Diversitas Paris, France Common approach urged to unify global biodiversity advice. A new analysis of several major global studies of future species shifts and losses foresees inevitable continuing decline of biodiversity during the 21st century but offers new hope that it could be slowed if emerging policy choices are pursued. Led by experts Henrique Miguel […]
Census of Marine Life Washington DC, USA 4-Oct-2010 Culminating a 10-year exploration, 2,700 scientists from 80 nations report first Census of Marine Life, revealing what, where, and how much lives and hides in global oceans To measure changes caused by climate or oil spills, Census establishes a baseline New species discovered, marine highways and rest […]
DIVERSITAS, Paris 29 Sep 2009 The world’s rivers are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis to be published Sept. 30 in the journal Nature. The report is the first to simultaneously account for the effects on the health of the world’s rivers of such things as pollution, dam building, agricultural […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health 14 September 2010 The lure of greater profits elsewhere in the world may divert bio-pharmaceutical firms in developing countries from the creation and distribution of affordable drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for illnesses of local concern, undermining the health prospects of millions of poor people, experts warn. And they call […]
Census of Marine Life Washington, DC 2-Aug-2010 Representing the most comprehensive and authoritative answer yet to one of humanity’s most ancient questions — “what lives in the sea?” — Census of Marine Life scientists today released an inventory of species distribution and diversity in key global ocean areas. Scientists combined information collected over centuries with […]
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Technology Industry and Economics Paris 15-Jul-2010 In 2009, for the second year in a row, both the US and Europe added more power capacity from renewable sources such as wind and solar than conventional sources like coal, gas and nuclear, according to twin reports launched today by the […]
Cousteau Society Paris 8 June 2010 Year-long plans include re-launch of iconic vessel Calypso for education tour; new Cousteau Divers program. Documentary with National Geographic to contrast conditions in Mediterranean today with Cousteau’s films of the 1940s. Legendary marine explorer, inventor, innovator, filmmaker and environmental activist Jacques Cousteau was born June 11, 1910 in Saint […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health 10 May 2010 ‘South-South’ biotech collaborations boost health, economies: Study The availability of more affordable drugs, vaccines and diagnostics that would help countless people worldwide is the foremost benefit expected from a growing number of collaborations between biotech firms in developing countries, according to a study to be published Mon. […]
Census of Marine Life Washington DC 18-Apr-2010 Microbial mat the size of Greece found on oxygen-starved South American seafloor; Scientists puzzle out Neptune’s riotous diversity of tiny creatures; “In no other ocean realm has discovery been as extensive”; Explorers yet to find any lifeless place on Earth below 150 Release of historic global ocean Ocean […]
Biotalent Canada / Bioscience Education Canada Ottawa / Toronto 27-Apr-2010 Research by a 14-year-old science prodigy from Saskatoon into the molecular fingerprint of a disease that has devastated lentil crops in Canada, Asia and Africa has earned the top national prize of the 2010 Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge (SABC). Grade 9 student Rui Song, the youngest-ever […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health Apr 20, 2010 55th anniversary of first polio vaccine Failure to pursue eradication of polio worldwide given the capacity and opportunity to do so is a violation of ethical principles, foremost among them a “duty to rescue” those in distress, according to ethicists writing in this week’s edition of the Lancet. […]
United Nations University 14-Apr-2010 UNU-INWEH report offers 9-point prescription for achieving Millennium Development Goal for sanitation Far more people in India have access to a cell phone than to a toilet and improved sanitation, according to UN experts who published today a 9-point prescription for achieving the world’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation […]
22-Feb-2010 United Nations University, Tokyo / United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi Rocketing sales of cell phones, gadgets, appliances forecast in China, India, elsewhere Sales of electronic products in countries like China and India and across continents such as Africa and Latin America are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years. And, unless action is stepped […]
United Nations University 1-Feb-2010More than two dozen leading United Nations water experts will convene in Hamilton, Canada Feb. 2-4 to plan fresh strategy for a coordinated approach to the global water crisis that increasingly threatens both human health and international security. At its first-ever meeting in Canada, the group known as UN-Water will also formalize […]
e8 Montreal 21-Jan-2010 2,000-year-old ‘stairway to heaven,’ a threatened World Heritage Site, to benefit from proceeds of $1 million, e8-donated mini-hydro project Philippines officials today received the symbolic keys to a donated 200 kW hydro-electric project that, in addition to green energy, will start generating money to halt deterioration of the country’s fabled ancient rice […]
McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health University Health Network / University of Toronto 8-Jan-2010 Chinese researchers have become the world’s fifth most prolific contributors to peer-reviewed scientific literature on clock-reversing regenerative medicine even as a skeptical international research community condemns the practice of Chinese clinics administering unproven stem cell therapies to domestic and foreign patients. According […]
Rockefeller University New York City 28-Dec-2009 Two New York City high school students exploring their homes using the latest high-tech DNA analysis techniques were astonished to discover a veritable zoo of 95 animal species surrounding them, in everything from fridges to furniture, from sidewalks to shipping boxes, and from feather dusters to floor corners. Guided […]
Christensen Fund, Palo Alto, California 3-Dec-09 A delegation of more than 20 indigenous teens, women, elders and shamen heading to historic Copenhagen climate talks today offered the world self-created video evidence and testimonials of climate change problems in their far-flung home communities. The videos include scenes of cows and zebra dead or dying of drought […]
29-Nov-2009 United Nations University Tokyo / Darwin Carbon credits bring millions for new jobs in indigenous communities; Australian project a model of opportunity, especially for Africa A landmark Australian project that mitigates the extent and severity of natural savannah blazes by deploying traditional Indigenous fire management techniques is being hailed as a model with vast […]
22-Nov-2009 Census of Marine Life Washington DC Deep sea teeming with species that have never known sunlight Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that have never known sunlight – creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to 5,000 meters […]
16-Nov-2009 Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Agencies managing 80 percent of global public health research funding set first priorities for common, concerted efforts on heart and lung diseases, other ‘chronic non-communicable diseases’ An alliance of institutions collectively managing an estimated 80 percent of all public health research funding worldwide today announced their first targets for […]
Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL), Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 6-Nov-2009 The scientific ability to quickly and accurately identify species through DNA “barcoding” is being embraced and applied by a growing legion of global authorities – from medical and agricultural researchers to police and customs authorities to palaeontologists and others. Some 350 experts from […]