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eyes on the U.S.

Clinton: I'm Responsible For Benghazi. Will It Take Heat Off Obama?

CNN (U.S.), AFP (France)

Worldcrunch

Republican Senator John McCain has praised U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for taking responsibility for the security failure in Benghazi, Libya, last month that led to four American deaths.

After Clinton's statements in a CNN interview Monday night, AFP reports that McCain issued a joint statement with fellow Republican Senators Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham: "This is a laudable gesture, especially when the White House is trying to avoid any responsibility whatsoever."

Indeed, the same three Republican Senators who praised Clinton are insisting that the affair is a failure on President Barack Obama's part for the attacks on September 11 that left four embassy staffers dead, including that of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

The security failure in Benghazi has become a focal point in the Republicans' criticism of President Obama's foreign policy in the previous presidential and vice-presidential debates. Clinton's interview comes ahead of the second presidential debate that will take place in Hempstead, New York on Tuesday evening just three weeks before election day.

Speaking to CNN Monday night, Clinton addressed the security breakdown in Benghazi. "I take responsibility," Clinton said. "The president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals."

Clinton also explained why the administration had repeatedly asserted that the attacks on the U.S. consulate were demonstrations against the anti-Islam film the Innocence of Muslims, even though it is now widely believed that they were deliberate attacks.

She said there is always "confusion" in the first hours after an attack, however, she ensured that security decisions were being reviewed.

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Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

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