Opening prescription medicine bottles can be a struggle for individuals with arthritis. When the medicine inside the bottle is supposed to relieve the pain, but opening the bottle causes additional pain, the experience can be even more frustrating. (more…)
In research meant to highlight how the destruction of the Amazon rainforest could affect climate elsewhere, Princeton University-led researchers report that the total deforestation of the Amazon may significantly reduce rain and snowfall in the western United States, resulting in water and food shortages, and a greater risk of forest fires.
The researchers report in the Journal of Climate that an Amazon stripped bare could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest and a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water for cities and farms in California. Previous research has shown that deforestation will likely produce dry air over the Amazon. Using high-resolution climate simulations, the researchers are the first to find that the atmosphere’s normal weather-moving mechanics would create a ripple effect that would move that dry air directly over the western United States from December to February. (more…)
Der Zürcher SVP-Nationalrat Hans Kaufmann wünscht sich auch für Europa eine Tea-Party: keine sehr demokratiekompatible Vision.
Spätestens im Januar 2014, wenn sich in den USA das finanzpolitische Gezerre wiederholen wird und die Vereinigten Staaten erneut über die Fiskalklippe zu stürzen drohen, wird sie wieder weltweit die Schlagzeilen beherrschen: die amerikanische Tea-Party, jene extremistische Gruppierung innerhalb der Republikanischen Partei, für die jeglicher Kompromiss des Teufels ist. Mindestens einen prominenten Bewunderer hat diese Bewegung auch in der Schweiz: den Zürcher SVP-Nationalrat Hans Kaufmann. Er findet, «es wäre an der Zeit, dass auch in der EU endlich eine Tea-Party-Bewegung einsetzt», und zwar wegen der wachsenden Staatsschulden. Sie sei nicht etwa «eine hirnlose Bewegung, sondern sie vertritt vor allem wirtschaftspolitische Anliegen, die der politischen Linken missfallen», schreibt Kaufmann in einem Gastkommentar von «Journal 21» (Link siehe unten). (more…)
Leslie Rosenberg and his colleagues are about to go hunting. Their quarry: A theorized-but-never-seen elementary particle called an axion.
The search will be conducted with a recently retooled, extremely sensitive detector that is currently in a testing and shakeout phase at the University of Washington’s Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. (more…)
UK immigrants who arrived since 2000 are less likely to receive benefits and less likely to live in social housing than UK natives. What’s more, over the decade from 2001 to 2011, they made a considerable positive net contribution to the UK’s fiscal system, and thus helped to relieve the fiscal burden on UK-born workers.
The positive contribution is particularly evident for UK immigrants from the European Economic Area (EEA – the European Union plus three small neighbours): they contributed about 34% more in taxes than they received in benefits over the period 2001-11. (more…)
UCLA researchers build a multisensory virtual world
To survive, animals must explore their world to find the necessities of life. It’s a complex task, requiring them to form them a mental map of their environment to navigate the safest and fastest routes to food and water. They also learn to anticipate when and where certain important events, such as finding a meal, will occur.
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Develops solutions in Africa for Africa and the World
Yorktown Heights, N.Y. and Nairobi, Kenya – 08 Nov 2013: IBM and His Excellency, the President of Kenya, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, officially opened the first commercial technology research facility in Africa at an inauguration ceremony in Nairobi today.
IBM’s 12th global research lab – supported by the Kenyan ICT Authority – and located at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, will conduct applied and far-reaching exploratory research into the grand challenges of the African continent by delivering commercially-viable innovations that impact people’s lives. (more…)
Die Gewinner des WWF-Wettbewerbs „Wildes Deutschland“ stehen fest: 50 lokale und regionale Naturschutzprojekte von Rügen bis Bayern werden in den nächsten zwei Jahren durch den WWF gefördert. Ziel des Wettbewerbs war es, Ideen für eine Stärkung des „Naturschutzes vor der eigenen Haustür“ zu fördern. Das Spektrum der ausgezeichneten Projekte reicht dabei vom Bau eines Bienenhotels über Nisthilfen für Wanderfalken an Autobahnbrücken bis zur Wisent-Besenderung. Die 50 Gewinner kommen dabei aus 14 verschiedenen Bundesländern und werden in den kommenden zwei Jahren mit bis zu 5000 Euro durch den WWF gefördert. (more…)
