Goliath and Titan – running out of leg room
A long, long time ago in a land far away, lived giant beasts stomping, scurrying and soaring over the earth. No, not a fairy tale but an image of life on earth around 290 million years ago before the climate continued to change, oxygen levels decreased and animals shrunk in size and long before humans…
Don’t waste your energy!
It’s the middle of Energy Saving Week and the Energy Saving Trust has come up with a range of themes to encourage people to reduce their energy consumption by 20%. The Trust is government and private sector funded and the website features calculators, space for comment and plenty of contact details, yet Combat Climate Change…
Get set for a busy birdfeeder!
A recent article published in Bird Study gives some explanation of the varying numbers of birds you may see on your bird feeder from year to year. Dan Chamberlain, Andrew Gosler and David Glue from the British Trust for Ornithology and the Edward Gray Institute of Field Ornithology, Oxford investigated whether woodland species that feed…
Carbon offsets – whats the deal?
At the UNWTO Conference on Climate Change and Tourism I attended in Davos, Switzerland last week, participants were requested to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of their travel and accommodation. Not an unreasonable request given the subject matter of the conference, and the fact that the conference itself was free to attend. But as reported…
World tourism leaders tackle climate change
Earlier this week, some 600 representatives from over 100 countries, representing all sectors of the tourism industry (public and private sector, NGOs and governments) met in the idyllic Swiss resort of Davos to debate the global challenge of climate change as it affects and is affected by tourism, at the 2nd International Conference on Climate…
Bruno, Bruce and the Penan
More than 10 years ago I came across a magazine article about Bruno Manser, a Swiss activist, who had gone to live among a nomadic tribe in Borneo called the Penan. I was fascinated by the way he had become part of the tribe to understand how they lived within the forests of Sarawak. At…
The final Steve Irwin croc paper
Published today online, and freely available to all at PLoS ONE is Steve Irwin’s final paper. This paper is a must read for all, especially those interested in animal navigation. The study aims “to record and interpret the movements of translocated large male estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) after their release and to investigate their homing…
Vote for the winner of the “Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting” icon contest
As mentioned in a previous article, there is growing debate in the blog sphere over the need for a means to identify the sources of science being reviewed or used as evidence by bloggers. Well, the authors of “Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting” or BP3 for short, devised an icon design competition for which CABI,…
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Dolphin sightings in the Bay of Biscay are down by around 80% according to the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme. Is this due to a reduction in fish stocks, and is this in turn linked to climate change? The Bay of Biscay is a bit of a special place for me as its where I had…
Water cleaning eggs!
H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden presented the 2007 Stockholm Junior Water Prize to (from left) Carlos Hernández MejĂa, Dalia Graciela DĂaz GĂłmez and Adriana Alcántara Ruiz of Mexico. The 2007 Stockholm Junior Water Prize was presented last night during the World Water Week events in Stockholm to three Mexican high-school students for their project…