Californians to vote on GMO food labels
LOS ANGELES, July 20 (UPI) -- Voters in California could soon decide to make the state the first in the country to require labels identifying genetically engineered foods.
Proposition 37 on the November ballot has seen the natural food industry and activists on one side and multinational companies, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Kellogg, on the other already raising nearly $4 million combined for campaigns to sway voters one way or the other on genetically modified, or GMO, food products.
The outcome in California could have nationwide impacts, as experts say an estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of processed foods sold in supermarkets could fall under a labeling requirement.
"This will be a big fight," said Shaun Bowler, a University of California, Riverside, political scientist specializing in initiatives, told the Los Angeles Times.
"This is a popular issue because people are very afraid of the words 'genetically engineered.' And the people who sell this stuff are worried about losing sales."
About 50 countries in Europe, South America and Asia have passed labeling requirements for genetically engineered foods, although similar efforts in the United States have so far failed to overcome opposition from the processed food industry, the Times said.
NASA looking for 'precision' Mars landing
GREENBELT, Md., July 20 (UPI) -- NASA, which has put three rovers on Mars since 1996's Mars Pathfinder, says it intends the Aug. 6 landing of its Curiosity rover to be the most precise yet.
The 7-minute descent of Curiosity, the heaviest rover ever, will involve a 12,000-mph plunge through the martian atmosphere creating temperatures on its heat shield of 3,800 degrees, and end with a rocket-powered "sky crane" lowering the 1-ton rover inside Gale Crater on Mars.
"Is it crazy? Well, not so much, once you understand it," NASA's Mars program chief Doug McCuistion said. "Is it risky? Landing on Mars is always risky."
Looking for unprecedented accuracy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is aiming for a landing target of roughly 4 miles by 12 miles, Florida Today reported.
The accurate landing is intended to put the rover within close driving distance of Mount Sharp at the center of Gale Crater, said Pete Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which manages the mission.
Assuming a successful landing, the rover will have more than a week to check out its instruments before beginning its first drive, with the ultimate goal of the mission to ascend the 3.4-mile high Mount Sharp in a search for signs of past habitability on Mars.
That will take one martian year, about 689 days on Earth, Theisinger said.
"The science mission is going to proceed relatively slowly," he said.
Buddha tree alive and healthy at age 2,500
BODH GAYA, India, July 20 (UPI) -- The 2,500-year-old tree under which Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment is alive and healthy, Indian scientists said Thursday.
The Bodhi tree, a large Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa,) is in Bodh Gaya in India's eastern state of Bihar, about 60 miles from the state capital of Patna.
"The Bodhi tree is fully healthy," Subhash Nautiyal of the Forest Research Institute in India's northern state of Uttarakhand said.
Nautiyal and colleagues examined the tree after removing the cement slabs around its base, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.
"It will help the tree to receive water and nutrition in its roots," the scientists said.
The 1,500-year-old temple behind the sacred tree is visited by large numbers of tourists from all over the world, particularly from Japan.
Lowe's to offer 'smart home' systems
MOORESVILLE, N.C., July 20 (UPI) -- Home-improvement firm Lowe's has announced a system to let homeowners monitor and control devices in their home remotely using a smartphone, tablet or computer.
Lowe's is collaborating with British monitoring-tech company AlertMe on the system, dubbed Iris, that will allow people to remotely control heating and cooling, home alarm systems, security cameras or appliances.
"The AlertMe platform is unique because it's based on a multiprotocol home wireless hub, making it compatible with the widest number of third-party devices and we anticipate that the number of connectable devices and appliances from brand leaders will only continue to grow," AlertMe Chief Executive Officer Mary Turner told CNET.
Lowe's said Iris will launch in late August with three different starter kits.
The $179 Safe and Secure, which will alert homeowers by e-mail, text or phone call when alarm events happen at home or when the children arrive home from school, will come with a wireless hub, motion sensors, a keypad and door and window sensors.
A Comfort and Control kit, also $179, will control a house's energy and temperature levels. The kit includes the hub, along with a thermostat that can be remotely controlled and a smart plug that can remotely control devices and report current and historical energy usage.
A $299 Smart Kit will combine both packages and homeowners can add additional smart devices and sensors, Lowe's said.
