Rockefeller University, New York 20 Jul 11 Take a second look at your iced or steaming tea. Guided by scientific experts, three New York City high school students using tabletop DNA technologies found several herbal brews and a few brands of tea contain ingredients unlisted on the manufacturers’ package. The teen sleuths also demonstrated new-to-science […]
Grand Challenges Canada, Toronto 13 Jul 11 Tanzanian researchers are awarded a two-year grant to further develop a device that uses human foot odor to lure disease-spreading mosquitos into a trap. The odor (both natural and synthetic) creates a bait that attracts four times more mosquitoes than a live human being. Such outdoor devices could one day complement indoor […]
Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, Malaysia, and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) 12 July 2011 Amid growing concerns about the inadequacy of today’s inter-governmental structures for effective global environmental co-operation, member states of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will convene in Kuala Lumpur July 14-15 to […]
United Nations University – Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canada 11 Jul 2011 Networks of biologically-connected marine protected areas need to be carefully planned, taking into account the open ocean migrations of marine fish larvae that take them from one home to another sometimes hundreds of kilometers away. Research published today in the […]
United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi / Paris 07 Jul 11 China, developing countries are now biggest investors in large-scale renewables while Germany surges ahead on rooftop solar Wind farms in China and small-scale solar panels on rooftops in Europe were largely responsible for last year’s 32% rise in green energy investments worldwide according to the latest annual […]
Project CLAMER (Flanders Marine Institute, (VLIZ) Oostende, Belgium, and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, Netherlands) 26 Jun 11 Microscopic plant disappeared from North Atlantic 800,000 years ago; unwanted return of several climate change symptoms already apparent throughout European oceans Some 800,000 years ago – about the time early […]
Census of Marine Life, Washington DC / Tagging of Pacific Palagics project, Pacific Grove, CA 22 June 2011 Decade of electronic tagging, tracking of 23 top Pacific Ocean predators reveals remarkable homing by marine animals, well-defined highways Like the vast African plains, two huge expanses of the North Pacific Ocean are major corridors of life, attracting […]
Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, Malaysia and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) 16 Jun 11 The success of world co-operation based on science and practiced since the Cold War by nations operating in Antarctica offers a model to humanity as it confronts challenges to common interests like climate change, biodiversity loss and […]
Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment, Toronto 15-Jun-2011 If parents do just 5 things to safeguard their kids’ health: Dust, use green cleaning products, do renos carefully, avoid certain plastics, serve low-mercury fish Leading Canadian health and environmental experts today issued a list of the top five ways parents can protect their children from […]
Rockefeller University, New York / University of Helsinki 06 Jun 11 Forests in many regions are becoming larger carbon sinks thanks to higher density, U.S. and European researchers say in a new report. In Europe and North America, increased density significantly raised carbon storage despite little or no expansion of forest area, according to the study, led […]
Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership, Montreal 02 Jun 11 UN Summit to launch 2012 as ‘International Year of Sustainable Energy for All’ New York – How can the world’s 2.5 billion people with little or no access to electricity get hooked up to an affordable, sustainable supply? Projects created by a combination of public and private resources to […]
InterAction Council, Tokyo 31 May 2001 Clinton, Fox, Zedillo, Chretien, Brundtland among 20 former leaders urging greater effort to avert looming water crisis Former heads of government from around the world today agreed at a meeting in Canada to establish a new panel to help fill a serious void in leadership related to global water […]
United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi / Paris 26-May-2011 Less than one-third of 60 metals studied have end-of-life recycling rate above 50 percent; 34 are under 1 percent Smarter product designs, support for developing country waste management schemes, and encouraging developed country households not to ‘squirrel away’ old electronic goods in drawers and closets could help […]
United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi / Paris 12 May 2011 By 2050, humanity could consume an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times its current appetite – unless the economic growth rate is “decoupled” from the rate of natural resource consumption, warns a new report from […]
BioTalent Canada, Ottawa 10 May, 2011 While many 16-year-olds are content with PlayStation, Toronto-area student Marshall Zhang used the Canadian SCINET supercomputing network to invent a new drug cocktail which could one day help treat cystic fibrosis. The Grade 11 student at Bayview Secondary School in Richmond Hill so impressed eight eminent scientists at the […]
InterAction Council / United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health 20 March 2011 Water as an “urgent security issue” tops the agenda this year for a council of 37 former heads of state and government convening in Canada 10 weeks from now, with a preliminary meeting of international experts this week on the […]
Canadian Environmental Law Association, Toronto Training, caution essential to avoid release of brain-damaging lead, other toxic substances Home energy retrofits tackle climate change and when done right they should make homes healthier, while aiding families struggling with utility bills. Without adequate training and precaution, however, renovators, energy retrofitters and do-it-yourselfers who disturb lead-based paint, asbestos […]
Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, Government of Malaysia / and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) May 17, 2011 New York — Resolved to enter the world’s exclusive club of “developed” countries by 2020, Malaysia is banking on innovative science and technologies, especially those related to the environment, to help more […]
United Nations University – Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) 1 May 2011 The US Environmental Protection Agency is stepping up international efforts to help curb rising pollution, the waste of natural resources, and health problems associated with trashed electronics, announcing today a new agreement with the United Nations University. A five-year, $2.5 million grant to […]
Project CLAMER (Flanders Marine Institute, (VLIZ) Oostende, Belgium, and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, Netherlands) 5-Apr-2011 Scientists inventory, synthesize 13 years of research on climate change and Europe’s marine environment A massive, growing pool of icy meltwater in the Arctic Ocean is a wild card in future […]
Canadian Water NetworkWaterloo, Ontario27-Feb-2011 $1 trillion global water market forecast for 2020; Global freshwater demand expected to exceed supply by 40 percent by 2030 Famed especially for the excellence of its peacekeepers and ice hockey players, Canada’s water experts are now increasingly needed to help countries elsewhere brace for drought, flood and unsafe water problems […]
Diversitas, Paris 17-Feb-2011 How should a new ‘IPCC for biodiversity’ work? Leading world scientists offer prescription In the journal Science this week, leading scientists say the new “IPCC for biodiversity” should offer practical scientific assessments of actual policy options confronting decision makers. “Hypothetical scenarios bear no relationship to the real options confronting policy makers now,” […]