This song could go viral
Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) is not often referenced in song, but The Crab Hole Mosquito Blues has just been released online in text and audio in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, charting the spread and control of the disease, which affects horses and people. An alphavirus, such as VEE (Center for Disease Control) The song…
Climate to exacerbate food insecurity in tropics: report
Areas where food supplies could be worst hit by climate change have been identified in a report from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). The report matches future climate change "hotspots" with regions already suffering chronic food problems to identify highly-vulnerable populations, chiefly in Africa and South Asia, but…
Outbreak of E. coli acronyms in Germany
Germany seems to be suffering an outbreak of acronyms alongside an unusual outbreak of foodborne E. coli. Reports list the culprit as STEC, EHEC, VTEC, shiga toxin producing E. coli, verotoxin producing E. coli….They are all talking about the same thing. Heres a quick guide to E coli diarrhoea acronyms and a summary of the…
Rising food prices could press the poor into hunger, warns Oxfam
This year, hardly a week seems to have gone by without the release of another report on global food systems and food security. Each has a different focus: earlier in May I reported on an FAO report highlighting the problem of food waste, while earlier in the year we published blog articles on reports arguing…
Forest biodiversity – The International Day for Biological Diversity 22 May 2011
Forests and forest biodiversity is the theme for this year's International Day of Biodiversity (IDB), on Sunday 22nd May 2011; because 2011 is also the International Year of Forests. This is also the year the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) launched the official Decade on Biological Diversity website.
Prostate cancer prevention – why do posters target women?
All of a sudden I’m seeing public health posters everywhere- about symptoms of bowel cancer and prostate cancer. The second one was a bit odd, as it’s a man’s disease but the poster was in the ladies toilets. And it was aimed at women. Why? Are there posters about breast cancer prevention in the men’s…
Developing crops for mild drought tolerance
Whilst we continue to have no rain in southern England (I’m sure this won’t last too long…), drought tolerance must be on the mind of many farmers. World reports on climate change and food security have identified water scarcity as a critical factor for agriculture this century. Breeding for drought tolerance is a major research…
Burning issues – Will a changing climate increase the incidence of wild fires?
Are wildfires going to be a common occurrence due to global warming and climate change? This is a subject discussed in a report presented this week at the 5th International Wildland Fire Conference in Sun City, South Africa. The report, entitled "Findings and Implications from a Coarse-Scale Global Assessment of Recent Selected Mega-Fires", examined recent…
Food prices soaring, but a third is still lost or wasted: what can be done?
Food prices, along with the cost of energy, are one of the main current drivers of inflation around the world. Bloomberg reported last week that world food prices reached near-record levels in April, with corn prices almost doubling in the last 12 months and wheat prices going up by 57% in the same period. With…
Deepwater Horizon oil spill one year on – How have birds and marine life been affected?
The process of tallying and logging the harm the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico might have done to wildlife is still underway, one year after the disaster. However, indications are that the spill has not been as catastrophic as the worst predictions, but dead animals are still washing up on beaches.