CDC Report Calls Poultry #1 Source of Food-borne Illness in the U.S.

A New York Times article today summarizes a Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report which identified poultry as the "most commonly identified" source of food poisoning in the U.S. in 2006. Leafy fruits, vegetables and nuts came in second, third and fourth, respectively.

Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots

Discovery News reports today that a professor of Computer Science at Georgia Tech "is in the first stages of developing an 'ethical governor'" that guide robots in making deciding whether or not to kill humans. Dr. Ronald Archer's book on the subject Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots is due out later this month.

Study Finds Decline of Honey Bee Colonies Slowing Slightly

The New York Times today is running an AP story on research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture which found that "honeybee colonies declined by 29% between September 2008 and early April" 2009. This finding is apparently an improvement over the last two years losses by the beekeepers surveyed.

The story goes on to say that honeybee populations have been declining since 2004, "when scientists learned of puzzling illness they called Colony Collapse Disorder."