UN Environment, Paris / Nairobi Global investment of $241.6 billion (excluding large hydro), 23 percent less than 2015, brought 138.5GW of new renewable power capacity in 2016, up 8 percent from 2015; proportion of global electricity from renewables rose to 11.3 percent in 2016 As the cost of clean technology continues to fall, the world […]
Carnegie Science – Deep Carbon Observatory, Washington DC Humans: The greatest contributor to diversity of minerals since oxygen; Officially recognized minerals, formed by nature: More than 5,000; Formed due to human activity: 208 Human industry and ingenuity has done more to diversify and distribute minerals on Earth than any development since the rise of oxygen over 2.2 […]
Grand Challenges Canada / Saving Brains Program, Toronto In study, children with a particular genetic variation were 4 times more likely to develop strong attachment to mother after intervention A child’s genetic make-up can play a large, hidden role in the success of efforts to maximize his or her development, South African research suggests. The study, published […]
Grand Challenges Canada, Toronto Maternal Micronutrients, Nurturing Environment Boost Child Development Mothers who take multi-micronutrient supplements during pregnancy can add the equivalent of up to one full year of schooling to a child’s cognitive abilities at age 9-12, says a new study published today. Other essential ingredients in the recipe for smarter kids include early […]
UN University, Sustainable Cycles Programme — Bonn, Germany Per capita consumption of gadgets, appliances, other products with a cord or battery, rising quickly with incomes; Report urges clampdown on improper recycling, disposal to conserve resources, avoid serious health and environment threats The volume of discarded electronics in East and Southeast Asia jumped almost two-thirds between 2010 […]
Grand Challenges Canada, Toronto In Zimbabwe, Friendship Bench therapy reduces prevalence of depression to less than 14 percent, compared to 50 percent in control group; First at-scale model of community mental health care in Africa has diagnosed and treated over 27,500 people for common mental health disorders Toronto / Harare — Their offices are simple wooden seats, […]
Grand Challenges Canada, Toronto Study funded by Saving Brains shows Kangaroo Mother Care kids 20 years later are better behaved, have larger brains, higher paycheques, more protective and nurturing families Two decades after a group of Colombian parents were shown how to keep their perilously tiny babies warm and nourished through breastfeeding and continuous skin-to-skin […]
International Rehabilitation Council For Torture Victims, Copenhagen 100+ presentations on cases worldwide, from Syria, Central America, Africa, Guantanamo Bay; Sexual violence as torture; Treatment and recovery from atrocities; Enforcing nations’ legal obligation to provide rehabilitation Over 300 participants — 70% of them clinical professionals — from 80 nations will exchange expertise, experience and research on […]
Nat’l Ocean Exploration Forum – New York 19 Oct 2016 Five hundred vents newly discovered off the US West Coast, each bubbling methane from Earth’s belly, top a long list of revelations about “submerged America” being celebrated by leading marine explorers meeting in New York. “It appears that the entire coast off Washington, Oregon and California […]
United Nations University – Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canada Beyond sushi wrap: Expanding number of valuable uses drives astonishing growth of seaweed farming; Experts urge burgeoning industry to learn lessons from agriculture, fisheries A rising number of valuable uses being found for seaweed — from food and fertilizer to pharmaceuticals and industrial […]
UNU Int’l Institute Global Health, Kuala Lumpur 18 July 2016 Assembled by UNU-IIGH, six papers underline the value of applying science, technology to reduce disaster-related health risks; productivity in many jobs seen falling by up to 40 percent by 2050 due to heat stress; experts convene at UN forum in Malaysia The rising price — in both […]
Harvard Kennedy School / Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Cambridge MA 6 July 2016 Why important innovations stall; Understanding obstacles to change key to timely adoption of technologies needed to address global problems Cambridge, MA – Disruptive, transformative technologies are being introduced at an accelerating pace, fuelling opposition that impedes forms of innovation […]
Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership, Montreal World’s top utilities hand over project keys, chart path for Ecuador’s famously biodiverse archipelago to meet 70 percent of fast-rising energy needs with renewables 29 May 2016 A global renewable energy project on the Galapagos Islands — one of Earth’s most fragile and important ecological treasures — has helped avoid […]
Human Evolution, Italy 5-MAY-2016 The Leonardo Project: Illuminating the art, life, characteristics, talents, and brilliance of one of humanity’s most extraordinary figures A team of eminent specialists from a variety of academic disciplines has coalesced around a goal of creating new insight into the life and genius of Leonardo da Vinci by means of authoritative new […]
Grand Challenges Canada (#1 most viewed release (415,000+ page views) of 29,500 news releases hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its EurekAlert news service in 2016. Click here for the AAAS news release) Video: bit.ly/1S3YFjH Canadian Government-supported researchers use mosquitoes’ own perfume to lure them to lay eggs in trap; Sudbury-based scientist leads project […]
UN Environment Programme, Paris / Nairobi 24 Mar 2016 For first time, developing world investments in renewables (up 19 percent in 2015) topped developed nations’ (down 8%); World record total of $286 billion invested in renewables last year, makes $2.3 trillion over 12 years Frankfurt / Nairobi — Coal and gas-fired electricity generation last year […]
IPBES, Bonn / Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia 26 Feb 2016 Assessment Details Options for Safeguarding Pollinators Kuala Lumpur – 26 February, 2016 – A growing number of pollinator species worldwide are being driven toward extinction by diverse pressures, many of them human-made, threatening millions of livelihoods and hundreds of billions […]
American Mineralogist 12 Feb 2016 What do 2,500+ obscure, isolated mineral species reveal about Earth? Scientists have inventoried and categorized all of Earth’s rare mineral species described to date, each sampled from five or fewer sites around the globe. Individually, several of the species have a known supply worldwide smaller than a sugar cube. These […]
MIGHT, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology) 11 Jan 2015 Additional Malaysian nanoscience research includes converting greenhouse gases into energy source; ‘Smart farming’ nanosensors; New program aims for macro impact in health, energy, environment, agriculture, electronics Malaysian scientists are joining forces with Harvard University experts to help revolutionize the treatment of lung […]
UN S-G’s Advisory Board, Water & Sanitation 18 Nov 2015 Blunt valedictory report from Secretary-General’s water and sanitation advisory board suggests routes to next generation world water goals; calls for major institutional upgrades and a UN-wide ‘water-cultural revolution’ The supreme importance of water and sanitation to development and well-being merits creation of a powerful new global arena […]
United Nations University – Institute for Water, Environment and Health — Hamilton, Canada 3 Nov 2015 Safe, systematic collection of human waste in low-resource countries could yield valuable fuels, invaluable health and environmental benefits Biogas from human waste, safely obtained under controlled circumstances using innovative technologies, is a potential fuel source great enough in theory […]
Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership, Montreal 11 October, 2015 Decarbonizing electricity: After 2 years of international consultations, world’s leading utilities publish major report for Paris summit, catalog innovative means to help realize national CO2 pledges An association of the world’s leading electricity firms today lit a picture of a future high-tech enabled world energy […]