Cold weather and lots of snow – is this the sign of things to come?

As I watched the news last night, I heard how the current unusually cold temperatures and snow fall in Europe has affected Christmas travelling and the Christmas trade across the continent. Heathrow and Gatwick airports in the UK had to cancel flights, with only one runway operating at Heathrow. Both Paris and Berlin airports had…
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REDD: Protecting forests or shirking responsibilities?

One of the main hopes for the Cancún summit held earlier this month was to find an answer to deforestation. Advances on the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism, which aims to compensate developing countries for protecting their forests, are seen as a triumph by many, but others argue that the scheme…
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Xmas camels, tobacco and kids

    Copyright: W.Norris My daughter decided to make this camel for the annual school Xmas tree competition. To her, at age 11, camels are “cuddly” and linked to the Three Wise Men, part of the Christmas Story. To me, whilst overseeing her sewing efforts, I’d made the link to the 2 empty packets sitting on my…
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Counting the cost of invasive species

 Invasive non-native species (INNS) cost the British economy at least £1.7 billion per annum. This is the headline finding of new research conducted by CABI on behalf of Defra, the Scottish government and the Welsh Assembly Government. And even this is likely to be significantly less than the full economic cost, since many indirect costs…
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New: CABI Working Papers

We’ve just launched CABI’s new Working Paper series, which will make available the results of CABI research in preliminary form for discussion and comment. The first two papers focus on the links between climate change and two of CABI’s key research areas: invasive alien species and agricultural commodities.
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What was the outcome of the UN Climate Change conference in Cancún?

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP16) ended on Saturday, 11th December 2010 and during the second week of the conference, ministers from developed and developing countries were paired in an attempt to facilitate negotiations on the main issues, such as mitigation, adaptation, financing, REDD and technology. The outcome was the 'Cancún Agreements' as it is…
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Do current e-book models help or hinder the migration from print to online?

It seems that in 2010 we have been finally witnessing the “tipping point” for e-books, with more and more libraries making a positive choice to purchase e-books instead of print editions.  Do publishers’ business models make this migration easier for libraries to implement, or actually place obstacles in their way?  E-book collections versus individual title…
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Medical tourism: what do we know?

 Medical tourism is much-hyped by its proponents, with high figures for its value and patient numbers published in some industry reports. In 2007, Deloitte estimated American patient outflow at 750,000 and projected this to increase to 6,000,000 by 2010: in reality, the recession hit medical tourism numbers, which a more recent Deloitte report estimated at…
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Not much fun being Roma

   copyright: Adam Jones PhD It's always struck me as ironic that a number of Hollywood film stars are happy to be credited with being 1/4  (1/8, 1/16th…) Native American but its not so positive to be more full-blooded Native American,  in terms of your social status, health or life opportunities in the US. And…
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Copenhagen couldn’t, but can Cancún?

The climate change summit in Copenhagen last year was a disappointment for many. This is mainly because of the lack of a concrete document to take big steps towards reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and stopping climate change. Has the delegates’ experience on negotiations improved since then? Can the next meeting in Cancún deliver something…
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