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Verbände fordern von neuer Bundesregierung klaren Fahrplan gegen Luftverschmutzung

By Guest PostDecember 19, 2013EnvironmentAngela Merkel, axel friedrich, bundesregierung, deutschen umwelthilfe, deutschland, diabetesrisiko, dietmar oeliger, dorothee saar, duh, heiko balsmeyer, kampf gegen luftverschmutzung, luftqualitaet in deutschland, luftverschmutzung, vcd, weltgesundheitsorganisation, WHO

Das europäische „Jahr der Luft“ verpufft ohne entscheidende Verbesserungen für die Luftqualität und auf Kosten der Gesundheit der Bürger

Berlin- Im Europäischen Jahr der Luft 2013 starben in Europa etwa 420.000 Menschen vorzeitig an den Folgen von Luftverschmutzung. Allein in Deutschland sind circa 70.000 entsprechende Todesfälle zu beklagen. Angesichts dieser erschreckenden Zahlen fordern die Umwelt- und Verkehrsverbände die neue Bundesregierung auf, einen wirksamen Fahrplan zur Luftreinhaltung vorzulegen.

„Die scheidende Bundesregierung hat die Bemühungen zur Verbesserung der Luftqualität in Deutschland in den vergangenen vier Jahren konsequent sabotiert und sich wieder einmal als Handlanger der Industrie präsentiert. Das neue Kabinett muss jetzt beweisen, dass sie das Wohl der Bürger nicht über die Interessen einer Lobbygruppe stellt“, sagt Dorothee Saar von der Deutschen Umwelthilfe (DUH). (more…)

The Mystery of Lizard Breath

By Guest PostDecember 19, 2013Nature3d image, aerodynamic valves, african savannah, alligators, archosaurs, c g farmer, ct scans, dinosaurs, emma schachner, evolution, fast metabolisms, flying pterosaurs, gular pumping, harvard university, humans, james butler, lepidosauromorpha, lizard breath, lizard like creature, lungs, mass extinction, monitor lizards, mystery, one way patterns, oxygen consumption, permian triassic, rate, robert cieri, tidal breathing pattern, tuataras, unidirectional airflow, university of utah, varanus exanthematicus

One-Way Air Flow May Be 270 Million Years Old

Air flows mostly in a one-way loop through the lungs of monitor lizards – a breathing method shared by birds, alligators and presumably dinosaurs, according to a new University of Utah study.

The findings – published online Wednesday, Dec. 11 in the journal Nature – raise the possibility this breathing pattern originated 270 million years ago, about 20 million years earlier than previously believed and 100 million years before the first birds. Why remains a mystery. (more…)

What Could Graphene Mean For Your Future Smartphone?

By Guest PostDecember 19, 2013Technology3g broadband, apple, biocompatibility tests, digital ink, future smartphone, gadgets, graphene, graphene revolution, graphene super capacitor, graphite, hexagonal carbon atoms, humdrum, imb, iphone 6, lcd technology, microelectronic, mobi data, nokia, oled, Samsung, silicon, tech addicts, technological age

Graphene is the material of the future, it could even help us to achieve invisibility. So what could it mean for your smartphone?

Scientists, engineers and tech-addicts everywhere are getting very excited about Graphene. It may sound like the stuff you get in your pencils but this newly discovered material could help us enter an entirely new technological age. Work is already underway to make invisibility a possibility – all thanks to the wonders of Graphene.

We’re already living in an exciting age of communication. With superfast, super accessible and super affordable 3G broadband from providers like Mobi-data we now have access to the online world wherever we are and wherever we’re travelling all over the world. Yet Graphene is set to take us into the realms of science fiction – giving smartphones and tablets the power to bend and flex, making annoying charging up a thing of the past and making our gadgets more or less indestructible. (more…)

Wo die letzten Tiger brüllen

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Natureamurtiger in russland, bikin projekt, bmu, CO2, co2 emission, deutsch russische partnerschaft, holzprodukt, igor zhorov, kfw, klimaschutzinitiative, markus radday, osten russland, russischen amazonas, schutz, tiger, wald, wwf

Deutsch-russische Partnerschaft zum Schutz des “Russischen Amazonas”

Die Naturschutzorganisation WWF zieht nach fünf Jahren eine positive Bilanz des deutsch-russischen Kooperationsprojekts zum Schutz der letzten Urwälder im Fernen Osten Russlands. Im Rahmen des Bikin-Projektes wurde der indigene Volkstamm der Udege seit Mitte 2008 darin unterstützt, die Wälder entlang des Bikin-Flusses nachhaltig zu nutzen und zu schützen und somit deren Abholzung zu verhindern.

Für das Bikin Projekt wurde zudem ein innovativer Finanzierungsmechanismus entwickelt. Erlöse aus dem Verkauf von Kohlenstoff-Zertifikaten sollen langfristig den Schutz der Wälder absichern. Aus dem nun erfolgten Verkauf solcher Zertifikate wurden dafür 395.000 Euro erlöst. (more…)

HIV plus HPV leads to increased anal cancer risk in men

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Healthanal cancer risk, cancer prevention strategies, dorothy j wiley, hilary hsu, hiv infection characteristics, hiv plus hpv, hiv positive men, hiv treatment, human papillomavirus, in men, otoniel martinez maza, roger detels, sex with men, tobacco, uninfected men, united states

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer in women, is also known to cause anal cancer in both women and men. Now, a study led by researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing has found that older HIV-positive men who have sex with men are at higher risk of becoming infected with the HPVs that most often cause anal cancer.

The researchers also report that smoking increases the risk of infection with specific types of HPV among both HIV-infected and uninfected older men by up to 20 percent. This is the first large U.S. study of a group of HIV-infected and uninfected men between the ages of 40 and 69 who have sex with men. Study participants were examined twice a year for up to 25 years. (more…)

Neuroscience Methods: Optogenetics as good as electrical stimulation

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Sciencebrain cells, brown university, daniel brooks, david sheinberg, electrical stimulation, grant called repair, ji dai, lateral intraparietal area, lip, neural activity, neuroscience methods, nonhuman primates, optical case, optical stimulation, optogenetic stimulation, optogenetics, rodent models, technique, therapeutic benefits, visual decision making

Brown researchers have shown that optogenetics — a technique that uses pulses of visible light to alter the behavior of brain cells — can be as good as or possibly better than the older technique of using small bursts of electrical current. Optogenetics had been used in small rodent models. Research reported in Current Biology has shown that optogenetics works effectively in larger, more complex brains.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Neuroscientists are eagerly, but not always successfully, looking for proof that optogenetics – a celebrated technique that uses pulses of visible light to genetically alter brain cells to be excited or silenced – can be as successful in complex and large brains as it has been in rodent models. (more…)

Wegen Kostenkalkül: Fukushima ausser Kontrolle

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Environmentbetreiber tepco, frontal21, fukushima, fukushima ausser kontrolle, grundwasser, havarie reaktor, meer, radioaktiv, reaktor katastrophe, reaktorgebaeude, wasser, wegen kostenkalkuel, zdf magazin

Kritiker werfen dem Fukushima-Betreiber Tepco vor, aus Kostenkalkül auf ausreichende Sicherungsmassnahmen verzichtet zu haben. (more…)

How to Find the Rarest of the Rare in Southern Skies

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2013Scienceabhijit saha, andean peaks, antares, arizona noao, astronomical objects, astronomically interesting, bio5 institute, cerro pachon, Chile, disease outbreak, irregular galaxy, john kececioglu, large magellanic cloud, lsst project, noao, rare, rarest, resource for astronomy, rick snodgrass, software, southern skies, tom matheson, university of arizona

An interdisciplinary UA team is developing a computer program that will sort through up to 10 million alerts of astronomical objects each night from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will begin operations in Chile in 2022.

University of Arizona computer scientists are teaming up with astronomers at the National Optical Astronomical Observatory to develop a computer program that will sort through the millions of objects detected by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and create a list of priorities for astronomers to investigate. The project has recently received a three-year INSPIRE grant, worth more than $700,000, from the National Science Foundation. (more…)

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