How the atmosphere above the Amazon rainforest – the purest air on Earth – can help to cool the planet
Scientists from Harvard and São Paulo University (USP) carried out a research to try and find out how the planet’s climate was before the industrial revolution. For this they were searching for the purest air in the planet and found it in the atmosphere above the Amazon rainforest. The study is crucial to understand cloud…
Millennium Development Goals – where next?
This week the UN debated the progress made on the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals, agreed by 189 countries set out targets for achievement in hunger, poverty, education, health, sanitation and equality that have channelled development efforts in the last 10 years. They are much criticised but represent an unprecedented international agreement on what…
Wild chimps outwit bushmeat hunters
Across Africa, people often lay snare traps to catch bushmeat, killing or injuring chimps and other wildlife. But a few chimps living in the rainforests of Guinea have learnt to recognise these snare traps laid by human hunters. More surprisingly, the chimps actively seek out and intentionally deactivate the traps, setting them off without being…
Helping yourself (GlobalHealthTrials.org)
In 2004, a couple of years after I started work for CABI, I heard a talk by Paul Chinnock, then part of the Cochrane Collaboration, (conduct systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare) and now editor of Tropika.net. Essentially this talk outlined the need for evidence-based interventions for developing countries: amongst other suggestions, it called…
The risks and benefits of neutering pets: what is the evidence?
Veterinarians and animal health organizations usually recommend that owners should have their cats and dogs neuter. But what is the evidence that this is a benefit to the owner, the animal and society? Having pets It is estimated that in the USA there are 30-40 million stray or feral dogs and cats roaming the…
Climate change for football fans!
If you’re a football enthusiast and want to know the facts about climate change, then Climate Change for Football Fans: A Matter of Life and Death, by James Atkins, is the book for you. It's written as a series of conversations between Joe, a football-mad Burnley FC fan, and Professor Igor who is obsessed with…
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…