Hot spots in the Balkans
Genetic diversity in the Balkans is the subject of a conference (“Balkans – Hot Spots of Ancient and Present Genetic Diversity”, 17-20 June 2009) currently underway in Sofia, Bulgaria. Organized jointly by several Bulgarian forestry agencies and institutions, scientists from over 20 European countries are gathered to hear updates on the latest research being undertaken…
Geophagy – eating soil for healing or health supplementation
As I screened a journal called Elements for the CAB Abstracts database the other day, I came across an interesting article entitled ‘Bentonite, bandaids and borborygmi’ (1), which is all about the practice of eating clay for gastrointestinal ailments and applying clay topically as a dressing or bandaids for skin infections. Apparently it is a…
Bonn Climate Change talks – 1-12 June 2009
The meetings bring together over 4,000 participants from 182 countries, including government delegates, representatives from business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions. I have been following reports from the meetings and adding relevant extracts to the CABI Environmental Impact news section. During the Bonn Climate Change Talks, the IISD Reporting Services, in cooperation with…
5th June – World Environment Day
Photo by C. Ison World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Read on to find out what is in store for the day.
Forget the seven deadly sins for a minute and let’s reflect on the seven-year plans
What religious/faith groups say or do not say about climate change, and how they address climate change through their worship and rituals matters a great deal. Read on to find out why…
Is Europe blind to H1N1 (swine) flu?
This blog is about an article I read in the New Scientist entitled ‘Europe may be blind to swine flu cases’. The article deals with a point I raised in my previous blog posted on 1st May on H1N1 flu. Having flown back from a holiday in Canada, I started suffering flu symptoms the week…
Dangerous Squeals
A leaflet produced by the UK Health and Safety Executive warning of the dangers of squealing pigs has caught the attention of the British media. Apparently a large group of pigs in intensive housing can create noise levels of 100 decibels or above, especially just before they are fed. Farmers are advised to either wear…
Wild and Woolly 2009
I recently went llama trekking and thoroughly enjoyed it. Up close, the llama (Lama glama) not only sports rather glamorous long eyelashes but also has the most amazing fibrous coat. This reminded me that 2009 is the International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF) – a year of all things wild and woolly! FAO have deemed…
The International Day for Biological Diversity
The 22nd May 2009 is 'The International Day for Biological Diversity'. For 2009 the theme is Invasive Alien Species (IAS) – a major threat to biodiversity and food production – and a research and knowledge provision area that we here at CABI are are highly skilled in. The majority of our scientists time is spent…
H1N1 influenza research- free papers!
It is cheering to see that a growing list of publishers including CABI is making influenza related research papers and databases freely available to help the global anti-influenza effort. I'm gathering those I hear about on CABI's free H1N1 'dashboard'. Below is what I have found so far. The list will be growing I'm sure…..