Australia tries to look on the bright side after Ashes defeat
Outside a few parts of the world (largely those once colonies of Great Britain) the game of cricket remains largely a mystery. Even more so, the enigmatically named Ashes, the prize competed for in a Test series between England and Australia. But the Ashes epitomise a sporting rivalry, and often a clash of cultures, between England and…
Water Tops Climate Change as Global Priority – according to survey
Less than 1% of surface water is useable water in rivers, lakes and ponds; less than 3% is in glaciers and polar ice caps, which means around 97% of the world’s water is in the sea, is salty and unusable. Over 65% of the cells in our bodies is water, which means we just cannot…
We caught malignant malaria from chimpanzees — but when exactly?
Image: CDC/ James Gathany, Dr. Frank Collins, University of Notre Dame A couple of weeks ago I came across a news item entitled 'Scientists report original source of malaria', with a sub-headline to the effect that it jumped to humans from chimpanzees, possibly through a single mosquito. Reading the story indicated that it actually referred…
Artemisinin yields boosted
Artemisinin is currently the most effective drug we have against malaria, a disease which kills a child every 30 secs, and which we in Europe need to remember was only finally eliminated from Europe in the 1950’s….. and with climate change may well be back, and not just in travellers. Artemisinin works on the parasite and…
Food security: food is not just an energy source, it keeps you healthy
The UK news services may now be focused on swine flu and the death toll of our soldiers, but food security (access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life) has not gone away. We all have to face up to it. AS I fight the daily battle with wasps…who, in…
Water reform needed to feed Asia
Image: IWMI. Groundwater irrigation in West Bengal Last night, I watched a new BBC documentary on the challenges to food production in a world of changing climate and increasing population. The programme featured growing water shortages in parts of India (where drought has hit again this year), and how Western countries importing food from India…
Matt Damon and Water.org – working toward global access to safe water
Matt Damon (actor and H2O Africa co-founder) and Gary White (WaterPartners executive director and co-founder) have announced the launch of a new organisation – Water.org – which is focused on improving access to safe water and sanitation in the developing world. Water.org will help the nearly 890 million people without safe water and the…
Can protected areas prevent Amazon dieback due to climate change?
The Amazon rainforest has been subject to many scientific studies on climate change impacts especially considering its extensive, wide-ranging biodiversity, and huge reserves of carbon and water. At the Copenhagen climate change congress back in April it was suggested that we may already have passed a tipping point and that the Amazon rainforest is on…
Forest destruction threatens Kenya’s economy
Photo from Landcoalition.org East Africa's wildebeest migration, which crosses the River Mara and brings vast herds of animals into the Maasai Mara game reserve, is one of the great wildlife spectacles of the world. But the migration, and other iconic wildlife attractions including the millions of flamingos that Lake Nakuru in Kenya is famous for, are…
Algal biofuels heading for market?
Whilst leafing through a recent issue of Science magazine I was interested to read a news item that highlighted ExxonMobil's entry into the biofuels arena. ExxonMobil, the last major oil company to move into biofuels, has announced that it intends to spend $600 million over 5-6 years to develop biofuels from algae. Half the money from…