A record number of buried bodies are being exhumed lately. The body of the former Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat is being tested to see if his sudden death in 2004 was caused by poison (they suspect the Israelis, naturally). Suspicious concentrations of the radioactive isotope polonium-210 were found on his clothes and toothbrush during an investigation this summer.
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We didn’t really know–until now. The ocean, which has risen an average of 8 inches since 1900, should rise another 3 feet or so by 2100, but without an accurate record of where we started, we can’t know if the melting starts to speed up or (hopefully) slow down.

On the Climate Central website, Michael D. Lemonick quotes researcher Ian Joughin as saying, "There are lots of processes in play and it remains unclear whether the ice loss will level out or slow down or speed up. We thought we understood ice sheets, but it’s clear we don’t. We need a lot more observations and a lot better modeling."
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You may not know it, but you’re probably drinking recycled water right now. But water from "Fracking?" The process uses as much water as the entire cities of Chicago or Houston, but can it be made safe to drink?

It takes between 70 and 140 BILLION gallons of water to frack 35,000 wells a year at the industry’s current pace.

While the recycled water can’t be cleaned up enough for drinking or growing crops, it can be cleaned of chemicals an rock debris and used to frack additional wells, which could sharply cut the costs that energy companies face securing and disposing of the water. read more