What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" he shouted, according to TVE. He also repeatedly said, "We're only human! We're only human!" He then added: "I hope there are no deaths because they would weigh heavily on my conscience." On Thursday, police opened an investigation into one of the drivers on suspicion that he may bear some responsibility for the disaster.