One for the road – biofuel from whisky
A team of scientists from Edinburgh Napier University has developed a biofuel (biobutanol) using the waste by-products from whisky production ("pot ale", the liquid from the copper stills, and "draff", the spent grains) from the Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian. Research leader Professor Martin Tangney said a large amount of both waste products are generated…
Veterinary Medical Profession Is Preparing to Celebrate its 250th Anniversary
The world's first veterinary school was officially established 249 years ago in Lyon, France in 1761. The slogan for World veterinary anniversary is "Vet for health, Vet for food, Vet for the Planet!" suggested by Dr Jacques Bruhlet of the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing. Even without mentioning animals, this particular slogan reveals so much to professional…
Can science feed the world?
This was the question posed by Nature’s Special last week. In other words, how can we feed the Earth's growing population in such a way that no-one goes hungry and nature is left with some land and water of its own? Their answer can be broadly summed up by what Britain’s Royal Society call “sustainable…
Where there’s a will there’s a way! Can internet technologies help combat global warming?
Image from Coalition of the Willing web page The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) of Germany has just released an interim report entitled “Environmental and economic effects of the Copenhagen pledges and more ambitious emission reduction targets.” The report describes the environmental and economic effects of the pledges submitted by industrialized and major developing countries for…
Attack of the Buttock-Biting Spider and Other Myths
“The trouble with the world is not that people know so little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.” This observation from Mark Twain is one of many illuminating quotes in an examination by Richard Vetter of the power of myth in science and medicine, and the limited power of hard science in…
What can you do with 12,000 solar cells?
Image from solarimpulse.com Power an airplane, of course! A team of Swiss engineers, led by Mr. Andre Borschberg and fellow aviator Bertrand Piccard, have been doing just that for the past few years – building an airplane powered entirely by sun energy, which they named ‘Solar Impulse’. The airplane has 12,000 solar cells arranged on…
Cutting The Salt
Salt reduction is a hot topic at the moment in the US and the UK as officials react to research that suggests decreasing salt intake could decrease levels of stroke in the population. Consumers can do a lot to reduce the salt they consume, but as most of salt consumption comes from eating processed food,…
What can you do with 12,000 plastic bottles?
Plastiki departing from San Francisco-photo by Catherine Sparks How about a 20-metre catamaran? That’s what British adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild and his crew of scientists and ecologists are sailing on, from San Francisco to Sydney since mid-March. Read on to find out more about the Plastiki and the expedition.
Darwin’s finches threatened by invasive nest maggots in the Galapagos Islands
Contents of a Darwin’s finch nest: dead nestlings with larval feeding wounds surrounded by parasitic larvae of the introduced fly Philornis downsi. As mentioned in another entry on this blog a few weeks ago, 2010 has been declared International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations. Continuing this theme, here is a guest entry by…
Luxury insect hotels
Today is the last day of National Insect Week in the UK. Now that England are out of the World Cup we might all be spending a bit more time in our gardens! So I thought I’d finish the week by letting you know how you can get involved in helping conserve our creepy crawlies…