On:

Caviar may soon cease to exist, because the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) miscounted the number of wild sturgeon, leading to continued overfishing. Will the rich be happy about their tax cut if they can’t spend some of it on caviar?

Fred Pearce writes in New Scientist that CITES stated that beluga sturgeon numbers are on the increase, reaching 11.6 million in 2002, up from 9.3 million in 2001 and 7.6 million in 1998. Based on these estimates, it’s allowed Russia, Iran and other countries bordering the Caspian Sea to harvest up to 155 tons of beluga sturgeon and export up to nine tons of caviar.
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Forensic psychiatrist David Post thinks hypnosis may have been responsible for Hitler’s dreadful deeds. When he was recovering from wounds suffered during World War I, he was given a hypnotic suggestion that he misinterpreted as divine revelation, telling him he was destined for leadership and glory.
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Australia is experiencing its worst drought in 100 years, due to the widening ozone hole. The ozone hole was once thought to only affect skin cancer rates in Australia, by letting in more ultraviolet light. But now it’s been discovered that ozone acts with changing winds to blow the rain clouds away.

Mark Horstman writes in ABC Australia Online that an accelerating vortex of winds moving at 100 miles an hour is pulling rain clouds away from Australia and into the Southern Ocean. Meteorologist David Jones says, “We can’t just look at natural variability or greenhouse climate change in isolation?we also have to factor in ozone.”
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Due to poor communications between U.S. and Russian astronauts, the International Space Station is a disaster waiting to happen, according to an ex-safety official at NASA. There have been three incidents so far that could have led to serious problems, all caused by miscommunication between U.S. and Russian engineers who are working in the station together.
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