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Mars will reach its closest approach to earth of the current opposition on June 21, the summer solstice, the same day that a full solar eclipse takes place in the southern hemisphere. On June 30 Comet Linear C/2001 A2 makes its closest earth approach while breaking up. And there has been a sudden increase in sunspot activity, with the sunspot count reaching close to a record on June 18.

On June 10, the sun, which had been relatively quiet, suddenly blossomed with 250 sunspots. Today, June 18, the count is at 289 and earth is experiencing geomagnetic storm conditions with a G2-class geomagnetic storm under way. Two of the current sunspots, 9503 and 9506, have twisted beta-gamma magnetic fields that could unleash strong M-class solar flares in the next few days.
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The U.S. government has stated that there is no evidence that anyone has had an allergic reaction to genetically modified StarLink corn. The corn has spread throughout the U.S. food supply, despite the fact that it was originally supposed to be kept separate and used only for animal feed. The results of recent tests could clear the way for the EPA to allow small amounts of the corn to be present in food without leading to recalls.

StarLink contains a bacteria gene that permits the corn to produce a protein that kills the corn borer. But the protein has some of the characteristics of an allergen, since it is not easily digested in the human stomach.
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Bee Shortage May Effect Food Availability

The number of bees in Canada and the U.S. has been steadily dropping, as their habitat is destroyed by mining, forestry and expanding suburbs. They are also killed by natural parasites and farm pesticides.

Beekeepers who are trying to replenish the supply are having trouble keeping up with the demand. According to researchers, about one-third of the food we eat is pollinated by bees. A drop in bee numbers will result in fewer crops and higher grocery bills.

?The consumer is the person who?s going to be hurt the most because food prices will rise if there are shortages,? says Peter Kevan, of the University of Guelph in Canada.
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Cellphone companies have long stated that there is no proven link between mobile phones and health problems such as brain tumors. Despite this, they have been secretly working to develop devices that will reduce the amount of radiation absorbed by the brain.

Patents filed in the U.S. by Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola show that these companies have been working on protective devices for their cellphones for almost a decade. The earliest patent was filed in 1993.
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