16 Jun 05 United Nations University Growing desertification worldwide threatens to swell by millions the number of poor forced to seek new homes and livelihoods. And a rising number of large, intense dust storms plaguing many areas menace the health of people even continents away, international experts warn in a new report. Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/unu-mea061005.php […]
08 Jun 05United Nations UniversityVast genetic resources – “blue gold” on the international deep seafloor – need protection from unfettered commercial exploitation, warns a new report from the Japan-based United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Increasingly recognized as important to humankind for their potential medical and other uses, deep-sea resources are now more […]
15 May 05 United Nations University A global education system in which a fully portable personal computer is as common as a pencil or textbook to school children even in the poorest nations is the vision of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, who next week will detail in Tokyo for the first time […]
Canadian Biotechnology Education Resource Centre, Toronto 12 May, 2005 Top winners: Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, Cape Breton, Ottawa, St. John’s Teen Scientist from Winnipeg to Compete for Canada in Philadelphia June 17-20 Canada Announces Almost $1 Million for Future Competition Ground-breaking research by an 18-year-old Manitoba student that contributes to the global search for an HIV/AIDS […]
01 May 05 United Nations University Since the start of the war of 2003 some 84% of Iraq’s higher education institutions have been burnt, looted or destroyed while four dozen academics have been assassinated and many more brave daily threats, according to an analysis of the system’s reconstruction needs released today by the United Nations […]
11 Apr 05 University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics In a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB), published in PLoS Medicine, the open access global health journal, an international panel of 63 experts were asked to rank the nanotechnology applications they think are most likely to […]
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment / United Nations University March 30, 2005 A landmark study released today reveals that approximately 60 percent (15 out of 24) of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth are being degraded or used unsustainably. Scientists warn that the harmful consequences of this degradation could grow significantly worse in the next […]
21 Mar 05 United Nations University South America’s giant Pantanal wetlands, one of the world’s most bio-diverse ecosystems, is at growing risk from intensive peripheral agricultural, industrial and urban development – problems expected to be compounded by climate change, United Nations University experts warn. Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/unu-sav031705.php Example coverage: AP | Reuters | EFE | BBC Brazil | O Globo […]
1-Mar-2005 Census of Marine Life Once a dominant species, the volume of cod on the Scotian Shelf has plunged 96% since the 1850s, according to a landmark research to be published March 1. Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/coml-fee022305.php Example coverage: by Scientific American, click here
14 Jan 05 United Nations University The rapid and extensive underground expansion of mega-cities – for subways, malls, parking and public utilities – takes place often with too little knowledge of associated risks and too few plans to minimize the effects of a natural disaster, United Nations University experts warn. Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/unu-thv011005.php Example coverage: […]
Joint Centre for Bioethics, Toronto 6 January, 2005 Report urges end to monopoly of economists as development policy advisors Science and technology is so critically important to improving conditions in poor countries that scientific advisors should join economists at the center of government policy-making on development issues, an eminent group of 27 international experts says […]
Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto 6 December, 2004 Cuba, South Korea, and India make and export their own biotech vaccines, Egypt manufactures recombinant insulin, and South Africa is developing a novel vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Health biotechnology is no longer the sole preserve of high-level research institutions of North America and Europe, according to […]
23 Nov 04 Census of Marine Life Even in Europe and the best studied seas, the rapid ongoing discovery of new marine species shows no end in sight, according to the world’s first Census of Marine Life, a massive collaboration to catalog and map marine species worldwide involving hundreds of scientists in more than 70 […]
03 Nov 04 United Nations University, Programme for Biotechnology in Latin America and the Caribbean The use of biotechnologies originally intended to remedy crop infestations and other problems is being pioneered in the protection of priceless art and historical archives in tropical countries from decay caused by insects, heat, humidity and other natural causes. Full text: […]
07 Oct 04University of Toronto Joint Centre for BioethicsNew medical tools that quickly and accurately diagnose diseases like AIDS and malaria top a list of 10 biotech breakthroughs deemed most important for improving health in developing countries within the decade, science that will dramatically move the world towards its Millennium Development Goals for 2015, according […]
Joint Center for Bioethics, University of Toronto Emerging Medical, Environmental Breakthroughs Hold Revolutionary Promise; Experts Call for UN Body to Help Share Knowledge Worldwide A global campaign to foster the universal sharing of innovative medical andenvironmental breakthroughs created through the world’s emerging knowledge of genomics could save tens of millions of lives per year in […]
05 Aug 04 Census of Marine Life Exploring life in the mid-Atlantic at various depths down to 4 km (2.5 miles), 60 scientists from 13 countries on a two-month expedition have surfaced a wealth of new information and insights, stunning images and marine life specimens, several thought to be species never before known to science. […]
Joint Center for Bioethics, University of Toronto Research will enable personalized diets tailored to genetic make up New research designed to help consumers create customized diets based on their genetic make up will create ethical and legal challenges with serious implications for the scientific and medical communities, warns a new consultation paper by a panel […]
24 Jun 04 Census of Marine Life A new ‘Census of Marine Life’ project based in Alaska with global partners seeks to find lifeforms in the world’s oldest seawater. Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/coml-mic061804.php Example coverage: By MSNBC, from the Associated Press / Reuters, click here Agence France Presse, click here
13 Jun 04 United Nations University The number of people worldwide vulnerable to a devastating flood is expected to mushroom to 2 billion by 2050 due to climate change, deforestation, rising sea levels and population growth in flood-prone lands, warn experts at the United Nations University. Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/unu-tbv060404.php Example coverage Agence France Presse, click […]
Joint Center for Bioethics, University of Toronto The final months and weeks for terminally ill hospital patients could be made better if hospitals simply instituted a systematic process to seek the thoughts of dying patients and families on how to improve the medical care provided, say experts at a leading international medical ethics think tank. […]
Canadian Biotechnology Education Resource Centre, Toronto 13 May 2004 Top winners: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto and Montreal Teen Scientist from Alberta to Compete for Canada in San Francisco June 6 Students from Western Canada swept the top three of five awards announced today in the 2004 National Aventis Biotech Challenge. Students from Edmonton (1st), Winnipeg […]