Do holidays make us happy?
This is my last day in the office before taking a much-needed holiday (the schools have just gone back in the UK, so this is a good time to go away if you want to avoid the crowds). Holidays are important to me, which is why I was a little surprised to hear on the…
Amazing microbes!
(Image from Terry Hazen group) Microorganisms were the first living things in the planet. They are very versatile and are able to replicate rapidly. They even exchange genes – for example bacteria can exchange genes between different species. These features allow them to adapt and survive in new environments fairly quickly. Bacteria and archaea are…
Sustainable food doesn’t mean saying no to technology
The First Sustainable Food Chain Summit last week gave a clear message that to provide food sustainably for the future we need to use technology to bridge the gap between available resources and the amount of food we need to produce. As well as recommending the use of technology, to increase shelf life and reduce…
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…
Decision day for Europe’s largest collection of fruit and berries
In the International Year of Biodiversity, a threat to one of the world's major collections of fruit and berry varieties has been widely reported in the media over the last week (see e.g. the BBC, Economist and Guardian). Pavlovsk Experimental Station, located just outside St Petersburg in Russia, is the largest European field genebank for…
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…
Sunnyside up…
Friday 16 July 2010. AS I listened to Radio 4 Woman’s Hour on the way to work, I found myself increasingly incensed & talking to the airwaves. In the studio was a male travel medicine expert, a woman who loved the suntanned look, and another woman who was determined to be “pale & interesting”. The…
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…