Colorado's Bright Yellow River, and Why Fruit Flies Mate

This week on SciShow News, toxic waste from an abandoned mine turned a river yellow, and new research shows that threatened fruit flies may have more diverse offspring.
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[Ghost_Of_SAS]

Millions of British and Australians confused by the phrase "Why fruit flies mate"

[AllieBoomer]

I live in Durango, CO, which is built right along the Animas, about two hours down stream from the Gold King Mine. They reopened the river today, but a lot of residents are still really worried about going near it. While the environmental impact of it looks like it won't be too terrible, our local economy is based heavily on tourism. The river and the surrounding mountains are a big draw for tourists. People have heard a lot about the spill, and probably won't be as drawn to the area for fear of the pollution in the water. So while the ecosystem may end up okay, our economy may suffer pretty badly because of this.

[fetamean]

I live in Durango, Colorado, right on the Animas river. After a couple days, the yellowness of the river died down. Don't think that it's still like this. The river looks almost the same as it did before the spill happened, and like Hank mentions, the river wasn't really that healthy to begin with. An article posted in our local newspaper stated that the river is back to pre-spill toxicity levels, but I can't be exactly sure that's true.

[NichoTBE]

I wonder in 90 years what will be result of all this fracking going on today.

[Heeby-Jeebies]

This supplies SO MUCH GLORIOUS CONTEXT! Thank you! I had been left to draw my own conclusions about that EPA story from radio blurbs.

[josephfox]

just remember if this happened to another group that wasnt the EPA, the EPA would sue them to non-existence.

[treufuss-yt]

A little bit strange to say that there is no long-term damage, when it's because the river is already so f*** up.

[ieuanhunt]

When you hear how much damage we did to the environment  in the past it makes me wonder what we are doing to it today and how future generations will sort our mess out. Because I have a feeling we are not doing a much better job than those gold rush miners at protecting the environment.

[fuflang]

EPA is to blame and EPA says it's not that bad, well that's a relief, good to hear we can hear this from a third party.

[jeffgraves]

Thanks Hank for spot lighting the the Environmental Pollution Agency's OOPS!
Did wonder what the acidity level was, just SO BUMMED about my home town river! :-((((

[TigerestI]

That toxic waste from Silverton Co. Has played hell down in New Mexico. It got dumped in the Animas River and the Animas River meets the San Juan river in Farmington Nm close to the out skirts of the town. From there little towns like Aztec, parts of Farmington, Kirtland, Waterflow, Fruitland and Shiprock Nm are being affected because farmers had to shut down pump stations for ditches. Of course the EPA told everyone to shut the pumps down 4 days to early. Right now crops for us and live stock are drying out, and fast just for the simple fact that this started in a nice cool/wet climate, but that climate turns into a desert with in 120 miles of it's start point.

So right now, the Navajo Nation is suing the EPA, same goes with the tricity areas (Farmington, Aztec, and Bloomfield {who get there drink water from the Animas, }) San Juan County is also filing sue and the same goes for a ton of farmers. Who are going to lose out the most out of this "Accident."   .... The More you Know...

[Unboundedominion]

Fracking and fruit flies mating, learned something new everyday.

[MestR]

I love you Hank, and I try to watch as many of your vids as I can. I find them very entertaining and informative. I live in Utah, where the waste will ultimately end up along the shores and sediment of Lake Powell. I'm kinda disappointed in you, and this show, in trying to minimize the effects of this environmental disaster. I'm also disappointed in your using the EPA as a source for the potential impact of the accident they caused - maybe a conflict of interest there? And all of this is neglecting the fact that the biggest victims of this disaster are members of the Navajo nation. A simple "sorry we won't do it again, and besides it's not really all that bad." is something these people have heard from the US government way too many times. Many experts, at least from the local news sources I only have access to, have said this accident will take DECADES to fully realize the impact. There's fish, sediment, crops, ground water, farms, towns, and recreating all to consider. Simply diluting and sugar-coating this disaster won't get rid of it.

[sherylhosler]

Hmm, figuring out how to fix leaking mines... Sounds like a good Master's thesis topic for me!
Also, the thing is just too cool

[firedude]

First California, now this? This is why you don't let the government fix everything.

[Vbytsia]

I was in Silverton 3 miles away from Durango when it happened.

[folksyoxytocin]

Why does charge exist? I get that protons have +1 because an up quark has +2/3 and a down -1/3, so the two up one down combination gives +1, but why do the quarks have charge, then??

[StuartSafford]

Thank you for the explanations, though I would not have put these subjects together personally.

[MTTTTCK]

pretty cool to have witnessed the yellow river

[garethdean]

The only thing that's good yellow are bananas. Everything else, be it snow or rivers is best avoided.